Density Control of Multi-Agent Systems with Safety Constraints: A Markov Chain Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demirer, Nazli

The control of systems with autonomous mobile agents has been a point of interest recently, with many applications like surveillance, coverage, searching over an area with probabilistic target locations or exploring an area. In all of these applications, the main goal of the swarm is to distribute itself over an operational space to achieve mission objectives specified by the density of swarm. This research focuses on the problem of controlling the distribution of multi-agent systems considering a hierarchical control structure where the whole swarm coordination is achieved at the high-level and individual vehicle/agent control is managed at the low-level. High-level coordination algorithms uses macroscopic models that describes the collective behavior of the whole swarm and specify the agent motion commands, whose execution will lead to the desired swarm behavior. The low-level control laws execute the motion to follow these commands at the agent level. The main objective of this research is to develop high-level decision control policies and algorithms to achieve physically realizable commanding of the agents by imposing mission constraints on the distribution. We also make some connections with decentralized low-level motion control. This dissertation proposes a Markov chain based method to control the density distribution of the whole system where the implementation can be achieved in a decentralized manner with no communication between agents since establishing communication with large number of agents is highly challenging. The ultimate goal is to guide the overall density distribution of the system to a prescribed steady-state desired distribution while satisfying desired transition and safety constraints. Here, the desired distribution is determined based on the mission requirements, for example in the application of area search, the desired distribution should match closely with the probabilistic target locations. The proposed method is applicable for both systems with a single agent and systems with large number of agents due to the probabilistic nature, where the probability distribution of each agent's state evolves according to a finite-state and discrete-time Markov chain (MC). Hence, designing proper decision control policies requires numerically tractable solution methods for the synthesis of Markov chains. The synthesis problem has the form of a Linear Matrix Inequality Problem (LMI), with LMI formulation of the constraints. To this end, we propose convex necessary and sufficient conditions for safety constraints in Markov chains, which is a novel result in the Markov chain literature. In addition to LMI-based, offline, Markov matrix synthesis method, we also propose a QP-based, online, method to compute a time-varying Markov matrix based on the real-time density feedback. Both problems are convex optimization problems that can be solved in a reliable and tractable way, utilizing existing tools in the literature. A Low Earth Orbit (LEO) swarm simulations are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. Another problem tackled as a part of this research is the generalization of the density control problem to autonomous mobile agents with two control modes: ON and OFF. Here, each mode consists of a (possibly overlapping) finite set of actions, that is, there exist a set of actions for the ON mode and another set for the OFF mode. We give formulation for a new Markov chain synthesis problem, with additional measurements for the state transitions, where a policy is designed to ensure desired safety and convergence properties for the underlying Markov chain.

Distributed formation control of nonholonomic autonomous vehicle via RBF neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Shichun; Cao, Yaoguang; Peng, Zhaoxia; Wen, Guoguang; Guo, Konghui

2017-03-01

In this paper, RBF neural network consensus-based distributed control scheme is proposed for nonholonomic autonomous vehicles in a pre-defined formation along the specified reference trajectory. A variable transformation is first designed to convert the formation control problem into a state consensus problem. Then, the complete dynamics of the vehicles including inertia, Coriolis, friction model and unmodeled bounded disturbances are considered, which lead to the formation unstable when the distributed kinematic controllers are proposed based on the kinematics. RBF neural network torque controllers are derived to compensate for them. Some sufficient conditions are derived to accomplish the asymptotically stability of the systems based on algebraic graph theory, matrix theory, and Lyapunov theory. Finally, simulation examples illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers.

Convergence of Distributed Optimal Controls on the Internal Energy in Mixed Elliptic Problems when the Heat Transfer Coefficient Goes to Infinity

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

Gariboldi, C.; E-mail: cgariboldi@exa.unrc.edu.ar; Tarzia, D.

2003-05-21

We consider a steady-state heat conduction problem P{sub {alpha}} with mixed boundary conditions for the Poisson equation depending on a positive parameter {alpha} , which represents the heat transfer coefficient on a portion {gamma} {sub 1} of the boundary of a given bounded domain in R{sup n} . We formulate distributed optimal control problems over the internal energy g for each {alpha}. We prove that the optimal control g{sub o}p{sub {alpha}} and its corresponding system u{sub go}p{sub {alpha}}{sub {alpha}} and adjoint p{sub go}p{sub {alpha}}{sub {alpha}} states for each {alpha} are strongly convergent to g{sub op},u{sub gop} and p{sub gop} ,more » respectively, in adequate functional spaces. We also prove that these limit functions are respectively the optimal control, and the system and adjoint states corresponding to another distributed optimal control problem for the same Poisson equation with a different boundary condition on the portion {gamma}{sub 1} . We use the fixed point and elliptic variational inequality theories.« less

Stabilization and control of distributed systems with time-dependent spatial domains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, P. K. C.

1990-01-01

This paper considers the problem of the stabilization and control of distributed systems with time-dependent spatial domains. The evolution of the spatial domains with time is described by a finite-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations, while the distributed systems are described by first-order or second-order linear evolution equations defined on appropriate Hilbert spaces. First, results pertaining to the existence and uniqueness of solutions of the system equations are presented. Then, various optimal control and stabilization problems are considered. The paper concludes with some examples which illustrate the application of the main results.

A design for an intelligent monitor and controller for space station electrical power using parallel distributed problem solving

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Robert A.

1990-01-01

The emphasis is on defining a set of communicating processes for intelligent spacecraft secondary power distribution and control. The computer hardware and software implementation platform for this work is that of the ADEPTS project at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). The electrical power system design which was used as the basis for this research is that of Space Station Freedom, although the functionality of the processes defined here generalize to any permanent manned space power control application. First, the Space Station Electrical Power Subsystem (EPS) hardware to be monitored is described, followed by a set of scenarios describing typical monitor and control activity. Then, the parallel distributed problem solving approach to knowledge engineering is introduced. There follows a two-step presentation of the intelligent software design for secondary power control. The first step decomposes the problem of monitoring and control into three primary functions. Each of the primary functions is described in detail. Suggestions for refinements and embelishments in design specifications are given.

An optimal control strategy for hybrid actuator systems: Application to an artificial muscle with electric motor assist.

PubMed

Ishihara, Koji; Morimoto, Jun

2018-03-01

Humans use multiple muscles to generate such joint movements as an elbow motion. With multiple lightweight and compliant actuators, joint movements can also be efficiently generated. Similarly, robots can use multiple actuators to efficiently generate a one degree of freedom movement. For this movement, the desired joint torque must be properly distributed to each actuator. One approach to cope with this torque distribution problem is an optimal control method. However, solving the optimal control problem at each control time step has not been deemed a practical approach due to its large computational burden. In this paper, we propose a computationally efficient method to derive an optimal control strategy for a hybrid actuation system composed of multiple actuators, where each actuator has different dynamical properties. We investigated a singularly perturbed system of the hybrid actuator model that subdivided the original large-scale control problem into smaller subproblems so that the optimal control outputs for each actuator can be derived at each control time step and applied our proposed method to our pneumatic-electric hybrid actuator system. Our method derived a torque distribution strategy for the hybrid actuator by dealing with the difficulty of solving real-time optimal control problems. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Distribution-dependent robust linear optimization with applications to inventory control

PubMed Central

Kang, Seong-Cheol; Brisimi, Theodora S.

2014-01-01

This paper tackles linear programming problems with data uncertainty and applies it to an important inventory control problem. Each element of the constraint matrix is subject to uncertainty and is modeled as a random variable with a bounded support. The classical robust optimization approach to this problem yields a solution with guaranteed feasibility. As this approach tends to be too conservative when applications can tolerate a small chance of infeasibility, one would be interested in obtaining a less conservative solution with a certain probabilistic guarantee of feasibility. A robust formulation in the literature produces such a solution, but it does not use any distributional information on the uncertain data. In this work, we show that the use of distributional information leads to an equally robust solution (i.e., under the same probabilistic guarantee of feasibility) but with a better objective value. In particular, by exploiting distributional information, we establish stronger upper bounds on the constraint violation probability of a solution. These bounds enable us to “inject” less conservatism into the formulation, which in turn yields a more cost-effective solution (by 50% or more in some numerical instances). To illustrate the effectiveness of our methodology, we consider a discrete-time stochastic inventory control problem with certain quality of service constraints. Numerical tests demonstrate that the use of distributional information in the robust optimization of the inventory control problem results in 36%–54% cost savings, compared to the case where such information is not used. PMID:26347579

An Intelligent Control for the Distributed Flexible Network Photovoltaic System using Autonomous Control and Agent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Sangsoo; Miura, Yushi; Ise, Toshifumi

This paper proposes an intelligent control for the distributed flexible network photovoltaic system using autonomous control and agent. The distributed flexible network photovoltaic system is composed of a secondary battery bank and a number of subsystems which have a solar array, a dc/dc converter and a load. The control mode of dc/dc converter can be selected based on local information by autonomous control. However, if only autonomous control using local information is applied, there are some problems associated with several cases such as voltage drop on long power lines. To overcome these problems, the authors propose introducing agents to improve control characteristics. The autonomous control with agents is called as intelligent control in this paper. The intelligent control scheme that employs the communication between agents is applied for the model system and proved with simulation using PSCAD/EMTDC.

A Measure Approximation for Distributionally Robust PDE-Constrained Optimization Problems

DOE PAGES

Kouri, Drew Philip

2017-12-19

In numerous applications, scientists and engineers acquire varied forms of data that partially characterize the inputs to an underlying physical system. This data is then used to inform decisions such as controls and designs. Consequently, it is critical that the resulting control or design is robust to the inherent uncertainties associated with the unknown probabilistic characterization of the model inputs. Here in this work, we consider optimal control and design problems constrained by partial differential equations with uncertain inputs. We do not assume a known probabilistic model for the inputs, but rather we formulate the problem as a distributionally robustmore » optimization problem where the outer minimization problem determines the control or design, while the inner maximization problem determines the worst-case probability measure that matches desired characteristics of the data. We analyze the inner maximization problem in the space of measures and introduce a novel measure approximation technique, based on the approximation of continuous functions, to discretize the unknown probability measure. Finally, we prove consistency of our approximated min-max problem and conclude with numerical results.« less

Pharmacy-based distribution system for enteral nutrition products.

PubMed

Craig, S A; Paulson, M F

1985-12-01

A hospital pharmacy department's implementation of enteral nutrition product distribution and its proposal for an enteral nutrition product admixture service are described. Responsibility for the distribution of enteral nutrition formulations was transferred from the central distribution department to the pharmacy after problems with inventory control, billing procedures, and inappropriate administration of enteral nutrition products were recognized by personnel from the central-distribution area and nutrition services. After additional problems were identified using a multi-disciplinary approach, the pharmacy department implemented an enteral nutrition product distribution system and developed an enteral nutrition product formulary. A proposal was developed for a pharmacy-based enteral nutrition admixture service, but implementation of this service was deferred because data from a cost-effectiveness evaluation and random bacteriologic monitoring did not justify adding the service. Pharmacy-based distribution and formulary control of enteral nutrition products alleviated problems with inaccurate patient charges and accumulation of stock on the nursing units. Pharmacists at this hospital hope to develop an enteral nutrition product admixture program that will result in cost savings for the institution.

Applied Distributed Model Predictive Control for Energy Efficient Buildings and Ramp Metering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koehler, Sarah Muraoka

Industrial large-scale control problems present an interesting algorithmic design challenge. A number of controllers must cooperate in real-time on a network of embedded hardware with limited computing power in order to maximize system efficiency while respecting constraints and despite communication delays. Model predictive control (MPC) can automatically synthesize a centralized controller which optimizes an objective function subject to a system model, constraints, and predictions of disturbance. Unfortunately, the computations required by model predictive controllers for large-scale systems often limit its industrial implementation only to medium-scale slow processes. Distributed model predictive control (DMPC) enters the picture as a way to decentralize a large-scale model predictive control problem. The main idea of DMPC is to split the computations required by the MPC problem amongst distributed processors that can compute in parallel and communicate iteratively to find a solution. Some popularly proposed solutions are distributed optimization algorithms such as dual decomposition and the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). However, these algorithms ignore two practical challenges: substantial communication delays present in control systems and also problem non-convexity. This thesis presents two novel and practically effective DMPC algorithms. The first DMPC algorithm is based on a primal-dual active-set method which achieves fast convergence, making it suitable for large-scale control applications which have a large communication delay across its communication network. In particular, this algorithm is suited for MPC problems with a quadratic cost, linear dynamics, forecasted demand, and box constraints. We measure the performance of this algorithm and show that it significantly outperforms both dual decomposition and ADMM in the presence of communication delay. The second DMPC algorithm is based on an inexact interior point method which is suited for nonlinear optimization problems. The parallel computation of the algorithm exploits iterative linear algebra methods for the main linear algebra computations in the algorithm. We show that the splitting of the algorithm is flexible and can thus be applied to various distributed platform configurations. The two proposed algorithms are applied to two main energy and transportation control problems. The first application is energy efficient building control. Buildings represent 40% of energy consumption in the United States. Thus, it is significant to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. The goal is to minimize energy consumption subject to the physics of the building (e.g. heat transfer laws), the constraints of the actuators as well as the desired operating constraints (thermal comfort of the occupants), and heat load on the system. In this thesis, we describe the control systems of forced air building systems in practice. We discuss the "Trim and Respond" algorithm which is a distributed control algorithm that is used in practice, and show that it performs similarly to a one-step explicit DMPC algorithm. Then, we apply the novel distributed primal-dual active-set method and provide extensive numerical results for the building MPC problem. The second main application is the control of ramp metering signals to optimize traffic flow through a freeway system. This application is particularly important since urban congestion has more than doubled in the past few decades. The ramp metering problem is to maximize freeway throughput subject to freeway dynamics (derived from mass conservation), actuation constraints, freeway capacity constraints, and predicted traffic demand. In this thesis, we develop a hybrid model predictive controller for ramp metering that is guaranteed to be persistently feasible and stable. This contrasts to previous work on MPC for ramp metering where such guarantees are absent. We apply a smoothing method to the hybrid model predictive controller and apply the inexact interior point method to this nonlinear non-convex ramp metering problem.

Asymptotically suboptimal control of weakly interconnected dynamical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dmitruk, N. M.; Kalinin, A. I.

2016-10-01

Optimal control problems for a group of systems with weak dynamical interconnections between its constituent subsystems are considered. A method for decentralized control is proposed which distributes the control actions between several controllers calculating in real time control inputs only for theirs subsystems based on the solution of the local optimal control problem. The local problem is solved by asymptotic methods that employ the representation of the weak interconnection by a small parameter. Combination of decentralized control and asymptotic methods allows to significantly reduce the dimension of the problems that have to be solved in the course of the control process.

Distributed Optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macready, William; Wolpert, David

2005-01-01

We demonstrate a new framework for analyzing and controlling distributed systems, by solving constrained optimization problems with an algorithm based on that framework. The framework is ar. information-theoretic extension of conventional full-rationality game theory to allow bounded rational agents. The associated optimization algorithm is a game in which agents control the variables of the optimization problem. They do this by jointly minimizing a Lagrangian of (the probability distribution of) their joint state. The updating of the Lagrange parameters in that Lagrangian is a form of automated annealing, one that focuses the multi-agent system on the optimal pure strategy. We present computer experiments for the k-sat constraint satisfaction problem and for unconstrained minimization of NK functions.

Coordinated control of active and reactive power of distribution network with distributed PV cluster via model predictive control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, Yu; Sheng, Wanxing; Jin, Wei; Wu, Ming; Liu, Haitao; Chen, Feng

2018-02-01

A coordinated optimal control method of active and reactive power of distribution network with distributed PV cluster based on model predictive control is proposed in this paper. The method divides the control process into long-time scale optimal control and short-time scale optimal control with multi-step optimization. The models are transformed into a second-order cone programming problem due to the non-convex and nonlinear of the optimal models which are hard to be solved. An improved IEEE 33-bus distribution network system is used to analyse the feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed control method

Control and System Theory, Optimization, Inverse and Ill-Posed Problems

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-09-14

Justlfleatlen Distribut ion/ Availability Codes # AFOSR-87-0350 Avat’ and/or1987-1988 Dist Special *CONTROL AND SYSTEM THEORY , ~ * OPTIMIZATION, * INVERSE...considerable va- riety of research investigations within the grant areas (Control and system theory , Optimization, and Ill-posed problems]. The

Optimal Water-Power Flow Problem: Formulation and Distributed Optimal Solution

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

Dall-Anese, Emiliano; Zhao, Changhong; Zamzam, Admed S.

This paper formalizes an optimal water-power flow (OWPF) problem to optimize the use of controllable assets across power and water systems while accounting for the couplings between the two infrastructures. Tanks and pumps are optimally managed to satisfy water demand while improving power grid operations; {for the power network, an AC optimal power flow formulation is augmented to accommodate the controllability of water pumps.} Unfortunately, the physics governing the operation of the two infrastructures and coupling constraints lead to a nonconvex (and, in fact, NP-hard) problem; however, after reformulating OWPF as a nonconvex, quadratically-constrained quadratic problem, a feasible point pursuit-successivemore » convex approximation approach is used to identify feasible and optimal solutions. In addition, a distributed solver based on the alternating direction method of multipliers enables water and power operators to pursue individual objectives while respecting the couplings between the two networks. The merits of the proposed approach are demonstrated for the case of a distribution feeder coupled with a municipal water distribution network.« less

Emergence of Fundamental Limits in Spatially Distributed Dynamical Networks and Their Tradeoffs

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-01

It is shown that the resulting non -convex optimization problem can be equivalently reformulated into a rank-constrained problem. We then...display a current ly valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM- YYYY) ,2. REPORT TYPE 3...robustness in distributed control and dynamical systems. Our research re- sults are highly relevant for analysis and synthesis of engineered and natural

Output Consensus of Heterogeneous Linear Multi-Agent Systems by Distributed Event-Triggered/Self-Triggered Strategy.

PubMed

Hu, Wenfeng; Liu, Lu; Feng, Gang

2016-09-02

This paper addresses the output consensus problem of heterogeneous linear multi-agent systems. We first propose a novel distributed event-triggered control scheme. It is shown that, with the proposed control scheme, the output consensus problem can be solved if two matrix equations are satisfied. Then, we further propose a novel self-triggered control scheme, with which continuous monitoring is avoided. By introducing a fixed timer into both event- and self-triggered control schemes, Zeno behavior can be ruled out for each agent. The effectiveness of the event- and self-triggered control schemes is illustrated by an example.

Multirate parallel distributed compensation of a cluster in wireless sensor and actor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Chun-xi; Huang, Ling-yun; Zhang, Hao; Hua, Wang

2016-01-01

The stabilisation problem for one of the clusters with bounded multiple random time delays and packet dropouts in wireless sensor and actor networks is investigated in this paper. A new multirate switching model is constructed to describe the feature of this single input multiple output linear system. According to the difficulty of controller design under multi-constraints in multirate switching model, this model can be converted to a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model. By designing a multirate parallel distributed compensation, a sufficient condition is established to ensure this closed-loop fuzzy control system to be globally exponentially stable. The solution of the multirate parallel distributed compensation gains can be obtained by solving an auxiliary convex optimisation problem. Finally, two numerical examples are given to show, compared with solving switching controller, multirate parallel distributed compensation can be obtained easily. Furthermore, it has stronger robust stability than arbitrary switching controller and single-rate parallel distributed compensation under the same conditions.

On the problem of modeling for parameter identification in distributed structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norris, Mark A.; Meirovitch, Leonard

1988-01-01

Structures are often characterized by parameters, such as mass and stiffness, that are spatially distributed. Parameter identification of distributed structures is subject to many of the difficulties involved in the modeling problem, and the choice of the model can greatly affect the results of the parameter identification process. Analogously to control spillover in the control of distributed-parameter systems, identification spillover is shown to exist as well and its effect is to degrade the parameter estimates. Moreover, as in modeling by the Rayleigh-Ritz method, it is shown that, for a Rayleigh-Ritz type identification algorithm, an inclusion principle exists in the identification of distributed-parameter systems as well, so that the identified natural frequencies approach the actual natural frequencies monotonically from above.

Optimal dynamic control of resources in a distributed system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shin, Kang G.; Krishna, C. M.; Lee, Yann-Hang

1989-01-01

The authors quantitatively formulate the problem of controlling resources in a distributed system so as to optimize a reward function and derive optimal control strategies using Markov decision theory. The control variables treated are quite general; they could be control decisions related to system configuration, repair, diagnostics, files, or data. Two algorithms for resource control in distributed systems are derived for time-invariant and periodic environments, respectively. A detailed example to demonstrate the power and usefulness of the approach is provided.

On some control problems of dynamic of reactor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baskakov, A. V.; Volkov, N. P.

2017-12-01

The paper analyzes controllability of the transient processes in some problems of nuclear reactor dynamics. In this case, the mathematical model of nuclear reactor dynamics is described by a system of integro-differential equations consisting of the non-stationary anisotropic multi-velocity kinetic equation of neutron transport and the balance equation of delayed neutrons. The paper defines the formulation of the linear problem on control of transient processes in nuclear reactors with application of spatially distributed actions on internal neutron sources, and the formulation of the nonlinear problems on control of transient processes with application of spatially distributed actions on the neutron absorption coefficient and the neutron scattering indicatrix. The required control actions depend on the spatial and velocity coordinates. The theorems on existence and uniqueness of these control actions are proved in the paper. To do this, the control problems mentioned above are reduced to equivalent systems of integral equations. Existence and uniqueness of the solution for this system of integral equations is proved by the method of successive approximations, which makes it possible to construct an iterative scheme for numerical analyses of transient processes in a given nuclear reactor with application of the developed mathematical model. Sufficient conditions for controllability of transient processes are also obtained. In conclusion, a connection is made between the control problems and the observation problems, which, by to the given information, allow us to reconstruct either the function of internal neutron sources, or the neutron absorption coefficient, or the neutron scattering indicatrix....

Real-Time Load-Side Control of Electric Power Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Changhong

Two trends are emerging from modern electric power systems: the growth of renewable (e.g., solar and wind) generation, and the integration of information technologies and advanced power electronics. The former introduces large, rapid, and random fluctuations in power supply, demand, frequency, and voltage, which become a major challenge for real-time operation of power systems. The latter creates a tremendous number of controllable intelligent endpoints such as smart buildings and appliances, electric vehicles, energy storage devices, and power electronic devices that can sense, compute, communicate, and actuate. Most of these endpoints are distributed on the load side of power systems, in contrast to traditional control resources such as centralized bulk generators. This thesis focuses on controlling power systems in real time, using these load side resources. Specifically, it studies two problems. (1) Distributed load-side frequency control: We establish a mathematical framework to design distributed frequency control algorithms for flexible electric loads. In this framework, we formulate a category of optimization problems, called optimal load control (OLC), to incorporate the goals of frequency control, such as balancing power supply and demand, restoring frequency to its nominal value, restoring inter-area power flows, etc., in a way that minimizes total disutility for the loads to participate in frequency control by deviating from their nominal power usage. By exploiting distributed algorithms to solve OLC and analyzing convergence of these algorithms, we design distributed load-side controllers and prove stability of closed-loop power systems governed by these controllers. This general framework is adapted and applied to different types of power systems described by different models, or to achieve different levels of control goals under different operation scenarios. We first consider a dynamically coherent power system which can be equivalently modeled with a single synchronous machine. We then extend our framework to a multi-machine power network, where we consider primary and secondary frequency controls, linear and nonlinear power flow models, and the interactions between generator dynamics and load control. (2) Two-timescale voltage control: The voltage of a power distribution system must be maintained closely around its nominal value in real time, even in the presence of highly volatile power supply or demand. For this purpose, we jointly control two types of reactive power sources: a capacitor operating at a slow timescale, and a power electronic device, such as a smart inverter or a D-STATCOM, operating at a fast timescale. Their control actions are solved from optimal power flow problems at two timescales. Specifically, the slow-timescale problem is a chance-constrained optimization, which minimizes power loss and regulates the voltage at the current time instant while limiting the probability of future voltage violations due to stochastic changes in power supply or demand. This control framework forms the basis of an optimal sizing problem, which determines the installation capacities of the control devices by minimizing the sum of power loss and capital cost. We develop computationally efficient heuristics to solve the optimal sizing problem and implement real-time control. Numerical experiments show that the proposed sizing and control schemes significantly improve the reliability of voltage control with a moderate increase in cost.

Mixed H2/H∞ distributed robust model predictive control for polytopic uncertain systems subject to actuator saturation and missing measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Yan; Fang, Xiaosheng; Diao, Qingda

2016-03-01

In this paper, we discuss the mixed H2/H∞ distributed robust model predictive control problem for polytopic uncertain systems subject to randomly occurring actuator saturation and packet loss. The global system is decomposed into several subsystems, and all the subsystems are connected by a fixed topology network, which is the definition for the packet loss among the subsystems. To better use the successfully transmitted information via Internet, both the phenomena of actuator saturation and packet loss resulting from the limitation of the communication bandwidth are taken into consideration. A novel distributed controller model is established to account for the actuator saturation and packet loss in a unified representation by using two sets of Bernoulli distributed white sequences with known conditional probabilities. With the nonlinear feedback control law represented by the convex hull of a group of linear feedback laws, the distributed controllers for subsystems are obtained by solving an linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimisation problem. Finally, numerical studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.

Design of Distributed Controllers Seeking Optimal Power Flow Solutions Under Communication Constraints

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

Dall'Anese, Emiliano; Simonetto, Andrea; Dhople, Sairaj

This paper focuses on power distribution networks featuring inverter-interfaced distributed energy resources (DERs), and develops feedback controllers that drive the DER output powers to solutions of time-varying AC optimal power flow (OPF) problems. Control synthesis is grounded on primal-dual-type methods for regularized Lagrangian functions, as well as linear approximations of the AC power-flow equations. Convergence and OPF-solution-tracking capabilities are established while acknowledging: i) communication-packet losses, and ii) partial updates of control signals. The latter case is particularly relevant since it enables asynchronous operation of the controllers where DER setpoints are updated at a fast time scale based on local voltagemore » measurements, and information on the network state is utilized if and when available, based on communication constraints. As an application, the paper considers distribution systems with high photovoltaic integration, and demonstrates that the proposed framework provides fast voltage-regulation capabilities, while enabling the near real-time pursuit of solutions of AC OPF problems.« less

Design of Distributed Controllers Seeking Optimal Power Flow Solutions under Communication Constraints: Preprint

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

Dall'Anese, Emiliano; Simonetto, Andrea; Dhople, Sairaj

This paper focuses on power distribution networks featuring inverter-interfaced distributed energy resources (DERs), and develops feedback controllers that drive the DER output powers to solutions of time-varying AC optimal power flow (OPF) problems. Control synthesis is grounded on primal-dual-type methods for regularized Lagrangian functions, as well as linear approximations of the AC power-flow equations. Convergence and OPF-solution-tracking capabilities are established while acknowledging: i) communication-packet losses, and ii) partial updates of control signals. The latter case is particularly relevant since it enables asynchronous operation of the controllers where DER setpoints are updated at a fast time scale based on local voltagemore » measurements, and information on the network state is utilized if and when available, based on communication constraints. As an application, the paper considers distribution systems with high photovoltaic integration, and demonstrates that the proposed framework provides fast voltage-regulation capabilities, while enabling the near real-time pursuit of solutions of AC OPF problems.« less

Impact of spatio-temporal scale of adjustment on variational assimilation of hydrologic and hydrometeorological data in operational distributed hydrologic models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, H.; Seo, D.; McKee, P.; Corby, R.

2009-12-01

One of the large challenges in data assimilation (DA) into distributed hydrologic models is to reduce the large degrees of freedom involved in the inverse problem to avoid overfitting. To assess the sensitivity of the performance of DA to the dimensionality of the inverse problem, we design and carry out real-world experiments in which the control vector in variational DA (VAR) is solved at different scales in space and time, e.g., lumped, semi-distributed, and fully-distributed in space, and hourly, 6 hourly, etc., in time. The size of the control vector is related to the degrees of freedom in the inverse problem. For the assessment, we use the prototype 4-dimenational variational data assimilator (4DVAR) that assimilates streamflow, precipitation and potential evaporation data into the NWS Hydrology Laboratory’s Research Distributed Hydrologic Model (HL-RDHM). In this talk, we present the initial results for a number of basins in Oklahoma and Texas.

Discrete-time entropy formulation of optimal and adaptive control problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsai, Yweting A.; Casiello, Francisco A.; Loparo, Kenneth A.

1992-01-01

The discrete-time version of the entropy formulation of optimal control of problems developed by G. N. Saridis (1988) is discussed. Given a dynamical system, the uncertainty in the selection of the control is characterized by the probability distribution (density) function which maximizes the total entropy. The equivalence between the optimal control problem and the optimal entropy problem is established, and the total entropy is decomposed into a term associated with the certainty equivalent control law, the entropy of estimation, and the so-called equivocation of the active transmission of information from the controller to the estimator. This provides a useful framework for studying the certainty equivalent and adaptive control laws.

Cooperative Adaptive Output Regulation for Second-Order Nonlinear Multiagent Systems With Jointly Connected Switching Networks.

PubMed

Liu, Wei; Huang, Jie

2018-03-01

This paper studies the cooperative global robust output regulation problem for a class of heterogeneous second-order nonlinear uncertain multiagent systems with jointly connected switching networks. The main contributions consist of the following three aspects. First, we generalize the result of the adaptive distributed observer from undirected jointly connected switching networks to directed jointly connected switching networks. Second, by performing a new coordinate and input transformation, we convert our problem into the cooperative global robust stabilization problem of a more complex augmented system via the distributed internal model principle. Third, we solve the stabilization problem by a distributed state feedback control law. Our result is illustrated by the leader-following consensus problem for a group of Van der Pol oscillators.

Feedback control for unsteady flow and its application to the stochastic Burgers equation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choi, Haecheon; Temam, Roger; Moin, Parviz; Kim, John

1993-01-01

The study applies mathematical methods of control theory to the problem of control of fluid flow with the long-range objective of developing effective methods for the control of turbulent flows. Model problems are employed through the formalism and language of control theory to present the procedure of how to cast the problem of controlling turbulence into a problem in optimal control theory. Methods of calculus of variations through the adjoint state and gradient algorithms are used to present a suboptimal control and feedback procedure for stationary and time-dependent problems. Two types of controls are investigated: distributed and boundary controls. Several cases of both controls are numerically simulated to investigate the performances of the control algorithm. Most cases considered show significant reductions of the costs to be minimized. The dependence of the control algorithm on the time-descretization method is discussed.

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

Phase transitions in distributed control systems with multiplicative noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allegra, Nicolas; Bamieh, Bassam; Mitra, Partha; Sire, Clément

2018-01-01

Contemporary technological challenges often involve many degrees of freedom in a distributed or networked setting. Three aspects are notable: the variables are usually associated with the nodes of a graph with limited communication resources, hindering centralized control; the communication is subject to noise; and the number of variables can be very large. These three aspects make tools and techniques from statistical physics particularly suitable for the performance analysis of such networked systems in the limit of many variables (analogous to the thermodynamic limit in statistical physics). Perhaps not surprisingly, phase-transition like phenomena appear in these systems, where a sharp change in performance can be observed with a smooth parameter variation, with the change becoming discontinuous or singular in the limit of infinite system size. In this paper, we analyze the so called network consensus problem, prototypical of the above considerations, that has previously been analyzed mostly in the context of additive noise. We show that qualitatively new phase-transition like phenomena appear for this problem in the presence of multiplicative noise. Depending on dimensions, and on the presence or absence of a conservation law, the system performance shows a discontinuous change at a threshold value of the multiplicative noise strength. In the absence of the conservation law, and for graph spectral dimension less than two, the multiplicative noise threshold (the stability margin of the control problem) is zero. This is reminiscent of the absence of robust controllers for certain classes of centralized control problems. Although our study involves a ‘toy’ model, we believe that the qualitative features are generic, with implications for the robust stability of distributed control systems, as well as the effect of roundoff errors and communication noise on distributed algorithms.

Feedback brake distribution control for minimum pitch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tavernini, Davide; Velenis, Efstathios; Longo, Stefano

2017-06-01

The distribution of brake forces between front and rear axles of a vehicle is typically specified such that the same level of brake force coefficient is imposed at both front and rear wheels. This condition is known as 'ideal' distribution and it is required to deliver the maximum vehicle deceleration and minimum braking distance. For subcritical braking conditions, the deceleration demand may be delivered by different distributions between front and rear braking forces. In this research we show how to obtain the optimal distribution which minimises the pitch angle of a vehicle and hence enhances driver subjective feel during braking. A vehicle model including suspension geometry features is adopted. The problem of the minimum pitch brake distribution for a varying deceleration level demand is solved by means of a model predictive control (MPC) technique. To address the problem of the undesirable pitch rebound caused by a full-stop of the vehicle, a second controller is designed and implemented independently from the braking distribution in use. An extended Kalman filter is designed for state estimation and implemented in a high fidelity environment together with the MPC strategy. The proposed solution is compared with the reference 'ideal' distribution as well as another previous feed-forward solution.

Coordinating complex problem-solving among distributed intelligent agents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adler, Richard M.

1992-01-01

A process-oriented control model is described for distributed problem solving. The model coordinates the transfer and manipulation of information across independent networked applications, both intelligent and conventional. The model was implemented using SOCIAL, a set of object-oriented tools for distributing computing. Complex sequences of distributed tasks are specified in terms of high level scripts. Scripts are executed by SOCIAL objects called Manager Agents, which realize an intelligent coordination model that routes individual tasks to suitable server applications across the network. These tools are illustrated in a prototype distributed system for decision support of ground operations for NASA's Space Shuttle fleet.

Development of a process control computer device for the adaptation of flexible wind tunnel walls

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barg, J.

1982-01-01

In wind tunnel tests, the problems arise of determining the wall pressure distribution, calculating the wall contour, and controlling adjustment of the walls. This report shows how these problems have been solved for the high speed wind tunnel of the Technical University of Berlin.

Automation of multi-agent control for complex dynamic systems in heterogeneous computational network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oparin, Gennady; Feoktistov, Alexander; Bogdanova, Vera; Sidorov, Ivan

2017-01-01

The rapid progress of high-performance computing entails new challenges related to solving large scientific problems for various subject domains in a heterogeneous distributed computing environment (e.g., a network, Grid system, or Cloud infrastructure). The specialists in the field of parallel and distributed computing give the special attention to a scalability of applications for problem solving. An effective management of the scalable application in the heterogeneous distributed computing environment is still a non-trivial issue. Control systems that operate in networks, especially relate to this issue. We propose a new approach to the multi-agent management for the scalable applications in the heterogeneous computational network. The fundamentals of our approach are the integrated use of conceptual programming, simulation modeling, network monitoring, multi-agent management, and service-oriented programming. We developed a special framework for an automation of the problem solving. Advantages of the proposed approach are demonstrated on the parametric synthesis example of the static linear regulator for complex dynamic systems. Benefits of the scalable application for solving this problem include automation of the multi-agent control for the systems in a parallel mode with various degrees of its detailed elaboration.

Active vibration mitigation of distributed parameter, smart-type structures using Pseudo-Feedback Optimal Control (PFOC)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patten, W. N.; Robertshaw, H. H.; Pierpont, D.; Wynn, R. H.

1989-01-01

A new, near-optimal feedback control technique is introduced that is shown to provide excellent vibration attenuation for those distributed parameter systems that are often encountered in the areas of aeroservoelasticity and large space systems. The technique relies on a novel solution methodology for the classical optimal control problem. Specifically, the quadratic regulator control problem for a flexible vibrating structure is first cast in a weak functional form that admits an approximate solution. The necessary conditions (first-order) are then solved via a time finite-element method. The procedure produces a low dimensional, algebraic parameterization of the optimal control problem that provides a rigorous basis for a discrete controller with a first-order like hold output. Simulation has shown that the algorithm can successfully control a wide variety of plant forms including multi-input/multi-output systems and systems exhibiting significant nonlinearities. In order to firmly establish the efficacy of the algorithm, a laboratory control experiment was implemented to provide planar (bending) vibration attenuation of a highly flexible beam (with a first clamped-free mode of approximately 0.5 Hz).

Integrating autonomous distributed control into a human-centric C4ISR environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Straub, Jeremy

2017-05-01

This paper considers incorporating autonomy into human-centric Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) environments. Specifically, it focuses on identifying ways that current autonomy technologies can augment human control and the challenges presented by additive autonomy. Three approaches to this challenge are considered, stemming from prior work in two converging areas. In the first, the problem is approached as augmenting what humans currently do with automation. In the alternate approach, the problem is approached as treating humans as actors within a cyber-physical system-of-systems (stemming from robotic distributed computing). A third approach, combines elements of both of the aforementioned.

A Distributed Dynamic Programming-Based Solution for Load Management in Smart Grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wei; Xu, Yinliang; Li, Sisi; Zhou, MengChu; Liu, Wenxin; Xu, Ying

2018-03-01

Load management is being recognized as an important option for active user participation in the energy market. Traditional load management methods usually require a centralized powerful control center and a two-way communication network between the system operators and energy end-users. The increasing user participation in smart grids may limit their applications. In this paper, a distributed solution for load management in emerging smart grids is proposed. The load management problem is formulated as a constrained optimization problem aiming at maximizing the overall utility of users while meeting the requirement for load reduction requested by the system operator, and is solved by using a distributed dynamic programming algorithm. The algorithm is implemented via a distributed framework and thus can deliver a highly desired distributed solution. It avoids the required use of a centralized coordinator or control center, and can achieve satisfactory outcomes for load management. Simulation results with various test systems demonstrate its effectiveness.

Energy Management Policies in Distributed Residential Energy Systems

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

Duan, Sisi; Sun, Jingtao

2016-01-01

In this paper, we study energy management problems in communities with several neighborhood-level Residential Energy Systems (RESs). We consider control problems from both community level and residential level to handle external changes such as restriction on peak demand and restriction on the total demand from the electricity grid. We propose three policies to handle the problems at community level. Based on the collected data from RESs such as predicted energy load, the community controller analyzes the policies, distribute the results to the RES, and each RES can then control and schedule its own energy load based on different coordination functions.more » We utilize a framework to integrate both policy analysis and coordination of functions. With the use of our approach, we show that the policies are useful to resolve the challenges of energy management under external changes.« less

A distributed programming environment for Ada

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brennan, Peter; Mcdonnell, Tom; Mcfarland, Gregory; Timmins, Lawrence J.; Litke, John D.

1986-01-01

Despite considerable commercial exploitation of fault tolerance systems, significant and difficult research problems remain in such areas as fault detection and correction. A research project is described which constructs a distributed computing test bed for loosely coupled computers. The project is constructing a tool kit to support research into distributed control algorithms, including a distributed Ada compiler, distributed debugger, test harnesses, and environment monitors. The Ada compiler is being written in Ada and will implement distributed computing at the subsystem level. The design goal is to provide a variety of control mechanics for distributed programming while retaining total transparency at the code level.

Optimal control of first order distributed systems. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, T. L.

1972-01-01

The problem of characterizing optimal controls for a class of distributed-parameter systems is considered. The system dynamics are characterized mathematically by a finite number of coupled partial differential equations involving first-order time and space derivatives of the state variables, which are constrained at the boundary by a finite number of algebraic relations. Multiple control inputs, extending over the entire spatial region occupied by the system ("distributed controls') are to be designed so that the response of the system is optimal. A major example involving boundary control of an unstable low-density plasma is developed from physical laws.

Learner-Controlled Scaffolding Linked to Open-Ended Problems in a Digital Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edson, Alden Jack

2017-01-01

This exploratory study reports on how students activated learner-controlled scaffolding and navigated through sequences of connected problems in a digital learning environment. A design experiment was completed to (re)design, iteratively develop, test, and evaluate a digital version of an instructional unit focusing on binomial distributions and…

Distributed Optimization for a Class of Nonlinear Multiagent Systems With Disturbance Rejection.

PubMed

Wang, Xinghu; Hong, Yiguang; Ji, Haibo

2016-07-01

The paper studies the distributed optimization problem for a class of nonlinear multiagent systems in the presence of external disturbances. To solve the problem, we need to achieve the optimal multiagent consensus based on local cost function information and neighboring information and meanwhile to reject local disturbance signals modeled by an exogenous system. With convex analysis and the internal model approach, we propose a distributed optimization controller for heterogeneous and nonlinear agents in the form of continuous-time minimum-phase systems with unity relative degree. We prove that the proposed design can solve the exact optimization problem with rejecting disturbances.

Distributed automatic control of technological processes in conditions of weightlessness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kukhtenko, A. I.; Merkulov, V. I.; Samoylenko, Y. I.; Ladikov-Royev, Y. P.

1986-01-01

Some problems associated with the automatic control of liquid metal and plasma systems under conditions of weightlessness are examined, with particular reference to the problem of stability of liquid equilibrium configurations. The theoretical fundamentals of automatic control of processes in electrically conducting continuous media are outlined, and means of using electromagnetic fields for simulating technological processes in a space environment are discussed.

Finite element approximation of an optimal control problem for the von Karman equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hou, L. Steven; Turner, James C.

1994-01-01

This paper is concerned with optimal control problems for the von Karman equations with distributed controls. We first show that optimal solutions exist. We then show that Lagrange multipliers may be used to enforce the constraints and derive an optimality system from which optimal states and controls may be deduced. Finally we define finite element approximations of solutions for the optimality system and derive error estimates for the approximations.

Distributed finite-time containment control for double-integrator multiagent systems.

PubMed

Wang, Xiangyu; Li, Shihua; Shi, Peng

2014-09-01

In this paper, the distributed finite-time containment control problem for double-integrator multiagent systems with multiple leaders and external disturbances is discussed. In the presence of multiple dynamic leaders, by utilizing the homogeneous control technique, a distributed finite-time observer is developed for the followers to estimate the weighted average of the leaders' velocities at first. Then, based on the estimates and the generalized adding a power integrator approach, distributed finite-time containment control algorithms are designed to guarantee that the states of the followers converge to the dynamic convex hull spanned by those of the leaders in finite time. Moreover, as a special case of multiple dynamic leaders with zero velocities, the proposed containment control algorithms also work for the case of multiple stationary leaders without using the distributed observer. Simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithms.

Enabling Controlling Complex Networks with Local Topological Information.

PubMed

Li, Guoqi; Deng, Lei; Xiao, Gaoxi; Tang, Pei; Wen, Changyun; Hu, Wuhua; Pei, Jing; Shi, Luping; Stanley, H Eugene

2018-03-15

Complex networks characterize the nature of internal/external interactions in real-world systems including social, economic, biological, ecological, and technological networks. Two issues keep as obstacles to fulfilling control of large-scale networks: structural controllability which describes the ability to guide a dynamical system from any initial state to any desired final state in finite time, with a suitable choice of inputs; and optimal control, which is a typical control approach to minimize the cost for driving the network to a predefined state with a given number of control inputs. For large complex networks without global information of network topology, both problems remain essentially open. Here we combine graph theory and control theory for tackling the two problems in one go, using only local network topology information. For the structural controllability problem, a distributed local-game matching method is proposed, where every node plays a simple Bayesian game with local information and local interactions with adjacent nodes, ensuring a suboptimal solution at a linear complexity. Starring from any structural controllability solution, a minimizing longest control path method can efficiently reach a good solution for the optimal control in large networks. Our results provide solutions for distributed complex network control and demonstrate a way to link the structural controllability and optimal control together.

Benchmark Problems for Spacecraft Formation Flying Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carpenter, J. Russell; Leitner, Jesse A.; Burns, Richard D.; Folta, David C.

2003-01-01

To provide high-level focus to distributed space system flight dynamics and control research, several benchmark problems are suggested. These problems are not specific to any current or proposed mission, but instead are intended to capture high-level features that would be generic to many similar missions.

Lexical Problems in Large Distributed Information Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berkovich, Simon Ya; Shneiderman, Ben

1980-01-01

Suggests a unified concept of a lexical subsystem as part of an information system to deal with lexical problems in local and network environments. The linguistic and control functions of the lexical subsystems in solving problems for large computer systems are described, and references are included. (Author/BK)

Advanced control concepts. [for shuttle ascent vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sharp, J. B.; Coppey, J. M.

1973-01-01

The problems of excess control devices and insufficient trim control capability on shuttle ascent vehicles were investigated. The trim problem is solved at all time points of interest using Lagrangian multipliers and a Simplex based iterative algorithm developed as a result of the study. This algorithm has the capability to solve any bounded linear problem with physically realizable constraints, and to minimize any piecewise differentiable cost function. Both solution methods also automatically distribute the command torques to the control devices. It is shown that trim requirements are unrealizable if only the orbiter engines and the aerodynamic surfaces are used.

LMI-Based Fuzzy Optimal Variance Control of Airfoil Model Subject to Input Constraints

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swei, Sean S.M.; Ayoubi, Mohammad A.

2017-01-01

This paper presents a study of fuzzy optimal variance control problem for dynamical systems subject to actuator amplitude and rate constraints. Using Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy modeling and dynamic Parallel Distributed Compensation technique, the stability and the constraints can be cast as a multi-objective optimization problem in the form of Linear Matrix Inequalities. By utilizing the formulations and solutions for the input and output variance constraint problems, we develop a fuzzy full-state feedback controller. The stability and performance of the proposed controller is demonstrated through its application to the airfoil flutter suppression.

Approximation theory for LQG (Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian) optimal control of flexible structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gibson, J. S.; Adamian, A.

1988-01-01

An approximation theory is presented for the LQG (Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian) optimal control problem for flexible structures whose distributed models have bounded input and output operators. The main purpose of the theory is to guide the design of finite dimensional compensators that approximate closely the optimal compensator. The optimal LQG problem separates into an optimal linear-quadratic regulator problem and an optimal state estimation problem. The solution of the former problem lies in the solution to an infinite dimensional Riccati operator equation. The approximation scheme approximates the infinite dimensional LQG problem with a sequence of finite dimensional LQG problems defined for a sequence of finite dimensional, usually finite element or modal, approximations of the distributed model of the structure. Two Riccati matrix equations determine the solution to each approximating problem. The finite dimensional equations for numerical approximation are developed, including formulas for converting matrix control and estimator gains to their functional representation to allow comparison of gains based on different orders of approximation. Convergence of the approximating control and estimator gains and of the corresponding finite dimensional compensators is studied. Also, convergence and stability of the closed-loop systems produced with the finite dimensional compensators are discussed. The convergence theory is based on the convergence of the solutions of the finite dimensional Riccati equations to the solutions of the infinite dimensional Riccati equations. A numerical example with a flexible beam, a rotating rigid body, and a lumped mass is given.

Coordinated control of micro-grid based on distributed moving horizon control.

PubMed

Ma, Miaomiao; Shao, Liyang; Liu, Xiangjie

2018-05-01

This paper proposed the distributed moving horizon coordinated control scheme for the power balance and economic dispatch problems of micro-grid based on distributed generation. We design the power coordinated controller for each subsystem via moving horizon control by minimizing a suitable objective function. The objective function of distributed moving horizon coordinated controller is chosen based on the principle that wind power subsystem has the priority to generate electricity while photovoltaic power generation coordinates with wind power subsystem and the battery is only activated to meet the load demand when necessary. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed distributed moving horizon coordinated controller can allocate the output power of two generation subsystems reasonably under varying environment conditions, which not only can satisfy the load demand but also limit excessive fluctuations of output power to protect the power generation equipment. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Model Predictive Control-based Optimal Coordination of Distributed Energy Resources

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

Mayhorn, Ebony T.; Kalsi, Karanjit; Lian, Jianming

2013-01-07

Distributed energy resources, such as renewable energy resources (wind, solar), energy storage and demand response, can be used to complement conventional generators. The uncertainty and variability due to high penetration of wind makes reliable system operations and controls challenging, especially in isolated systems. 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 performance. The goals of the optimization problem are to minimize fuel costs and maximize the utilization of wind while considering equipment life of generators and energy storage. Model predictive controlmore » (MPC) is used to solve a look-ahead dispatch optimization problem and the performance is compared to an open loop look-ahead dispatch problem. Simulation studies are performed to demonstrate the efficacy of the closed loop MPC in compensating for uncertainties and variability caused in the system.« less

Model Predictive Control-based Optimal Coordination of Distributed Energy Resources

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

Mayhorn, Ebony T.; Kalsi, Karanjit; Lian, Jianming

2013-04-03

Distributed energy resources, such as renewable energy resources (wind, solar), energy storage and demand response, can be used to complement conventional generators. The uncertainty and variability due to high penetration of wind makes reliable system operations and controls challenging, especially in isolated systems. 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 performance. The goals of the optimization problem are to minimize fuel costs and maximize the utilization of wind while considering equipment life of generators and energy storage. Model predictive controlmore » (MPC) is used to solve a look-ahead dispatch optimization problem and the performance is compared to an open loop look-ahead dispatch problem. Simulation studies are performed to demonstrate the efficacy of the closed loop MPC in compensating for uncertainties and variability caused in the system.« less

A Study on the Control of Third Generation Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davison, E. J.; Gesing, W.

1985-01-01

An overview of some studies which have recently been carried out on the control of third generation spcecraft, as modelled by the MSAT space vehicle configuration, is made. This spacecraft is highly nonsymmetrical and has appendages which cannot in general be assumed to be rigid. In particular, it is desired to design a controller for MSAT which stabilizes the system and satisfies certain attitude control, shape control, and possibly stationkeeping requirements; in addition, it is desired that the resultant controller should be robust and avoid any undesirable spill over effects. In addition, the controller obtained should have minimum complexity. The method of solution adopted to solve this class of problems is to formulate the problem as a robust servomechanism problem, and thence to obtain existence conditions and a controller characterization to solve the problem. The final controller obtained for MSAT has a distributed control configuration and appears to be quite satisfactory.

The active control strategy on the output power for photovoltaic-storage systems based on extended PQ-QV-PV Node

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Chen; Zhou, Bao-Rong; Zhai, Jian-Wei; Zhang, Yong-Jun; Yi, Ying-Qi

2017-05-01

In order to solve the problem of voltage exceeding specified limits and improve the penetration of photovoltaic in distribution network, we can make full use of the active power regulation ability of energy storage(ES) and the reactive power regulation ability of grid-connected photovoltaic inverter to provide support of active power and reactive power for distribution network. A strategy of actively controlling the output power for photovoltaic-storage system based on extended PQ-QV-PV node by analyzing the voltage regulating mechanism of point of commom coupling(PCC) of photovoltaic with energy storage(PVES) by controlling photovoltaic inverter and energy storage. The strategy set a small wave range of voltage to every photovoltaic by making the type of PCC convert among PQ, PV and QV. The simulation results indicate that the active control method can provide a better solution to the problem of voltage exceeding specified limits when photovoltaic is connectted to electric distribution network.

Optimizing the sequence of diameter distributions and selection harvests for uneven-aged stand management

Treesearch

Robert G. Haight; J. Douglas Brodie; Darius M. Adams

1985-01-01

The determination of an optimal sequence of diameter distributions and selection harvests for uneven-aged stand management is formulated as a discrete-time optimal-control problem with bounded control variables and free-terminal point. An efficient programming technique utilizing gradients provides solutions that are stable and interpretable on the basis of economic...

Neural network-based distributed attitude coordination control for spacecraft formation flying with input saturation.

PubMed

Zou, An-Min; Kumar, Krishna Dev

2012-07-01

This brief considers the attitude coordination control problem for spacecraft formation flying when only a subset of the group members has access to the common reference attitude. A quaternion-based distributed attitude coordination control scheme is proposed with consideration of the input saturation and with the aid of the sliding-mode observer, separation principle theorem, Chebyshev neural networks, smooth projection algorithm, and robust control technique. Using graph theory and a Lyapunov-based approach, it is shown that the distributed controller can guarantee the attitude of all spacecraft to converge to a common time-varying reference attitude when the reference attitude is available only to a portion of the group of spacecraft. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed distributed controller.

A Petri net controller for distributed hierarchical systems. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peck, Joseph E.

1991-01-01

The solutions to a wide variety of problems are often best organized as a distributed hierarchical system. These systems can be graphically and mathematically modeled through the use of Petri nets, which can easily represent synchronous, asynchronous, and concurrent operations. This thesis presents a controller implementation based on Petri nets and a design methodology for the interconnection of distributed Petri nets. Two case studies are presented in which the controller operates a physical system, the Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration Dual Arm Robotic Testbed.

Adolescent mental health and earnings inequalities in adulthood: evidence from the Young-HUNT Study.

PubMed

Evensen, Miriam; Lyngstad, Torkild Hovde; Melkevik, Ole; Reneflot, Anne; Mykletun, Arnstein

2017-02-01

Previous studies have shown that adolescent mental health problems are associated with lower employment probabilities and risk of unemployment. The evidence on how earnings are affected is much weaker, and few have addressed whether any association reflects unobserved characteristics and whether the consequences of mental health problems vary across the earnings distribution. A population-based Norwegian health survey linked to administrative registry data (N=7885) was used to estimate how adolescents' mental health problems (separate indicators of internalising, conduct, and attention problems and total sum scores) affect earnings (≥30 years) in young adulthood. We used linear regression with fixed-effects models comparing either students within schools or siblings within families. Unconditional quantile regressions were used to explore differentials across the earnings distribution. Mental health problems in adolescence reduce average earnings in adulthood, and associations are robust to control for observed family background and school fixed effects. For some, but not all mental health problems, associations are also robust in sibling fixed-effects models, where all stable family factors are controlled. Further, we found much larger earnings loss below the 25th centile. Adolescent mental health problems reduce adult earnings, especially among individuals in the lower tail of the earnings distribution. Preventing mental health problems in adolescence may increase future earnings. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Design of distributed systems of hydrolithosphere processes management. A synthesis of distributed management systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pershin, I. M.; Pervukhin, D. A.; Ilyushin, Y. V.; Afanaseva, O. V.

2017-10-01

The paper considers an important problem of designing distributed systems of hydrolithosphere processes management. The control actions on the hydrolithosphere processes under consideration are implemented by a set of extractive wells. The article shows the method of defining the approximation links for description of the dynamic characteristics of hydrolithosphere processes. The structure of distributed regulators, used in the management systems by the considered processes, is presented. The paper analyses the results of the synthesis of the distributed management system and the results of modelling the closed-loop control system by the parameters of the hydrolithosphere process.

Distributed autonomous systems: resource management, planning, and control algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, James F., III; Nguyen, ThanhVu H.

2005-05-01

Distributed autonomous systems, i.e., systems that have separated distributed components, each of which, exhibit some degree of autonomy are increasingly providing solutions to naval and other DoD problems. Recently developed control, planning and resource allocation algorithms for two types of distributed autonomous systems will be discussed. The first distributed autonomous system (DAS) to be discussed consists of a collection of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are under fuzzy logic control. The UAVs fly and conduct meteorological sampling in a coordinated fashion determined by their fuzzy logic controllers to determine the atmospheric index of refraction. Once in flight no human intervention is required. A fuzzy planning algorithm determines the optimal trajectory, sampling rate and pattern for the UAVs and an interferometer platform while taking into account risk, reliability, priority for sampling in certain regions, fuel limitations, mission cost, and related uncertainties. The real-time fuzzy control algorithm running on each UAV will give the UAV limited autonomy allowing it to change course immediately without consulting with any commander, request other UAVs to help it, alter its sampling pattern and rate when observing interesting phenomena, or to terminate the mission and return to base. The algorithms developed will be compared to a resource manager (RM) developed for another DAS problem related to electronic attack (EA). This RM is based on fuzzy logic and optimized by evolutionary algorithms. It allows a group of dissimilar platforms to use EA resources distributed throughout the group. For both DAS types significant theoretical and simulation results will be presented.

Feasibility of Decentralized Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian Control of Autonomous Distributed Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carpenter, J. Russell

1999-01-01

A distributed satellite formation, modeled as an arbitrary number of fully connected nodes in a network, could be controlled using a decentralized controller framework that distributes operations in parallel over the network. For such problems, a solution that minimizes data transmission requirements, in the context of linear-quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) control theory, was given by Speyer. This approach is advantageous because it is non-hierarchical, detected failures gracefully degrade system performance, fewer local computations are required than for a centralized controller, and it is optimal with respect to the standard LQG cost function. Disadvantages of the approach are the need for a fully connected communications network, the total operations performed over all the nodes are greater than for a centralized controller, and the approach is formulated for linear time-invariant systems. To investigate the feasibility of the decentralized approach to satellite formation flying, a simple centralized LQG design for a spacecraft orbit control problem is adapted to the decentralized framework. The simple design uses a fixed reference trajectory (an equatorial, Keplerian, circular orbit), and by appropriate choice of coordinates and measurements is formulated as a linear time-invariant system.

Learning Search Control Knowledge for Deep Space Network Scheduling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gratch, Jonathan; Chien, Steve; DeJong, Gerald

1993-01-01

While the general class of most scheduling problems is NP-hard in worst-case complexity, in practice, for specific distributions of problems and constraints, domain-specific solutions have been shown to perform in much better than exponential time.

Distributed Constrained Optimization with Semicoordinate Transformations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macready, William; Wolpert, David

2006-01-01

Recent work has shown how information theory extends conventional full-rationality game theory to allow bounded rational agents. The associated mathematical framework can be used to solve constrained optimization problems. This is done by translating the problem into an iterated game, where each agent controls a different variable of the problem, so that the joint probability distribution across the agents moves gives an expected value of the objective function. The dynamics of the agents is designed to minimize a Lagrangian function of that joint distribution. Here we illustrate how the updating of the Lagrange parameters in the Lagrangian is a form of automated annealing, which focuses the joint distribution more and more tightly about the joint moves that optimize the objective function. We then investigate the use of "semicoordinate" variable transformations. These separate the joint state of the agents from the variables of the optimization problem, with the two connected by an onto mapping. We present experiments illustrating the ability of such transformations to facilitate optimization. We focus on the special kind of transformation in which the statistically independent states of the agents induces a mixture distribution over the optimization variables. Computer experiment illustrate this for &sat constraint satisfaction problems and for unconstrained minimization of NK functions.

The Shock and Vibration Digest, Volume 18, Number 3

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-03-01

Linear Distributed Parameter Des., Proc. Intl. Symp., 11th ONR Naval Struc. Systems by Shifted Legendre Polynomial Func- Mech. Symp., Tucson, AZ, pp...University, Atlanta, Georgia nonlinear problems with elementary algebra . It J. Sound Vib., 102 (2), pp 247-257 (Sept 22, uses i = -1, the Pascal’s...eigenvalues specified. The optimal avoid failure due to resonance under the action control problem of a linear distributed parameter 0School of Mechanical

A hierarchical distributed control model for coordinating intelligent systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adler, Richard M.

1991-01-01

A hierarchical distributed control (HDC) model for coordinating cooperative problem-solving among intelligent systems is described. The model was implemented using SOCIAL, an innovative object-oriented tool for integrating heterogeneous, distributed software systems. SOCIAL embeds applications in 'wrapper' objects called Agents, which supply predefined capabilities for distributed communication, control, data specification, and translation. The HDC model is realized in SOCIAL as a 'Manager'Agent that coordinates interactions among application Agents. The HDC Manager: indexes the capabilities of application Agents; routes request messages to suitable server Agents; and stores results in a commonly accessible 'Bulletin-Board'. This centralized control model is illustrated in a fault diagnosis application for launch operations support of the Space Shuttle fleet at NASA, Kennedy Space Center.

The use of twin-screen-based WIMPS in spacecraft control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klim, R. D.

1990-10-01

The ergonomic problems of designing a sophisticated Windows Icons Mouse Pop-up (WIMP) based twin screen workstation are outlined. These same problems will be encountered by future spacecraft controllers. The design of a modern, advanced workstation for use on a distributed multicontrol center in a multisatellite control system is outlined. The system uses access control mechanisms to ensure that only authorized personnel can undertake certain operations on the workstation. Rules governing the use of windowing features, screen attributes, icons, keyboard and mouse in spacecraft control are discussed.

Sampled-data-based consensus and containment control of multiple harmonic oscillators: A motion-planning approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yongfang; Zhao, Yu; Chen, Guanrong

2016-11-01

This paper studies the distributed consensus and containment problems for a group of harmonic oscillators with a directed communication topology. First, for consensus without a leader, a class of distributed consensus protocols is designed by using motion planning and Pontryagin's principle. The proposed protocol only requires relative information measurements at the sampling instants, without requiring information exchange over the sampled interval. By using stability theory and the properties of stochastic matrices, it is proved that the distributed consensus problem can be solved in the motion planning framework. Second, for the case with multiple leaders, a class of distributed containment protocols is developed for followers such that their positions and velocities can ultimately converge to the convex hull formed by those of the leaders. Compared with the existing consensus algorithms, a remarkable advantage of the proposed sampled-data-based protocols is that the sampling periods, communication topologies and control gains are all decoupled and can be separately designed, which relaxes many restrictions in controllers design. Finally, some numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the analytical results.

Adaptive, Distributed Control of Constrained Multi-Agent Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bieniawski, Stefan; Wolpert, David H.

2004-01-01

Product Distribution (PO) theory was recently developed as a broad framework for analyzing and optimizing distributed systems. Here we demonstrate its use for adaptive distributed control of Multi-Agent Systems (MASS), i.e., for distributed stochastic optimization using MAS s. First we review one motivation of PD theory, as the information-theoretic extension of conventional full-rationality game theory to the case of bounded rational agents. In this extension the equilibrium of the game is the optimizer of a Lagrangian of the (Probability dist&&on on the joint state of the agents. When the game in question is a team game with constraints, that equilibrium optimizes the expected value of the team game utility, subject to those constraints. One common way to find that equilibrium is to have each agent run a Reinforcement Learning (E) algorithm. PD theory reveals this to be a particular type of search algorithm for minimizing the Lagrangian. Typically that algorithm i s quite inefficient. A more principled alternative is to use a variant of Newton's method to minimize the Lagrangian. Here we compare this alternative to RL-based search in three sets of computer experiments. These are the N Queen s problem and bin-packing problem from the optimization literature, and the Bar problem from the distributed RL literature. Our results confirm that the PD-theory-based approach outperforms the RL-based scheme in all three domains.

Reactive power and voltage control strategy based on dynamic and adaptive segment for DG inverter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhai, Jianwei; Lin, Xiaoming; Zhang, Yongjun

2018-03-01

The inverter of distributed generation (DG) can support reactive power to help solve the problem of out-of-limit voltage in active distribution network (ADN). Therefore, a reactive voltage control strategy based on dynamic and adaptive segment for DG inverter is put forward to actively control voltage in this paper. The proposed strategy adjusts the segmented voltage threshold of Q(U) droop curve dynamically and adaptively according to the voltage of grid-connected point and the power direction of adjacent downstream line. And then the reactive power reference of DG inverter can be got through modified Q(U) control strategy. The reactive power of inverter is controlled to trace the reference value. The proposed control strategy can not only control the local voltage of grid-connected point but also help to maintain voltage within qualified range considering the terminal voltage of distribution feeder and the reactive support for adjacent downstream DG. The scheme using the proposed strategy is compared with the scheme without the reactive support of DG inverter and the scheme using the Q(U) control strategy with constant segmented voltage threshold. The simulation results suggest that the proposed method has a significant improvement on solving the problem of out-of-limit voltage, restraining voltage variation and improving voltage quality.

Shape Optimization for Navier-Stokes Equations with Algebraic Turbulence Model: Numerical Analysis and Computation

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

Haslinger, Jaroslav, E-mail: hasling@karlin.mff.cuni.cz; Stebel, Jan, E-mail: stebel@math.cas.cz

2011-04-15

We study the shape optimization problem for the paper machine headbox which distributes a mixture of water and wood fibers in the paper making process. The aim is to find a shape which a priori ensures the given velocity profile on the outlet part. The mathematical formulation leads to the optimal control problem in which the control variable is the shape of the domain representing the header, the state problem is represented by the generalized Navier-Stokes system with nontrivial boundary conditions. This paper deals with numerical aspects of the problem.

Existence of Optimal Controls for Compressible Viscous Flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doboszczak, Stefan; Mohan, Manil T.; Sritharan, Sivaguru S.

2018-03-01

We formulate a control problem for a distributed parameter system where the state is governed by the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Introducing a suitable cost functional, the existence of an optimal control is established within the framework of strong solutions in three dimensions.

National Space Transportation System telemetry distribution and processing, NASA-JFK Space Center/Cape Canaveral

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jenkins, George

1986-01-01

Prelaunch, launch, mission, and landing distribution of RF and hardline uplink/downlink information between Space Shuttle Orbiter/cargo elements, tracking antennas, and control centers at JSC, KSC, MSFC, GSFC, ESMC/RCC, and Sunnyvale are presented as functional block diagrams. Typical mismatch problems encountered during spacecraft-to-project control center telemetry transmissions are listed along with new items for future support enhancement.

National Space Transportation System telemetry distribution and processing, NASA-JFK Space Center/Cape Canaveral

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenkins, George

Prelaunch, launch, mission, and landing distribution of RF and hardline uplink/downlink information between Space Shuttle Orbiter/cargo elements, tracking antennas, and control centers at JSC, KSC, MSFC, GSFC, ESMC/RCC, and Sunnyvale are presented as functional block diagrams. Typical mismatch problems encountered during spacecraft-to-project control center telemetry transmissions are listed along with new items for future support enhancement.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Center of Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-07-01

that controls impact forces. Robust Location Estimation for MLR and Non-MLR Distributions (Dissertation Proposal) Gerda L. Kamberova MS-CIS-92-28...Bayesian Approach To Computer Vision Problems Gerda L. Kamberova MS-CIS-92-29 GRASP LAB 310 The object of our study is the Bayesian approach in...Estimation for MLR and Non-MLR Distributions (Dissertation) Gerda L. Kamberova MS-CIS-92-93 GRASP LAB 340 We study the problem of estimating an unknown

Adaptive Importance Sampling for Control and Inference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kappen, H. J.; Ruiz, H. C.

2016-03-01

Path integral (PI) control problems are a restricted class of non-linear control problems that can be solved formally as a Feynman-Kac PI and can be estimated using Monte Carlo sampling. In this contribution we review PI control theory in the finite horizon case. We subsequently focus on the problem how to compute and represent control solutions. We review the most commonly used methods in robotics and control. Within the PI theory, the question of how to compute becomes the question of importance sampling. Efficient importance samplers are state feedback controllers and the use of these requires an efficient representation. Learning and representing effective state-feedback controllers for non-linear stochastic control problems is a very challenging, and largely unsolved, problem. We show how to learn and represent such controllers using ideas from the cross entropy method. We derive a gradient descent method that allows to learn feed-back controllers using an arbitrary parametrisation. We refer to this method as the path integral cross entropy method or PICE. We illustrate this method for some simple examples. The PI control methods can be used to estimate the posterior distribution in latent state models. In neuroscience these problems arise when estimating connectivity from neural recording data using EM. We demonstrate the PI control method as an accurate alternative to particle filtering.

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS WITH CORROSION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM INORGANICS

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation provides an overview of new research results and remaining research needs with respect to both corrosion control issues (lead, copper, iron) and to issues of inorganic contaminants that can form or accumulate in distribution system water, pipe scales and distrib...

Distributed convex optimisation with event-triggered communication in networked systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jiayun; Chen, Weisheng

2016-12-01

This paper studies the distributed convex optimisation problem over directed networks. Motivated by practical considerations, we propose a novel distributed zero-gradient-sum optimisation algorithm with event-triggered communication. Therefore, communication and control updates just occur at discrete instants when some predefined condition satisfies. Thus, compared with the time-driven distributed optimisation algorithms, the proposed algorithm has the advantages of less energy consumption and less communication cost. Based on Lyapunov approaches, we show that the proposed algorithm makes the system states asymptotically converge to the solution of the problem exponentially fast and the Zeno behaviour is excluded. Finally, simulation example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Optimal Power Flow Pursuit

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

Dall'Anese, Emiliano; Simonetto, Andrea

This paper considers distribution networks featuring inverter-interfaced distributed energy resources, and develops distributed feedback controllers that continuously drive the inverter output powers to solutions of AC optimal power flow (OPF) problems. Particularly, the controllers update the power setpoints based on voltage measurements as well as given (time-varying) OPF targets, and entail elementary operations implementable onto low-cost microcontrollers that accompany power-electronics interfaces of gateways and inverters. The design of the control framework is based on suitable linear approximations of the AC power-flow equations as well as Lagrangian regularization methods. Convergence and OPF-target tracking capabilities of the controllers are analytically established. Overall,more » the proposed method allows to bypass traditional hierarchical setups where feedback control and optimization operate at distinct time scales, and to enable real-time optimization of distribution systems.« less

Fleet Assignment Using Collective Intelligence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antoine, Nicolas E.; Bieniawski, Stefan R.; Kroo, Ilan M.; Wolpert, David H.

2004-01-01

Product distribution theory is a new collective intelligence-based framework for analyzing and controlling distributed systems. Its usefulness in distributed stochastic optimization is illustrated here through an airline fleet assignment problem. This problem involves the allocation of aircraft to a set of flights legs in order to meet passenger demand, while satisfying a variety of linear and non-linear constraints. Over the course of the day, the routing of each aircraft is determined in order to minimize the number of required flights for a given fleet. The associated flow continuity and aircraft count constraints have led researchers to focus on obtaining quasi-optimal solutions, especially at larger scales. In this paper, the authors propose the application of this new stochastic optimization algorithm to a non-linear objective cold start fleet assignment problem. Results show that the optimizer can successfully solve such highly-constrained problems (130 variables, 184 constraints).

Discrete control of linear distributed systems with application to the deformable primary mirror of a large orbiting telescope. Ph.D. Thesis - Rhode Island Univ.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Creedon, J. F.

1970-01-01

The results are presented of a detailed study of the discrete control of linear distributed systems with specific application to the design of a practical controller for a plant representative of a telescope primary mirror for an orbiting astronomical observatory. The problem of controlling the distributed plant is treated by employing modal techniques to represent variations in the optical figure. Distortion of the mirror surface, which arises primarily from thermal gradients, is countered by actuators working against a backing structure to apply a corrective force distribution to the controlled surface. Each displacement actuator is in series with a spring attached to the mirror by means of a pad intentionally introduced to restrict the excitation of high-order modes. Control is exerted over a finite number of the most significant modes.

Distributed Adaptive Finite-Time Approach for Formation-Containment Control of Networked Nonlinear Systems Under Directed Topology.

PubMed

Wang, Yujuan; Song, Yongduan; Ren, Wei

2017-07-06

This paper presents a distributed adaptive finite-time control solution to the formation-containment problem for multiple networked systems with uncertain nonlinear dynamics and directed communication constraints. By integrating the special topology feature of the new constructed symmetrical matrix, the technical difficulty in finite-time formation-containment control arising from the asymmetrical Laplacian matrix under single-way directed communication is circumvented. Based upon fractional power feedback of the local error, an adaptive distributed control scheme is established to drive the leaders into the prespecified formation configuration in finite time. Meanwhile, a distributed adaptive control scheme, independent of the unavailable inputs of the leaders, is designed to keep the followers within a bounded distance from the moving leaders and then to make the followers enter the convex hull shaped by the formation of the leaders in finite time. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is confirmed by the simulation.

Comparison of Grand Median and Cumulative Sum Control Charts on Shuttlecock Weight Variable in CV Marjoko Kompas dan Domas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Musdalifah, N.; Handajani, S. S.; Zukhronah, E.

2017-06-01

Competition between the homoneous companies cause the company have to keep production quality. To cover this problem, the company controls the production with statistical quality control using control chart. Shewhart control chart is used to normal distributed data. The production data is often non-normal distribution and occured small process shift. Grand median control chart is a control chart for non-normal distributed data, while cumulative sum (cusum) control chart is a sensitive control chart to detect small process shift. The purpose of this research is to compare grand median and cusum control charts on shuttlecock weight variable in CV Marjoko Kompas dan Domas by generating data as the actual distribution. The generated data is used to simulate multiplier of standard deviation on grand median and cusum control charts. Simulation is done to get average run lenght (ARL) 370. Grand median control chart detects ten points that out of control, while cusum control chart detects a point out of control. It can be concluded that grand median control chart is better than cusum control chart.

Coordinated Optimization of Distributed Energy Resources and Smart Loads in Distribution Systems: Preprint

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

Yang, Rui; Zhang, Yingchen

2016-08-01

Distributed energy resources (DERs) and smart loads have the potential to provide flexibility to the distribution system operation. A coordinated optimization approach is proposed in this paper to actively manage DERs and smart loads in distribution systems to achieve the optimal operation status. A three-phase unbalanced Optimal Power Flow (OPF) problem is developed to determine the output from DERs and smart loads with respect to the system operator's control objective. This paper focuses on coordinating PV systems and smart loads to improve the overall voltage profile in distribution systems. Simulations have been carried out in a 12-bus distribution feeder andmore » results illustrate the superior control performance of the proposed approach.« less

Coordinated Optimization of Distributed Energy Resources and Smart Loads in Distribution Systems

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

Yang, Rui; Zhang, Yingchen

2016-11-14

Distributed energy resources (DERs) and smart loads have the potential to provide flexibility to the distribution system operation. A coordinated optimization approach is proposed in this paper to actively manage DERs and smart loads in distribution systems to achieve the optimal operation status. A three-phase unbalanced Optimal Power Flow (OPF) problem is developed to determine the output from DERs and smart loads with respect to the system operator's control objective. This paper focuses on coordinating PV systems and smart loads to improve the overall voltage profile in distribution systems. Simulations have been carried out in a 12-bus distribution feeder andmore » results illustrate the superior control performance of the proposed approach.« less

Optimal Ventilation Control in Complex Urban Tunnels with Multi-Point Pollutant Discharge

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-10-01

Zhen Tan (ORCID ID 0000-0003-1711-3557) H. Oliver Gao (ORCID ID 0000-0002-7861-9634) We propose an optimal ventilation control model for complex urban vehicular tunnels with distributed pollutant discharge points. The control problem is formulated as...

Experiments in structural dynamics and control using a grid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montgomery, R. C.

1985-01-01

Future spacecraft are being conceived that are highly flexible and of extreme size. The two features of flexibility and size pose new problems in control system design. Since large scale structures are not testable in ground based facilities, the decision on component placement must be made prior to full-scale tests on the spacecraft. Control law research is directed at solving problems of inadequate modelling knowledge prior to operation required to achieve peak performance. Another crucial problem addressed is accommodating failures in systems with smart components that are physically distributed on highly flexible structures. Parameter adaptive control is a method of promise that provides on-orbit tuning of the control system to improve performance by upgrading the mathematical model of the spacecraft during operation. Two specific questions are answered in this work. They are: What limits does on-line parameter identification with realistic sensors and actuators place on the ultimate achievable performance of a system in the highly flexible environment? Also, how well must the mathematical model used in on-board analytic redundancy be known and what are the reasonable expectations for advanced redundancy management schemes in the highly flexible and distributed component environment?

Distributed neural control of a hexapod walking vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beer, R. D.; Sterling, L. S.; Quinn, R. D.; Chiel, H. J.; Ritzmann, R.

1989-01-01

There has been a long standing interest in the design of controllers for multilegged vehicles. The approach is to apply distributed control to this problem, rather than using parallel computing of a centralized algorithm. Researchers describe a distributed neural network controller for hexapod locomotion which is based on the neural control of locomotion in insects. The model considers the simplified kinematics with two degrees of freedom per leg, but the model includes the static stability constraint. Through simulation, it is demonstrated that this controller can generate a continuous range of statically stable gaits at different speeds by varying a single control parameter. In addition, the controller is extremely robust, and can continue the function even after several of its elements have been disabled. Researchers are building a small hexapod robot whose locomotion will be controlled by this network. Researchers intend to extend their model to the dynamic control of legs with more than two degrees of freedom by using data on the control of multisegmented insect legs. Another immediate application of this neural control approach is also exhibited in biology: the escape reflex. Advanced robots are being equipped with tactile sensing and machine vision so that the sensory inputs to the robot controller are vast and complex. Neural networks are ideal for a lower level safety reflex controller because of their extremely fast response time. The combination of robotics, computer modeling, and neurobiology has been remarkably fruitful, and is likely to lead to deeper insights into the problems of real time sensorimotor control.

Alternative Architectures for Distributed Cooperative Problem-Solving in the National Airspace System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Phillip J.; Billings, Charles; McCoy, C. Elaine; Orasanu, Judith

1999-01-01

The air traffic management system in the United States is an example of a distributed problem solving system. It has elements of both cooperative and competitive problem-solving. This system includes complex organizations such as Airline Operations Centers (AOCs), the FAA Air Traffic Control Systems Command Center (ATCSCC), and traffic management units (TMUs) at enroute centers and TRACONs, all of which have a major focus on strategic decision-making. It also includes individuals concerned more with tactical decisions (such as air traffic controllers and pilots). The architecture for this system has evolved over time to rely heavily on the distribution of tasks and control authority in order to keep cognitive complexity manageable for any one individual operator, and to provide redundancy (both human and technological) to serve as a safety net to catch the slips or mistakes that any one person or entity might make. Currently, major changes are being considered for this architecture, especially with respect to the locus of control, in an effort to improve efficiency and safety. This paper uses a series of case studies to help evaluate some of these changes from the perspective of system complexity, and to point out possible alternative approaches that might be taken to improve system performance. The paper illustrates the need to maintain a clear understanding of what is required to assure a high level of performance when alternative system architectures and decompositions are developed.

Distributed Secure Coordinated Control for Multiagent Systems Under Strategic Attacks.

PubMed

Feng, Zhi; Wen, Guanghui; Hu, Guoqiang

2017-05-01

This paper studies a distributed secure consensus tracking control problem for multiagent systems subject to strategic cyber attacks modeled by a random Markov process. A hybrid stochastic secure control framework is established for designing a distributed secure control law such that mean-square exponential consensus tracking is achieved. A connectivity restoration mechanism is considered and the properties on attack frequency and attack length rate are investigated, respectively. Based on the solutions of an algebraic Riccati equation and an algebraic Riccati inequality, a procedure to select the control gains is provided and stability analysis is studied by using Lyapunov's method.. The effect of strategic attacks on discrete-time systems is also investigated. Finally, numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of theoretical analysis.

H∞ control for uncertain linear system over networks with Bernoulli data dropout and actuator saturation.

PubMed

Yu, Jimin; Yang, Chenchen; Tang, Xiaoming; Wang, Ping

2018-03-01

This paper investigates the H ∞ control problems for uncertain linear system over networks with random communication data dropout and actuator saturation. The random data dropout process is modeled by a Bernoulli distributed white sequence with a known conditional probability distribution and the actuator saturation is confined in a convex hull by introducing a group of auxiliary matrices. By constructing a quadratic Lyapunov function, effective conditions for the state feedback-based H ∞ controller and the observer-based H ∞ controller are proposed in the form of non-convex matrix inequalities to take the random data dropout and actuator saturation into consideration simultaneously, and the problem of non-convex feasibility is solved by applying cone complementarity linearization (CCL) procedure. Finally, two simulation examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed new design techniques. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Active stability augmentation of large space structures: A stochastic control problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Balakrishnan, A. V.

1987-01-01

A problem in SCOLE is that of slewing an offset antenna on a long flexible beam-like truss attached to the space shuttle, with rather stringent pointing accuracy requirements. The relevant methodology aspects in robust feedback-control design for stability augmentation of the beam using on-board sensors is examined. It is framed as a stochastic control problem, boundary control of a distributed parameter system described by partial differential equations. While the framework is mathematical, the emphasis is still on an engineering solution. An abstract mathematical formulation is developed as a nonlinear wave equation in a Hilbert space. That the system is controllable is shown and a feedback control law that is robust in the sense that it does not require quantitative knowledge of system parameters is developed. The stochastic control problem that arises in instrumenting this law using appropriate sensors is treated. Using an engineering first approximation which is valid for small damping, formulas for optimal choice of the control gain are developed.

Scheduling based on a dynamic resource connection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagiyev, A. E.; Botygin, I. A.; Shersntneva, A. I.; Konyaev, P. A.

2017-02-01

The practical using of distributed computing systems associated with many problems, including troubles with the organization of an effective interaction between the agents located at the nodes of the system, with the specific configuration of each node of the system to perform a certain task, with the effective distribution of the available information and computational resources of the system, with the control of multithreading which implements the logic of solving research problems and so on. The article describes the method of computing load balancing in distributed automatic systems, focused on the multi-agency and multi-threaded data processing. The scheme of the control of processing requests from the terminal devices, providing the effective dynamic scaling of computing power under peak load is offered. The results of the model experiments research of the developed load scheduling algorithm are set out. These results show the effectiveness of the algorithm even with a significant expansion in the number of connected nodes and zoom in the architecture distributed computing system.

Finite-time consensus for multi-agent systems with globally bounded convergence time under directed communication graphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Junjie; Wang, Jin-zhi

2017-09-01

In this paper, we study the finite-time consensus problems with globally bounded convergence time also known as fixed-time consensus problems for multi-agent systems subject to directed communication graphs. Two new distributed control strategies are proposed such that leaderless and leader-follower consensus are achieved with convergence time independent on the initial conditions of the agents. Fixed-time formation generation and formation tracking problems are also solved as the generalizations. Simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the performance of the new controllers.

Leader-Follower Output Synchronization of Linear Heterogeneous Systems With Active Leader Using Reinforcement Learning.

PubMed

Yang, Yongliang; Modares, Hamidreza; Wunsch, Donald C; Yin, Yixin

2018-06-01

This paper develops optimal control protocols for the distributed output synchronization problem of leader-follower multiagent systems with an active leader. Agents are assumed to be heterogeneous with different dynamics and dimensions. The desired trajectory is assumed to be preplanned and is generated by the leader. Other follower agents autonomously synchronize to the leader by interacting with each other using a communication network. The leader is assumed to be active in the sense that it has a nonzero control input so that it can act independently and update its control to keep the followers away from possible danger. A distributed observer is first designed to estimate the leader's state and generate the reference signal for each follower. Then, the output synchronization of leader-follower systems with an active leader is formulated as a distributed optimal tracking problem, and inhomogeneous algebraic Riccati equations (AREs) are derived to solve it. The resulting distributed optimal control protocols not only minimize the steady-state error but also optimize the transient response of the agents. An off-policy reinforcement learning algorithm is developed to solve the inhomogeneous AREs online in real time and without requiring any knowledge of the agents' dynamics. Finally, two simulation examples are conducted to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Cooperative global optimal preview tracking control of linear multi-agent systems: an internal model approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Yanrong; Liao, Fucheng; Deng, Jiamei; Liu, Huiyang

2017-09-01

This paper investigates the cooperative global optimal preview tracking problem of linear multi-agent systems under the assumption that the output of a leader is a previewable periodic signal and the topology graph contains a directed spanning tree. First, a type of distributed internal model is introduced, and the cooperative preview tracking problem is converted to a global optimal regulation problem of an augmented system. Second, an optimal controller, which can guarantee the asymptotic stability of the augmented system, is obtained by means of the standard linear quadratic optimal preview control theory. Third, on the basis of proving the existence conditions of the controller, sufficient conditions are given for the original problem to be solvable, meanwhile a cooperative global optimal controller with error integral and preview compensation is derived. Finally, the validity of theoretical results is demonstrated by a numerical simulation.

Control of Groundwater Remediation Process as Distributed Parameter System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendel, M.; Kovács, T.; Hulkó, G.

2014-12-01

Pollution of groundwater requires the implementation of appropriate solutions which can be deployed for several years. The case of local groundwater contamination and its subsequent spread may result in contamination of drinking water sources or other disasters. This publication aims to design and demonstrate control of pumping wells for a model task of groundwater remediation. The task consists of appropriately spaced soil with input parameters, pumping wells and control system. Model of controlled system is made in the program MODFLOW using the finitedifference method as distributed parameter system. Control problem is solved by DPS Blockset for MATLAB & Simulink.

A definition of the degree of controllability - A criterion for actuator placement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Viswanathan, C. N.; Longman, R. W.; Likins, P. W.

1979-01-01

The unsolved problem of how to control the attitude and shape of future very large flexible satellite structures represents a challenging problem for modern control theory. One aspect of this problem is the question of how to choose the number and locations throughout the spacecraft of the control system actuators. Starting from basic physical considerations, this paper develops a concept of the degree of controllability of a control system, and then develops numerical methods to generate approximate values of the degree of controllability for any spacecraft. These results offer the control system designer a tool which allows him to rank the effectiveness of alternative actuator distributions, and hence to choose the actuator locations on a rational basis. The degree of controllability is shown to take a particularly simple form when the satellite dynamics equations are in modal form. Examples are provided to illustrate the use of the concept on a simple flexible spacecraft.

Weighted Distributions Arising Out of Methods of Ascertainment.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-07-01

control and statistical problems generated by it. In Applications of Statistics, P. R. Krishnaiah (ed.), North-Holland, 1-26. Patil, 0. P. and Ord, J. K...weighted distributions: A survey of their applications. In Aplications of Statistics, P. R. Krishnaiah (ed.), 383-405, North Holland Publishing Company

Multi-agent based control of large-scale complex systems employing distributed dynamic inference engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Daili

Increasing societal demand for automation has led to considerable efforts to control large-scale complex systems, especially in the area of autonomous intelligent control methods. The control system of a large-scale complex system needs to satisfy four system level requirements: robustness, flexibility, reusability, and scalability. Corresponding to the four system level requirements, there arise four major challenges. First, it is difficult to get accurate and complete information. Second, the system may be physically highly distributed. Third, the system evolves very quickly. Fourth, emergent global behaviors of the system can be caused by small disturbances at the component level. The Multi-Agent Based Control (MABC) method as an implementation of distributed intelligent control has been the focus of research since the 1970s, in an effort to solve the above-mentioned problems in controlling large-scale complex systems. However, to the author's best knowledge, all MABC systems for large-scale complex systems with significant uncertainties are problem-specific and thus difficult to extend to other domains or larger systems. This situation is partly due to the control architecture of multiple agents being determined by agent to agent coupling and interaction mechanisms. Therefore, the research objective of this dissertation is to develop a comprehensive, generalized framework for the control system design of general large-scale complex systems with significant uncertainties, with the focus on distributed control architecture design and distributed inference engine design. A Hybrid Multi-Agent Based Control (HyMABC) architecture is proposed by combining hierarchical control architecture and module control architecture with logical replication rings. First, it decomposes a complex system hierarchically; second, it combines the components in the same level as a module, and then designs common interfaces for all of the components in the same module; third, replications are made for critical agents and are organized into logical rings. This architecture maintains clear guidelines for complexity decomposition and also increases the robustness of the whole system. Multiple Sectioned Dynamic Bayesian Networks (MSDBNs) as a distributed dynamic probabilistic inference engine, can be embedded into the control architecture to handle uncertainties of general large-scale complex systems. MSDBNs decomposes a large knowledge-based system into many agents. Each agent holds its partial perspective of a large problem domain by representing its knowledge as a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN). Each agent accesses local evidence from its corresponding local sensors and communicates with other agents through finite message passing. If the distributed agents can be organized into a tree structure, satisfying the running intersection property and d-sep set requirements, globally consistent inferences are achievable in a distributed way. By using different frequencies for local DBN agent belief updating and global system belief updating, it balances the communication cost with the global consistency of inferences. In this dissertation, a fully factorized Boyen-Koller (BK) approximation algorithm is used for local DBN agent belief updating, and the static Junction Forest Linkage Tree (JFLT) algorithm is used for global system belief updating. MSDBNs assume a static structure and a stable communication network for the whole system. However, for a real system, sub-Bayesian networks as nodes could be lost, and the communication network could be shut down due to partial damage in the system. Therefore, on-line and automatic MSDBNs structure formation is necessary for making robust state estimations and increasing survivability of the whole system. A Distributed Spanning Tree Optimization (DSTO) algorithm, a Distributed D-Sep Set Satisfaction (DDSSS) algorithm, and a Distributed Running Intersection Satisfaction (DRIS) algorithm are proposed in this dissertation. Combining these three distributed algorithms and a Distributed Belief Propagation (DBP) algorithm in MSDBNs makes state estimations robust to partial damage in the whole system. Combining the distributed control architecture design and the distributed inference engine design leads to a process of control system design for a general large-scale complex system. As applications of the proposed methodology, the control system design of a simplified ship chilled water system and a notional ship chilled water system have been demonstrated step by step. Simulation results not only show that the proposed methodology gives a clear guideline for control system design for general large-scale complex systems with dynamic and uncertain environment, but also indicate that the combination of MSDBNs and HyMABC can provide excellent performance for controlling general large-scale complex systems.

Distributed Synchronization in Networks of Agent Systems With Nonlinearities and Random Switchings.

PubMed

Tang, Yang; Gao, Huijun; Zou, Wei; Kurths, Jürgen

2013-02-01

In this paper, the distributed synchronization problem of networks of agent systems with controllers and nonlinearities subject to Bernoulli switchings is investigated. Controllers and adaptive updating laws injected in each vertex of networks depend on the state information of its neighborhood. Three sets of Bernoulli stochastic variables are introduced to describe the occurrence probabilities of distributed adaptive controllers, updating laws and nonlinearities, respectively. By the Lyapunov functions method, we show that the distributed synchronization of networks composed of agent systems with multiple randomly occurring nonlinearities, multiple randomly occurring controllers, and multiple randomly occurring updating laws can be achieved in mean square under certain criteria. The conditions derived in this paper can be solved by semi-definite programming. Moreover, by mathematical analysis, we find that the coupling strength, the probabilities of the Bernoulli stochastic variables, and the form of nonlinearities have great impacts on the convergence speed and the terminal control strength. The synchronization criteria and the observed phenomena are demonstrated by several numerical simulation examples. In addition, the advantage of distributed adaptive controllers over conventional adaptive controllers is illustrated.

Resource depletion promotes automatic processing: implications for distribution of practice.

PubMed

Scheel, Matthew H

2010-12-01

Recent models of cognition include two processing systems: an automatic system that relies on associative learning, intuition, and heuristics, and a controlled system that relies on deliberate consideration. Automatic processing requires fewer resources and is more likely when resources are depleted. This study showed that prolonged practice on a resource-depleting mental arithmetic task promoted automatic processing on a subsequent problem-solving task, as evidenced by faster responding and more errors. Distribution of practice effects (0, 60, 120, or 180 sec. between problems) on rigidity also disappeared when groups had equal time on resource-depleting tasks. These results suggest that distribution of practice effects is reducible to resource availability. The discussion includes implications for interpreting discrepancies in the traditional distribution of practice effect.

Flow Distribution Control Characteristics in Marine Gas Turbine Waste- Heat Recovery Systems. Phase 2. Flow Distribution Control in Waste-Heat Steam Generators

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-07-01

waste-heat steam generators. The applicable steam generator design concepts and general design consideration were reviewed and critical problems...a once-through forced-circulation steam generator design should be selected because of stability, reliability, compact- ness and lightweight...consists of three sections and one appendix. In Section I, the applicable steam generator design conccpts and general design * considerations are reviewed

Suboptimal distributed control and estimation: application to a four coupled tanks system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orihuela, Luis; Millán, Pablo; Vivas, Carlos; Rubio, Francisco R.

2016-06-01

The paper proposes an innovative estimation and control scheme that enables the distributed monitoring and control of large-scale processes. The proposed approach considers a discrete linear time-invariant process controlled by a network of agents that may both collect information about the evolution of the plant and apply control actions to drive its behaviour. The problem makes full sense when local observability/controllability is not assumed and the communication between agents can be exploited to reach system-wide goals. Additionally, to reduce agents bandwidth requirements and power consumption, an event-based communication policy is studied. The design procedure guarantees system stability, allowing the designer to trade-off performance, control effort and communication requirements. The obtained controllers and observers are implemented in a fully distributed fashion. To illustrate the performance of the proposed technique, experimental results on a quadruple-tank process are provided.

Formation Control for Water-Jet USV Based on Bio-Inspired Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Ming-yu; Wang, Duan-song; Wang, Cheng-long

2018-03-01

The formation control problem for underactuated unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) is addressed by a distributed strategy based on virtual leader strategy. The control system takes account of disturbance induced by external environment. With the coordinate transformation, the advantage of the proposed scheme is that the control point can be any point of the ship instead of the center of gravity. By introducing bio-inspired model, the formation control problem is addressed with backstepping method. This avoids complicated computation, simplifies the control law, and smoothes the input signals. The system uniform ultimate boundness is proven by Lyapunov stability theory with Young inequality. Simulation results are presented to verify the effectiveness and robust of the proposed controller.

A time-domain decomposition iterative method for the solution of distributed linear quadratic optimal control problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heinkenschloss, Matthias

2005-01-01

We study a class of time-domain decomposition-based methods for the numerical solution of large-scale linear quadratic optimal control problems. Our methods are based on a multiple shooting reformulation of the linear quadratic optimal control problem as a discrete-time optimal control (DTOC) problem. The optimality conditions for this DTOC problem lead to a linear block tridiagonal system. The diagonal blocks are invertible and are related to the original linear quadratic optimal control problem restricted to smaller time-subintervals. This motivates the application of block Gauss-Seidel (GS)-type methods for the solution of the block tridiagonal systems. Numerical experiments show that the spectral radii of the block GS iteration matrices are larger than one for typical applications, but that the eigenvalues of the iteration matrices decay to zero fast. Hence, while the GS method is not expected to convergence for typical applications, it can be effective as a preconditioner for Krylov-subspace methods. This is confirmed by our numerical tests.A byproduct of this research is the insight that certain instantaneous control techniques can be viewed as the application of one step of the forward block GS method applied to the DTOC optimality system.

Perception and control of rotorcraft flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Owen, Dean H.

1991-01-01

Three topics which can be applied to rotorcraft flight are examined: (1) the nature of visual information; (2) what visual information is informative about; and (3) the control of visual information. The anchorage of visual perception is defined as the distribution of structure in the surrounding optical array or the distribution of optical structure over the retinal surface. A debate was provoked about whether the referent of visual event perception, and in turn control, is optical motion, kinetics, or dynamics. The interface of control theory and visual perception is also considered. The relationships among these problems is the basis of this article.

Inter-Vehicle Communication System Utilizing Autonomous Distributed Transmit Power Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamada, Yuji; Sawa, Yoshitsugu; Goto, Yukio; Kumazawa, Hiroyuki

In ad-hoc network such as inter-vehicle communication (IVC) system, safety applications that vehicles broadcast the information such as car velocity, position and so on periodically are considered. In these applications, if there are many vehicles broadcast data in a communication area, congestion incurs a problem decreasing communication reliability. We propose autonomous distributed transmit power control method to keep high communication reliability. In this method, each vehicle controls its transmit power using feed back control. Furthermore, we design a communication protocol to realize the proposed method, and we evaluate the effectiveness of proposed method using computer simulation.

On Decision-Making Among Multiple Rule-Bases in Fuzzy Control Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tunstel, Edward; Jamshidi, Mo

1997-01-01

Intelligent control of complex multi-variable systems can be a challenge for single fuzzy rule-based controllers. This class of problems cam often be managed with less difficulty by distributing intelligent decision-making amongst a collection of rule-bases. Such an approach requires that a mechanism be chosen to ensure goal-oriented interaction between the multiple rule-bases. In this paper, a hierarchical rule-based approach is described. Decision-making mechanisms based on generalized concepts from single-rule-based fuzzy control are described. Finally, the effects of different aggregation operators on multi-rule-base decision-making are examined in a navigation control problem for mobile robots.

Learning verbs without arguments: the problem of raising verbs.

PubMed

Becker, Misha

2005-03-01

This paper addresses the problem of learning the class of raising verbs (e.g seem). These verbs are potentially problematic for learners in that unlike typical main verbs these verbs do not stand in a semantic relation with any Noun Phrase (NP) arguments. Moreover, a second class of verbs, known as control verbs, shares certain distributional properties with raising verbs, but the two verb classes differ in important structural properties. The central problem addressed here is that of how a learner would distinguish raising verbs from control verbs, given their partial overlap in distribution. A series of experiments with English-speaking adults using a fill-in-the-blank questionnaire revealed two main types of cues that led participants to distinguish the two verb classes: inanimate NPs and semantically empty subjects ("it's raining") yielded the highest proportion of raising verb responses from adults, while animate NPs paired with eventive predicates yielded a high rate of control verb responses. On the basis of these results, suggestions are made as to how one should study the learning of these verbs in children.

Second-Order Consensus in Multiagent Systems via Distributed Sliding Mode Control.

PubMed

Yu, Wenwu; Wang, He; Cheng, Fei; Yu, Xinghuo; Wen, Guanghui

2016-11-22

In this paper, the new decoupled distributed sliding-mode control (DSMC) is first proposed for second-order consensus in multiagent systems, which finally solves the fundamental unknown problem for sliding-mode control (SMC) design of coupled networked systems. A distributed full-order sliding-mode surface is designed based on the homogeneity with dilation for reaching second-order consensus in multiagent systems, under which the sliding-mode states are decoupled. Then, the SMC is applied to the decoupled sliding-mode states to reach their origin in finite time, which is the sliding-mode surface. The states of agents can first reach the designed sliding-mode surface in finite time and then move to the second-order consensus state along the surface in finite time as well. The DSMC designed in this paper can eliminate the influence of singularity problems and weaken the influence of chattering, which is still very difficult in the SMC systems. In addition, DSMC proposes a general decoupling framework for designing SMC in networked multiagent systems. Simulations are presented to verify the theoretical results in this paper.

Analysis of PV Advanced Inverter Functions and Setpoints under Time Series Simulation.

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

Seuss, John; Reno, Matthew J.; Broderick, Robert Joseph

Utilities are increasingly concerned about the potential negative impacts distributed PV may have on the operational integrity of their distribution feeders. Some have proposed novel methods for controlling a PV system's grid - tie inverter to mitigate poten tial PV - induced problems. This report investigates the effectiveness of several of these PV advanced inverter controls on improving distribution feeder operational metrics. The controls are simulated on a large PV system interconnected at several locations within two realistic distribution feeder models. Due to the time - domain nature of the advanced inverter controls, quasi - static time series simulations aremore » performed under one week of representative variable irradiance and load data for each feeder. A para metric study is performed on each control type to determine how well certain measurable network metrics improve as a function of the control parameters. This methodology is used to determine appropriate advanced inverter settings for each location on the f eeder and overall for any interconnection location on the feeder.« less

Voltage regulation in distribution networks with distributed generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blažič, B.; Uljanić, B.; Papič, I.

2012-11-01

The paper deals with the topic of voltage regulation in distribution networks with relatively high distributed energy resources (DER) penetration. The problem of voltage rise is described and different options for voltage regulation are given. The influence of DER on voltage profile and the effectiveness of the investigated solutions are evaluated by means of simulation in DIgSILENT. The simulated network is an actual distribution network in Slovenia with a relatively high penetration of distributed generation. Recommendations for voltage control in networks with DER penetration are given at the end.

Blind Deconvolution for Distributed Parameter Systems with Unbounded Input and Output and Determining Blood Alcohol Concentration from Transdermal Biosensor Data.

PubMed

Rosen, I G; Luczak, Susan E; Weiss, Jordan

2014-03-15

We develop a blind deconvolution scheme for input-output systems described by distributed parameter systems with boundary input and output. An abstract functional analytic theory based on results for the linear quadratic control of infinite dimensional systems with unbounded input and output operators is presented. The blind deconvolution problem is then reformulated as a series of constrained linear and nonlinear optimization problems involving infinite dimensional dynamical systems. A finite dimensional approximation and convergence theory is developed. The theory is applied to the problem of estimating blood or breath alcohol concentration (respectively, BAC or BrAC) from biosensor-measured transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) in the field. A distributed parameter model with boundary input and output is proposed for the transdermal transport of ethanol from the blood through the skin to the sensor. The problem of estimating BAC or BrAC from the TAC data is formulated as a blind deconvolution problem. A scheme to identify distinct drinking episodes in TAC data based on a Hodrick Prescott filter is discussed. Numerical results involving actual patient data are presented.

A roadmap for optimal control: the right way to commute.

PubMed

Ross, I Michael

2005-12-01

Optimal control theory is the foundation for many problems in astrodynamics. Typical examples are trajectory design and optimization, relative motion control of distributed space systems and attitude steering. Many such problems in astrodynamics are solved by an alternative route of mathematical analysis and deep physical insight, in part because of the perception that an optimal control framework generates hard problems. Although this is indeed true of the Bellman and Pontryagin frameworks, the covector mapping principle provides a neoclassical approach that renders hard problems easy. That is, although the origins of this philosophy can be traced back to Bernoulli and Euler, it is essentially modern as a result of the strong linkage between approximation theory, set-valued analysis and computing technology. Motivated by the broad success of this approach, mission planners are now conceiving and demanding higher performance from space systems. This has resulted in new set of theoretical and computational problems. Recently, under the leadership of NASA-GRC, several workshops were held to address some of these problems. This paper outlines the theoretical issues stemming from practical problems in astrodynamics. Emphasis is placed on how it pertains to advanced mission design problems.

Shape Optimization for Navier-Stokes Equations with Algebraic Turbulence Model: Existence Analysis

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

Bulicek, Miroslav; Haslinger, Jaroslav; Malek, Josef

2009-10-15

We study a shape optimization problem for the paper machine headbox which distributes a mixture of water and wood fibers in the paper making process. The aim is to find a shape which a priori ensures the given velocity profile on the outlet part. The mathematical formulation leads to an optimal control problem in which the control variable is the shape of the domain representing the header, the state problem is represented by a generalized stationary Navier-Stokes system with nontrivial mixed boundary conditions. In this paper we prove the existence of solutions both to the generalized Navier-Stokes system and tomore » the shape optimization problem.« less

Collective intelligence for control of distributed dynamical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolpert, D. H.; Wheeler, K. R.; Tumer, K.

2000-03-01

We consider the El Farol bar problem, also known as the minority game (W. B. Arthur, The American Economic Review, 84 (1994) 406; D. Challet and Y. C. Zhang, Physica A, 256 (1998) 514). We view it as an instance of the general problem of how to configure the nodal elements of a distributed dynamical system so that they do not "work at cross purposes", in that their collective dynamics avoids frustration and thereby achieves a provided global goal. We summarize a mathematical theory for such configuration applicable when (as in the bar problem) the global goal can be expressed as minimizing a global energy function and the nodes can be expressed as minimizers of local free energy functions. We show that a system designed with that theory performs nearly optimally for the bar problem.

Application of quasi-distributions for solving inverse problems of neutron and {gamma}-ray transport

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

Pogosbekyan, L.R.; Lysov, D.A.

The considered inverse problems deal with the calculation of the unknown values of nuclear installations by means of the known (goal) functionals of neutron/{gamma}-ray distributions. The example of these problems might be the calculation of the automatic control rods position as function of neutron sensors reading, or the calculation of experimentally-corrected values of cross-sections, isotopes concentration, fuel enrichment via the measured functional. The authors have developed the new method to solve inverse problem. It finds flux density as quasi-solution of the particles conservation linear system adjointed to equalities for functionals. The method is more effective compared to the one basedmore » on the classical perturbation theory. It is suitable for vectorization and it can be used successfully in optimization codes.« less

Arcade: A Web-Java Based Framework for Distributed Computing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Zhikai; Maly, Kurt; Mehrotra, Piyush; Zubair, Mohammad; Bushnell, Dennis M. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Distributed heterogeneous environments are being increasingly used to execute a variety of large size simulations and computational problems. We are developing Arcade, a web-based environment to design, execute, monitor, and control distributed applications. These targeted applications consist of independent heterogeneous modules which can be executed on a distributed heterogeneous environment. In this paper we describe the overall design of the system and discuss the prototype implementation of the core functionalities required to support such a framework.

Distributed Blowing and Suction for the Purpose of Streak Control in a Boundary Layer Subjected to a Favorable Pressure Gradient

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forgoston, Eric; Tumin, Anatoli; Ashpis, David E.

2005-01-01

An analysis of the optimal control by blowing and suction in order to generate stream- wise velocity streaks is presented. The problem is examined using an iterative process that employs the Parabolized Stability Equations for an incompressible uid along with its adjoint equations. In particular, distributions of blowing and suction are computed for both the normal and tangential velocity perturbations for various choices of parameters.

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND QUALITY CONTROL IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF THE AUTOMATED GEOSPATIAL WATERSHED ASSESSMENT (AGWA) TOOL

EPA Science Inventory

Planning and assessment in land and water resource management are evolving from simple, local-scale problems toward complex, spatially explicit regional ones. Such problems have to be addressed with distributed models that can compute runoff and erosion at different spatial and t...

Distributed Adaptive Fuzzy Control for Nonlinear Multiagent Systems Via Sliding Mode Observers.

PubMed

Shen, Qikun; Shi, Peng; Shi, Yan

2016-12-01

In this paper, the problem of distributed adaptive fuzzy control is investigated for high-order uncertain nonlinear multiagent systems on directed graph with a fixed topology. It is assumed that only the outputs of each follower and its neighbors are available in the design of its distributed controllers. Equivalent output injection sliding mode observers are proposed for each follower to estimate the states of itself and its neighbors, and an observer-based distributed adaptive controller is designed for each follower to guarantee that it asymptotically synchronizes to a leader with tracking errors being semi-globally uniform ultimate bounded, in which fuzzy logic systems are utilized to approximate unknown functions. Based on algebraic graph theory and Lyapunov function approach, using Filippov-framework, the closed-loop system stability analysis is conducted. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness and potential of the developed design techniques.

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

Zamzam, Ahmed, S.; Zhaoy, Changhong; Dall'Anesey, Emiliano

This paper examines the AC Optimal Power Flow (OPF) problem for multiphase distribution networks featuring renewable energy resources (RESs). We start by outlining a power flow model for radial multiphase systems that accommodates wye-connected and delta-connected RESs and non-controllable energy assets. We then formalize an AC OPF problem that accounts for both types of connections. Similar to various AC OPF renditions, the resultant problem is a non convex quadratically-constrained quadratic program. However, the so-called Feasible Point Pursuit-Successive Convex Approximation algorithm is leveraged to obtain a feasible and yet locally-optimal solution. The merits of the proposed solution approach are demonstrated usingmore » two unbalanced multiphase distribution feeders with both wye and delta connections.« less

Blackboard system generator (BSG) - An alternative distributed problem-solving paradigm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silverman, Barry G.; Feggos, Kostas; Chang, Joseph Shih

1989-01-01

A status review is presented for a generic blackboard-based distributed problem-solving environment in which multiple-agent cooperation can be effected. This environment is organized into a shared information panel, a chairman control panel, and a metaplanning panel. Each panel contains a number of embedded AI techniques that facilitate its operation and that provide heuristics for solving the underlying team-agent decision problem. The status of these panels and heuristics is described along with a number of robustness considerations. The techniques for each of the three panels and for four sets of paradigm-related advances are described, along with selected results from classroom teaching experiments and from three applications.

Tools for distributed application management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marzullo, Keith; Cooper, Robert; Wood, Mark; Birman, Kenneth P.

1990-01-01

Distributed application management consists of monitoring and controlling an application as it executes in a distributed environment. It encompasses such activities as configuration, initialization, performance monitoring, resource scheduling, and failure response. The Meta system (a collection of tools for constructing distributed application management software) is described. Meta provides the mechanism, while the programmer specifies the policy for application management. The policy is manifested as a control program which is a soft real-time reactive program. The underlying application is instrumented with a variety of built-in and user-defined sensors and actuators. These define the interface between the control program and the application. The control program also has access to a database describing the structure of the application and the characteristics of its environment. Some of the more difficult problems for application management occur when preexisting, nondistributed programs are integrated into a distributed application for which they may not have been intended. Meta allows management functions to be retrofitted to such programs with a minimum of effort.

Tools for distributed application management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marzullo, Keith; Wood, Mark; Cooper, Robert; Birman, Kenneth P.

1990-01-01

Distributed application management consists of monitoring and controlling an application as it executes in a distributed environment. It encompasses such activities as configuration, initialization, performance monitoring, resource scheduling, and failure response. The Meta system is described: a collection of tools for constructing distributed application management software. Meta provides the mechanism, while the programmer specifies the policy for application management. The policy is manifested as a control program which is a soft real time reactive program. The underlying application is instrumented with a variety of built-in and user defined sensors and actuators. These define the interface between the control program and the application. The control program also has access to a database describing the structure of the application and the characteristics of its environment. Some of the more difficult problems for application management occur when pre-existing, nondistributed programs are integrated into a distributed application for which they may not have been intended. Meta allows management functions to be retrofitted to such programs with a minimum of effort.

Optimal steering for kinematic vehicles with applications to spatially distributed agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Scott; Praeger, Cheryl E.; Giudici, Michael

While there is no universal method to address control problems involving networks of autonomous vehicles, there exist a few promising schemes that apply to different specific classes of problems, which have attracted the attention of many researchers from different fields. In particular, one way to extend techniques that address problems involving a single autonomous vehicle to those involving teams of autonomous vehicles is to use the concept of Voronoi diagram. The Voronoi diagram provides a spatial partition of the environment the team of vehicles operate in, where each element of this partition is associated with a unique vehicle from the team. The partition induces a graph abstraction of the operating space that is in an one-to-one correspondence with the network abstraction of the team of autonomous vehicles; a fact that can provide both conceptual and analytical advantages during mission planning and execution. In this dissertation, we propose the use of a new class of Voronoi-like partitioning schemes with respect to state-dependent proximity (pseudo-) metrics rather than the Euclidean distance or other generalized distance functions, which are typically used in the literature. An important nuance here is that, in contrast to the Euclidean distance, state-dependent metrics can succinctly capture system theoretic features of each vehicle from the team (e.g., vehicle kinematics), as well as the environment-vehicle interactions, which are induced, for example, by local winds/currents. We subsequently illustrate how the proposed concept of state-dependent Voronoi-like partition can induce local control schemes for problems involving networks of spatially distributed autonomous vehicles by examining a sequential pursuit problem of a maneuvering target by a group of pursuers distributed in the plane. The construction of generalized Voronoi diagrams with respect to state-dependent metrics poses some significant challenges. First, the generalized distance metric may be a function of the direction of motion of the vehicle (anisotropic pseudo-distance function) and/or may not be expressible in closed form. Second, such problems fall under the general class of partitioning problems for which the vehicles' dynamics must be taken into account. The topology of the vehicle's configuration space may be non-Euclidean, for example, it may be a manifold embedded in a Euclidean space. In other words, these problems may not be reducible to generalized Voronoi diagram problems for which efficient construction schemes, analytical and/or computational, exist in the literature. This research effort pursues three main objectives. First, we present the complete solution of different steering problems involving a single vehicle in the presence of motion constraints imposed by the maneuverability envelope of the vehicle and/or the presence of a drift field induced by winds/currents in its vicinity. The analysis of each steering problem involving a single vehicle provides us with a state-dependent generalized metric, such as the minimum time-to-go/come. We subsequently use these state-dependent generalized distance functions as the proximity metrics in the formulation of generalized Voronoi-like partitioning problems. The characterization of the solutions of these state-dependent Voronoi-like partitioning problems using either analytical or computational techniques constitutes the second main objective of this dissertation. The third objective of this research effort is to illustrate the use of the proposed concept of state-dependent Voronoi-like partition as a means for passing from control techniques that apply to problems involving a single vehicle to problems involving networks of spatially distributed autonomous vehicles. To this aim, we formulate the problem of sequential/relay pursuit of a maneuvering target by a group of spatially distributed pursuers and subsequently propose a distributed group pursuit strategy that directly derives from the solution of a state-dependent Voronoi-like partitioning problem. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Optical techniques to feed and control GaAs MMIC modules for phased array antenna applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhasin, K. B.; Anzic, G.; Kunath, R. R.; Connolly, D. J.

A complex signal distribution system is required to feed and control GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for phased array antenna applications above 20 GHz. Each MMIC module will require one or more RF lines, one or more bias voltage lines, and digital lines to provide a minimum of 10 bits of combined phase and gain control information. In a closely spaced array, the routing of these multiple lines presents difficult topology problems as well as a high probability of signal interference. To overcome GaAs MMIC phased array signal distribution problems optical fibers interconnected to monolithically integrated optical components with GaAs MMIC array elements are proposed as a solution. System architecture considerations using optical fibers are described. The analog and digital optical links to respectively feed and control MMIC elements are analyzed. It is concluded that a fiber optic network will reduce weight and complexity, and increase reliability and performance, but higher power will be required.

Optical techniques to feed and control GaAs MMIC modules for phased array antenna applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhasin, K. B.; Anzic, G.; Kunath, R. R.; Connolly, D. J.

1986-01-01

A complex signal distribution system is required to feed and control GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for phased array antenna applications above 20 GHz. Each MMIC module will require one or more RF lines, one or more bias voltage lines, and digital lines to provide a minimum of 10 bits of combined phase and gain control information. In a closely spaced array, the routing of these multiple lines presents difficult topology problems as well as a high probability of signal interference. To overcome GaAs MMIC phased array signal distribution problems optical fibers interconnected to monolithically integrated optical components with GaAs MMIC array elements are proposed as a solution. System architecture considerations using optical fibers are described. The analog and digital optical links to respectively feed and control MMIC elements are analyzed. It is concluded that a fiber optic network will reduce weight and complexity, and increase reliability and performance, but higher power will be required.

Packets Distributing Evolutionary Algorithm Based on PSO for Ad Hoc Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Xiao-Feng

2018-03-01

Wireless communication network has such features as limited bandwidth, changeful channel and dynamic topology, etc. Ad hoc network has lots of difficulties in accessing control, bandwidth distribution, resource assign and congestion control. Therefore, a wireless packets distributing Evolutionary algorithm based on PSO (DPSO)for Ad Hoc Network is proposed. Firstly, parameters impact on performance of network are analyzed and researched to obtain network performance effective function. Secondly, the improved PSO Evolutionary Algorithm is used to solve the optimization problem from local to global in the process of network packets distributing. The simulation results show that the algorithm can ensure fairness and timeliness of network transmission, as well as improve ad hoc network resource integrated utilization efficiency.

On Distributed PV Hosting Capacity Estimation, Sensitivity Study, and Improvement

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

Ding, Fei; Mather, Barry

This paper first studies the estimated distributed PV hosting capacities of seventeen utility distribution feeders using the Monte Carlo simulation based stochastic analysis, and then analyzes the sensitivity of PV hosting capacity to both feeder and photovoltaic system characteristics. Furthermore, an active distribution network management approach is proposed to maximize PV hosting capacity by optimally switching capacitors, adjusting voltage regulator taps, managing controllable branch switches and controlling smart PV inverters. The approach is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear optimization problem and a genetic algorithm is developed to obtain the solution. Multiple simulation cases are studied and the effectiveness of themore » proposed approach on increasing PV hosting capacity is demonstrated.« less

Control and stabilization of decentralized systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byrnes, Christopher I.; Gilliam, David; Martin, Clyde F.

1989-01-01

Proceeding from the problem posed by the need to stabilize the motion of two helicopters maneuvering a single load, a methodology is developed for the stabilization of classes of decentralized systems based on a more algebraic approach, which involves the external symmetries of decentralized systems. Stabilizing local-feedback laws are derived for any class of decentralized systems having a semisimple algebra of symmetries; the helicopter twin-lift problem, as well as certain problems involving the stabilization of discretizations of distributed parameter problems, have just such algebras of symmetries.

A Distribution-class Locational Marginal Price (DLMP) Index for Enhanced Distribution Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akinbode, Oluwaseyi Wemimo

The smart grid initiative is the impetus behind changes that are expected to culminate into an enhanced distribution system with the communication and control infrastructure to support advanced distribution system applications and resources such as distributed generation, energy storage systems, and price responsive loads. This research proposes a distribution-class analog of the transmission LMP (DLMP) as an enabler of the advanced applications of the enhanced distribution system. The DLMP is envisioned as a control signal that can incentivize distribution system resources to behave optimally in a manner that benefits economic efficiency and system reliability and that can optimally couple the transmission and the distribution systems. The DLMP is calculated from a two-stage optimization problem; a transmission system OPF and a distribution system OPF. An iterative framework that ensures accurate representation of the distribution system's price sensitive resources for the transmission system problem and vice versa is developed and its convergence problem is discussed. As part of the DLMP calculation framework, a DCOPF formulation that endogenously captures the effect of real power losses is discussed. The formulation uses piecewise linear functions to approximate losses. This thesis explores, with theoretical proofs, the breakdown of the loss approximation technique when non-positive DLMPs/LMPs occur and discusses a mixed integer linear programming formulation that corrects the breakdown. The DLMP is numerically illustrated in traditional and enhanced distribution systems and its superiority to contemporary pricing mechanisms is demonstrated using price responsive loads. Results show that the impact of the inaccuracy of contemporary pricing schemes becomes significant as flexible resources increase. At high elasticity, aggregate load consumption deviated from the optimal consumption by up to about 45 percent when using a flat or time-of-use rate. Individual load consumption deviated by up to 25 percent when using a real-time price. The superiority of the DLMP is more pronounced when important distribution network conditions are not reflected by contemporary prices. The individual load consumption incentivized by the real-time price deviated by up to 90 percent from the optimal consumption in a congested distribution network. While the DLMP internalizes congestion management, the consumption incentivized by the real-time price caused overloads.

A distributed model predictive control scheme for leader-follower multi-agent systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franzè, Giuseppe; Lucia, Walter; Tedesco, Francesco

2018-02-01

In this paper, we present a novel receding horizon control scheme for solving the formation problem of leader-follower configurations. The algorithm is based on set-theoretic ideas and is tuned for agents described by linear time-invariant (LTI) systems subject to input and state constraints. The novelty of the proposed framework relies on the capability to jointly use sequences of one-step controllable sets and polyhedral piecewise state-space partitions in order to online apply the 'better' control action in a distributed receding horizon fashion. Moreover, we prove that the design of both robust positively invariant sets and one-step-ahead controllable regions is achieved in a distributed sense. Simulations and numerical comparisons with respect to centralised and local-based strategies are finally performed on a group of mobile robots to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Distributed neural network control for adaptive synchronization of uncertain dynamical multiagent systems.

PubMed

Peng, Zhouhua; Wang, Dan; Zhang, Hongwei; Sun, Gang

2014-08-01

This paper addresses the leader-follower synchronization problem of uncertain dynamical multiagent systems with nonlinear dynamics. Distributed adaptive synchronization controllers are proposed based on the state information of neighboring agents. The control design is developed for both undirected and directed communication topologies without requiring the accurate model of each agent. This result is further extended to the output feedback case where a neighborhood observer is proposed based on relative output information of neighboring agents. Then, distributed observer-based synchronization controllers are derived and a parameter-dependent Riccati inequality is employed to prove the stability. This design has a favorable decouple property between the observer and the controller designs for nonlinear multiagent systems. For both cases, the developed controllers guarantee that the state of each agent synchronizes to that of the leader with bounded residual errors. Two illustrative examples validate the efficacy of the proposed methods.

Resilient distributed control in the presence of misbehaving agents in networked control systems.

PubMed

Zeng, Wente; Chow, Mo-Yuen

2014-11-01

In this paper, we study the problem of reaching a consensus among all the agents in the networked control systems (NCS) in the presence of misbehaving agents. A reputation-based resilient distributed control algorithm is first proposed for the leader-follower consensus network. The proposed algorithm embeds a resilience mechanism that includes four phases (detection, mitigation, identification, and update), into the control process in a distributed manner. At each phase, every agent only uses local and one-hop neighbors' information to identify and isolate the misbehaving agents, and even compensate their effect on the system. We then extend the proposed algorithm to the leaderless consensus network by introducing and adding two recovery schemes (rollback and excitation recovery) into the current framework to guarantee the accurate convergence of the well-behaving agents in NCS. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through case studies in multirobot formation control and wireless sensor networks.

Power system voltage stability and agent based distribution automation in smart grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Cuong Phuc

2011-12-01

Our interconnected electric power system is presently facing many challenges that it was not originally designed and engineered to handle. The increased inter-area power transfers, aging infrastructure, and old technologies, have caused many problems including voltage instability, widespread blackouts, slow control response, among others. These problems have created an urgent need to transform the present electric power system to a highly stable, reliable, efficient, and self-healing electric power system of the future, which has been termed "smart grid". This dissertation begins with an investigation of voltage stability in bulk transmission networks. A new continuation power flow tool for studying the impacts of generator merit order based dispatch on inter-area transfer capability and static voltage stability is presented. The load demands are represented by lumped load models on the transmission system. While this representation is acceptable in traditional power system analysis, it may not be valid in the future smart grid where the distribution system will be integrated with intelligent and quick control capabilities to mitigate voltage problems before they propagate into the entire system. Therefore, before analyzing the operation of the whole smart grid, it is important to understand the distribution system first. The second part of this dissertation presents a new platform for studying and testing emerging technologies in advanced Distribution Automation (DA) within smart grids. Due to the key benefits over the traditional centralized approach, namely flexible deployment, scalability, and avoidance of single-point-of-failure, a new distributed approach is employed to design and develop all elements of the platform. A multi-agent system (MAS), which has the three key characteristics of autonomy, local view, and decentralization, is selected to implement the advanced DA functions. The intelligent agents utilize a communication network for cooperation and negotiation. Communication latency is modeled using a user-defined probability density function. Failure-tolerant communication strategies are developed for agent communications. Major elements of advanced DA are developed in a completely distributed way and successfully tested for several IEEE standard systems, including: Fault Detection, Location, Isolation, and Service Restoration (FLISR); Coordination of Distributed Energy Storage Systems (DES); Distributed Power Flow (DPF); Volt-VAR Control (VVC); and Loss Reduction (LR).

Control of vibrations of a moving beam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banichuk, N. V.; Ivanova, S. Yu; Makeev, E. V.; Sinitsyn, A. V.

2018-04-01

The translational motion of a thermoelastic beam under transverse vibrations caused by initial perturbations is considered. It is assumed that a beam moving at a constant translational speed is described by a model of a thermoelastic panel supported at the edges of the considered span. The problem of optimal suppression of vibrations is formulated when applying active transverse influences to the panel. To solve the optimization problem, modern methods developed in the theory of control of systems with distributed parameters described by partial differential equations are used.

Graphical models for optimal power flow

DOE PAGES

Dvijotham, Krishnamurthy; Chertkov, Michael; Van Hentenryck, Pascal; ...

2016-09-13

Optimal power flow (OPF) is the central optimization problem in electric power grids. Although solved routinely in the course of power grid operations, it is known to be strongly NP-hard in general, and weakly NP-hard over tree networks. In this paper, we formulate the optimal power flow problem over tree networks as an inference problem over a tree-structured graphical model where the nodal variables are low-dimensional vectors. We adapt the standard dynamic programming algorithm for inference over a tree-structured graphical model to the OPF problem. Combining this with an interval discretization of the nodal variables, we develop an approximation algorithmmore » for the OPF problem. Further, we use techniques from constraint programming (CP) to perform interval computations and adaptive bound propagation to obtain practically efficient algorithms. Compared to previous algorithms that solve OPF with optimality guarantees using convex relaxations, our approach is able to work for arbitrary tree-structured distribution networks and handle mixed-integer optimization problems. Further, it can be implemented in a distributed message-passing fashion that is scalable and is suitable for “smart grid” applications like control of distributed energy resources. In conclusion, numerical evaluations on several benchmark networks show that practical OPF problems can be solved effectively using this approach.« less

Optimal fixed-finite-dimensional compensator for Burgers' equation with unbounded input/output operators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burns, John A.; Marrekchi, Hamadi

1993-01-01

The problem of using reduced order dynamic compensators to control a class of nonlinear parabolic distributed parameter systems was considered. Concentration was on a system with unbounded input and output operators governed by Burgers' equation. A linearized model was used to compute low-order-finite-dimensional control laws by minimizing certain energy functionals. Then these laws were applied to the nonlinear model. Standard approaches to this problem employ model/controller reduction techniques in conjunction with linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) theory. The approach used is based on the finite dimensional Bernstein/Hyland optimal projection theory which yields a fixed-finite-order controller.

Improving electrical power systems reliability through locally controlled distributed curtailable load

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dehbozorgi, Mohammad Reza

2000-10-01

Improvements in power system reliability have always been of interest to both power companies and customers. Since there are no sizable electrical energy storage elements in electrical power systems, the generated power should match the load demand at any given time. Failure to meet this balance may cause severe system problems, including loss of generation and system blackouts. This thesis proposes a methodology which can respond to either loss of generation or loss of load. It is based on switching of electric water heaters using power system frequency as the controlling signal. The proposed methodology encounters, and the thesis has addressed, the following associated problems. The controller must be interfaced with the existing thermostat control. When necessary to switch on loads, the water in the tank should not be overheated. Rapid switching of blocks of load, or chattering, has been considered. The contributions of the thesis are: (A) A system has been proposed which makes a significant portion of the distributed loads connected to a power system to behave in a predetermined manner to improve the power system response during disturbances. (B) The action of the proposed system is transparent to the customers. (C) The thesis proposes a simple analysis for determining the amount of such loads which might be switched and relates this amount to the size of the disturbances which can occur in the utility. (D) The proposed system acts without any formal communication links, solely using the embedded information present system-wide. (E) The methodology of the thesis proposes switching of water heater loads based on a simple, localized frequency set-point controller. The thesis has identified the consequent problem of rapid switching of distributed loads, which is referred to as chattering. (F) Two approaches have been proposed to reduce chattering to tolerable levels. (G) A frequency controller has been designed and built according to the specifications required to switch electric water heater loads in response to power system disturbances. (H) A cost analysis for building and installing the distributed frequency controller has been carried out. (I) The proposed equipment and methodology has been implemented and tested successfully. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The WorkPlace distributed processing environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ames, Troy; Henderson, Scott

1993-01-01

Real time control problems require robust, high performance solutions. Distributed computing can offer high performance through parallelism and robustness through redundancy. Unfortunately, implementing distributed systems with these characteristics places a significant burden on the applications programmers. Goddard Code 522 has developed WorkPlace to alleviate this burden. WorkPlace is a small, portable, embeddable network interface which automates message routing, failure detection, and re-configuration in response to failures in distributed systems. This paper describes the design and use of WorkPlace, and its application in the construction of a distributed blackboard system.

Incorporating location, routing, and inventory decisions in a bi-objective supply chain design problem with risk-pooling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, Reza; Forouzanfar, Fateme; Ebrahimnejad, Sadoullah

2013-07-01

This paper considers a single-sourcing network design problem for a three-level supply chain. For the first time, a novel mathematical model is presented considering risk-pooling, the inventory existence at distribution centers (DCs) under demand uncertainty, the existence of several alternatives to transport the product between facilities, and routing of vehicles from distribution centers to customer in a stochastic supply chain system, simultaneously. This problem is formulated as a bi-objective stochastic mixed-integer nonlinear programming model. The aim of this model is to determine the number of located distribution centers, their locations, and capacity levels, and allocating customers to distribution centers and distribution centers to suppliers. It also determines the inventory control decisions on the amount of ordered products and the amount of safety stocks at each opened DC, selecting a type of vehicle for transportation. Moreover, it determines routing decisions, such as determination of vehicles' routes starting from an opened distribution center to serve its allocated customers and returning to that distribution center. All are done in a way that the total system cost and the total transportation time are minimized. The Lingo software is used to solve the presented model. The computational results are illustrated in this paper.

Optimization of an Aeroservoelastic Wing with Distributed Multiple Control Surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stanford, Bret K.

2015-01-01

This paper considers the aeroelastic optimization of a subsonic transport wingbox under a variety of static and dynamic aeroelastic constraints. Three types of design variables are utilized: structural variables (skin thickness, stiffener details), the quasi-steady deflection scheduling of a series of control surfaces distributed along the trailing edge for maneuver load alleviation and trim attainment, and the design details of an LQR controller, which commands oscillatory hinge moments into those same control surfaces. Optimization problems are solved where a closed loop flutter constraint is forced to satisfy the required flight margin, and mass reduction benefits are realized by relaxing the open loop flutter requirements.

Resilient Distribution System by Microgrids Formation After Natural Disasters

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

Chen, Chen; Wang, Jianhui; Qiu, Feng

2016-03-01

Microgrids with distributed generation provide a resilient solution in the case of major faults in a distribution system due to natural disasters. This paper proposes a novel distribution system operational approach by forming multiple microgrids energized by distributed generation from the radial distribution system in real-time operations, to restore critical loads from the power outage. Specifically, a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) is formulated to maximize the critical loads to be picked up while satisfying the self-adequacy and operation constraints for the microgrids formation problem, by controlling the ON/OFF status of the remotely controlled switch devices and distributed generation. A distributedmore » multi-agent coordination scheme is designed via local communications for the global information discovery as inputs of the optimization, which is suitable for autonomous communication requirements after the disastrous event. The formed microgrids can be further utilized for power quality control and can be connected to a larger microgrid before the restoration of the main grids is complete. Numerical results based on modified IEEE distribution test systems validate the effectiveness of our proposed scheme.« less

Prescribed performance distributed consensus control for nonlinear multi-agent systems with unknown dead-zone input

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Guozeng; Xu, Shengyuan; Ma, Qian; Li, Yongmin; Zhang, Zhengqiang

2018-05-01

In this paper, the problem of prescribed performance distributed output consensus for higher-order non-affine nonlinear multi-agent systems with unknown dead-zone input is investigated. Fuzzy logical systems are utilised to identify the unknown nonlinearities. By introducing prescribed performance, the transient and steady performance of synchronisation errors are guaranteed. Based on Lyapunov stability theory and the dynamic surface control technique, a new distributed consensus algorithm for non-affine nonlinear multi-agent systems is proposed, which ensures cooperatively uniformly ultimately boundedness of all signals in the closed-loop systems and enables the output of each follower to synchronise with the leader within predefined bounded error. Finally, simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Cooperative remote sensing and actuation using networked unmanned vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chao, Haiyang

This dissertation focuses on how to design and employ networked unmanned vehicles for remote sensing and distributed control purposes in the current information-rich world. The target scenarios are environmental or agricultural applications such as river/reservoir surveillance, wind profiling measurement, and monitoring/control of chemical leaks, etc. AggieAir, a small and low-cost unmanned aircraft system, is designed based on the remote sensing requirements from environmental monitoring missions. The state estimation problem and the advanced lateral flight controller design problem are further attacked focusing on the small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform. Then the UAV-based remote sensing problem is focused with further flight test results. Given the measurements from unmanned vehicles, the actuation algorithms are needed for missions like the diffusion control. A consensus-based central Voronoi tessellation (CVT) algorithm is proposed for better control of the diffusion process. Finally, the dissertation conclusion and some new research suggestions are presented.

Multiagent distributed watershed management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giuliani, M.; Castelletti, A.; Amigoni, F.; Cai, X.

2012-04-01

Deregulation and democratization of water along with increasing environmental awareness are challenging integrated water resources planning and management worldwide. The traditional centralized approach to water management, as described in much of water resources literature, is often unfeasible in most of the modern social and institutional contexts. Thus it should be reconsidered from a more realistic and distributed perspective, in order to account for the presence of multiple and often independent Decision Makers (DMs) and many conflicting stakeholders. Game theory based approaches are often used to study these situations of conflict (Madani, 2010), but they are limited to a descriptive perspective. Multiagent systems (see Wooldridge, 2009), instead, seem to be a more suitable paradigm because they naturally allow to represent a set of self-interested agents (DMs and/or stakeholders) acting in a distributed decision process at the agent level, resulting in a promising compromise alternative between the ideal centralized solution and the actual uncoordinated practices. Casting a water management problem in a multiagent framework allows to exploit the techniques and methods that are already available in this field for solving distributed optimization problems. In particular, in Distributed Constraint Satisfaction Problems (DCSP, see Yokoo et al., 2000), each agent controls some variables according to his own utility function but has to satisfy inter-agent constraints; while in Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCOP, see Modi et al., 2005), the problem is generalized by introducing a global objective function to be optimized that requires a coordination mechanism between the agents. In this work, we apply a DCSP-DCOP based approach to model a steady state hypothetical watershed management problem (Yang et al., 2009), involving several active human agents (i.e. agents who make decisions) and reactive ecological agents (i.e. agents representing environmental interests). Different scenarios of distributed management are simulated, i.e. a situation where all the agents act independently, a situation in which a global coordination takes place and in-between solutions. The solutions are compared with the ones presented in Yang et al. (2009), aiming to present more general multiagent approaches to solve distributed management problems.

Case study: Use of isothiazolinone and nitro-morpholine biocides to control microbial contamination in diesel and gasoline storage and distribution systems

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

Chesneau, H.L.; Passman, F.J.; Daniels, D.

1995-05-01

Responding to feed-back from its retail outlet network, a major, vertically integrated petroleum company undertook to diagnose and remediate diesel and gasoline performance problems. Analysis of samples from tanks at refinery, distribution terminal and retail outlet sites established that uncontrolled microbial contamination was rampant throughout the distribution system. The company then developed and instituted a two-phase action plan. During Phase I, all tanks received corrective (shock) biocide treatment preceding mechanical tank cleaning and fuel polishing. An ongoing Phase II program currently includes routine sampling and analysis combined with periodic preventive biocide treatment. This paper describes the initial problem diagnosis, correctivemore » action plan and preventive program; recommending the Phase II program as a model for all companies involved with refining, distribution or retailing gasoline.« less

A Matter of Low Self-Control? Exploring Differences Between Child Pornography Possessors and Child Pornography Producers/Distributers Using Self-Control Theory.

PubMed

Clevenger, Shelly L; Navarro, Jordana N; Jasinski, Jana L

2016-09-01

This study examined the demographic and background characteristic differences between those arrested for child pornography (CP) possession (only), or CP production/distribution, or an attempted or completed sexual exploitation of a minor (SEM) that involved the Internet in some capacity within the context of self-control theory using data from the second wave of the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study (N-JOV2). Results indicate few demographic similarities, which thereby suggest these are largely heterogeneous groupings of individuals. Results also indicate CP producers/distributers engaged in a greater number of behaviors indicative of low self-control compared with CP possessors. Specifically, offenders arrested for CP production/distribution were more likely to have (a) had problems with drugs/alcohol at the time of the crime and (b) been previously violent. In contrast, the only indicator of low self-control that reached statistical significance for CP possessors was the previous use of violence. Moreover, in contrast to CP producers/distributers, full-time employment and marital status may be important factors to consider in the likelihood of arrest for CP possessors, which is congruent with the tenets of self-control theory. © The Author(s) 2014.

Multi-agent coordination algorithms for control of distributed energy resources in smart grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cortes, Andres

Sustainable energy is a top-priority for researchers these days, since electricity and transportation are pillars of modern society. Integration of clean energy technologies such as wind, solar, and plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), is a major engineering challenge in operation and management of power systems. This is due to the uncertain nature of renewable energy technologies and the large amount of extra load that PEVs would add to the power grid. Given the networked structure of a power system, multi-agent control and optimization strategies are natural approaches to address the various problems of interest for the safe and reliable operation of the power grid. The distributed computation in multi-agent algorithms addresses three problems at the same time: i) it allows for the handling of problems with millions of variables that a single processor cannot compute, ii) it allows certain independence and privacy to electricity customers by not requiring any usage information, and iii) it is robust to localized failures in the communication network, being able to solve problems by simply neglecting the failing section of the system. We propose various algorithms to coordinate storage, generation, and demand resources in a power grid using multi-agent computation and decentralized decision making. First, we introduce a hierarchical vehicle-one-grid (V1G) algorithm for coordination of PEVs under usage constraints, where energy only flows from the grid in to the batteries of PEVs. We then present a hierarchical vehicle-to-grid (V2G) algorithm for PEV coordination that takes into consideration line capacity constraints in the distribution grid, and where energy flows both ways, from the grid in to the batteries, and from the batteries to the grid. Next, we develop a greedy-like hierarchical algorithm for management of demand response events with on/off loads. Finally, we introduce distributed algorithms for the optimal control of distributed energy resources, i.e., generation and storage in a microgrid. The algorithms we present are provably correct and tested in simulation. Each algorithm is assumed to work on a particular network topology, and simulation studies are carried out in order to demonstrate their convergence properties to a desired solution.

Coordination of heterogeneous nonlinear multi-agent systems with prescribed behaviours

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Yutao

2017-10-01

In this paper, we consider a coordination problem for a class of heterogeneous nonlinear multi-agent systems with a prescribed input-output behaviour which was represented by another input-driven system. In contrast to most existing multi-agent coordination results with an autonomous (virtual) leader, this formulation takes possible control inputs of the leader into consideration. First, the coordination was achieved by utilising a group of distributed observers based on conventional assumptions of model matching problem. Then, a fully distributed adaptive extension was proposed without using the input of this input-output behaviour. An example was given to verify their effectiveness.

Distributed robust adaptive control of high order nonlinear multi agent systems.

PubMed

Hashemi, Mahnaz; Shahgholian, Ghazanfar

2018-03-01

In this paper, a robust adaptive neural network based controller is presented for multi agent high order nonlinear systems with unknown nonlinear functions, unknown control gains and unknown actuator failures. At first, Neural Network (NN) is used to approximate the nonlinear uncertainty terms derived from the controller design procedure for the followers. Then, a novel distributed robust adaptive controller is developed by combining the backstepping method and the Dynamic Surface Control (DSC) approach. The proposed controllers are distributed in the sense that the designed controller for each follower agent only requires relative state information between itself and its neighbors. By using the Young's inequality, only few parameters need to be tuned regardless of NN nodes number. Accordingly, the problems of dimensionality curse and explosion of complexity are counteracted, simultaneously. New adaptive laws are designed by choosing the appropriate Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals. The proposed approach proves the boundedness of all the closed-loop signals in addition to the convergence of the distributed tracking errors to a small neighborhood of the origin. Simulation results indicate that the proposed controller is effective and robust. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Neural Network Aero Design System for Advanced Turbo-Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanz, Jose M.

1999-01-01

An inverse design method calculates the blade shape that produces a prescribed input pressure distribution. By controlling this input pressure distribution the aerodynamic design objectives can easily be met. Because of the intrinsic relationship between pressure distribution and airfoil physical properties, a Neural Network can be trained to choose the optimal pressure distribution that would meet a set of physical requirements. Neural network systems have been attempted in the context of direct design methods. From properties ascribed to a set of blades the neural network is trained to infer the properties of an 'interpolated' blade shape. The problem is that, especially in transonic regimes where we deal with intrinsically non linear and ill posed problems, small perturbations of the blade shape can produce very large variations of the flow parameters. It is very unlikely that, under these circumstances, a neural network will be able to find the proper solution. The unique situation in the present method is that the neural network can be trained to extract the required input pressure distribution from a database of pressure distributions while the inverse method will still compute the exact blade shape that corresponds to this 'interpolated' input pressure distribution. In other words, the interpolation process is transferred to a smoother problem, namely, finding what pressure distribution would produce the required flow conditions and, once this is done, the inverse method will compute the exact solution for this problem. The use of neural network is, in this context, highly related to the use of proper optimization techniques. The optimization is used essentially as an automation procedure to force the input pressure distributions to achieve the required aero and structural design parameters. A multilayered feed forward network with back-propagation is used to train the system for pattern association and classification.

Distributed cooperative regulation for multiagent systems and its applications to power systems: a survey.

PubMed

Hu, Jianqiang; Li, Yaping; Yong, Taiyou; Cao, Jinde; Yu, Jie; Mao, Wenbo

2014-01-01

Cooperative regulation of multiagent systems has become an active research area in the past decade. This paper reviews some recent progress in distributed coordination control for leader-following multiagent systems and its applications in power system and mainly focuses on the cooperative tracking control in terms of consensus tracking control and containment tracking control. Next, methods on how to rank the network nodes are summarized for undirected/directed network, based on which one can determine which follower should be connected to leaders such that partial followers can perceive leaders' information. Furthermore, we present a survey of the most relevant scientific studies investigating the regulation and optimization problems in power systems based on distributed strategies. Finally, some potential applications in the frequency tracking regulation of smart grids are discussed at the end of the paper.

Distributed Cooperative Regulation for Multiagent Systems and Its Applications to Power Systems: A Survey

PubMed Central

Li, Yaping; Yong, Taiyou; Yu, Jie; Mao, Wenbo

2014-01-01

Cooperative regulation of multiagent systems has become an active research area in the past decade. This paper reviews some recent progress in distributed coordination control for leader-following multiagent systems and its applications in power system and mainly focuses on the cooperative tracking control in terms of consensus tracking control and containment tracking control. Next, methods on how to rank the network nodes are summarized for undirected/directed network, based on which one can determine which follower should be connected to leaders such that partial followers can perceive leaders' information. Furthermore, we present a survey of the most relevant scientific studies investigating the regulation and optimization problems in power systems based on distributed strategies. Finally, some potential applications in the frequency tracking regulation of smart grids are discussed at the end of the paper. PMID:25243199

MapReduce Based Parallel Bayesian Network for Manufacturing Quality Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Mao-Kuan; Ming, Xin-Guo; Zhang, Xian-Yu; Li, Guo-Ming

2017-09-01

Increasing complexity of industrial products and manufacturing processes have challenged conventional statistics based quality management approaches in the circumstances of dynamic production. A Bayesian network and big data analytics integrated approach for manufacturing process quality analysis and control is proposed. Based on Hadoop distributed architecture and MapReduce parallel computing model, big volume and variety quality related data generated during the manufacturing process could be dealt with. Artificial intelligent algorithms, including Bayesian network learning, classification and reasoning, are embedded into the Reduce process. Relying on the ability of the Bayesian network in dealing with dynamic and uncertain problem and the parallel computing power of MapReduce, Bayesian network of impact factors on quality are built based on prior probability distribution and modified with posterior probability distribution. A case study on hull segment manufacturing precision management for ship and offshore platform building shows that computing speed accelerates almost directly proportionally to the increase of computing nodes. It is also proved that the proposed model is feasible for locating and reasoning of root causes, forecasting of manufacturing outcome, and intelligent decision for precision problem solving. The integration of bigdata analytics and BN method offers a whole new perspective in manufacturing quality control.

Initiating malaria control programs in the third world: directives for short- and long-term solutions.

PubMed

Basu, Sanjay

2002-01-01

Although malaria is a growing problem affecting several hundred million people each year, many malarial countries lack successful disease control programs. Worldwide malaria incidence rates are dramatically increasing, generating fear among many people who are witnessing malaria control initiatives fail. In this paper, we explore two options for malaria control in poor countries: (1) the production and distribution of a malaria vaccine and (2) the control of mosquitoes that harbor the malaria parasite. We first demonstrate that the development of a malaria vaccine is indeed likely, although it will take several years to produce because of both biological obstacles and insufficient research support. The distribution of such a vaccine, as suggested by some economists, will require that wealthy states promise a market to pharmaceutical companies who have traditionally failed to investigate diseases affecting the poorest of nations. But prior to the development of a malaria vaccine, we recommend the implementation of vector control pro- grams, such as those using Bti toxin, in regions with low vector capacity. Our analysis indicates that both endogenous programs in malarial regions and molecular approaches to parasite control will provide pragmatic solutions to the malaria problem. But the successful control of malaria will require sustained support from wealthy nations, without whom vaccine development and vector control programs will likely fail.

A distributed approach to the OPF problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erseghe, Tomaso

2015-12-01

This paper presents a distributed approach to optimal power flow (OPF) in an electrical network, suitable for application in a future smart grid scenario where access to resource and control is decentralized. The non-convex OPF problem is solved by an augmented Lagrangian method, similar to the widely known ADMM algorithm, with the key distinction that penalty parameters are constantly increased. A (weak) assumption on local solver reliability is required to always ensure convergence. A certificate of convergence to a local optimum is available in the case of bounded penalty parameters. For moderate sized networks (up to 300 nodes, and even in the presence of a severe partition of the network), the approach guarantees a performance very close to the optimum, with an appreciably fast convergence speed. The generality of the approach makes it applicable to any (convex or non-convex) distributed optimization problem in networked form. In the comparison with the literature, mostly focused on convex SDP approximations, the chosen approach guarantees adherence to the reference problem, and it also requires a smaller local computational complexity effort.

Benchmark Problems for Space Mission Formation Flying

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carpenter, J. Russell; Leitner, Jesse A.; Folta, David C.; Burns, Richard

2003-01-01

To provide a high-level focus to distributed space system flight dynamics and control research, several benchmark problems are suggested for space mission formation flying. The problems cover formation flying in low altitude, near-circular Earth orbit, high altitude, highly elliptical Earth orbits, and large amplitude lissajous trajectories about co-linear libration points of the Sun-Earth/Moon system. These problems are not specific to any current or proposed mission, but instead are intended to capture high-level features that would be generic to many similar missions that are of interest to various agencies.

OVERVIEW: CCL PATHOGENS RESEARCH AT NRMRL

EPA Science Inventory

The Microbial Contaminants Control Branch (MCCB), Water Supply and Water Resources Division, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, conducts research on microbiological problems associated with source water quality, treatment processes, distribution and storage of drin...

Decentralised consensus-based formation tracking of multiple differential drive robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Xing; Peng, Zhaoxia; Wen, Guoguang; Rahmani, Ahmed

2017-11-01

This article investigates the control problem for formation tracking of multiple nonholonomic robots under distributed manner which means each robot only needs local information exchange. A class of general state and input transform is introduced to convert the formation-tracking issue of multi-robot systems into the consensus-like problem with time-varying reference. The distributed observer-based protocol with nonlinear dynamics is developed for each robot to achieve the consensus tracking of the new system, which namely means a group of nonholonomic mobile robots can form the desired formation configuration with its centroid moving along the predefined reference trajectory. The finite-time stability of observer and control law is analysed rigorously by using the Lyapunov direct method, algebraic graph theory and matrix analysis. Numerical examples are finally provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theory results proposed in this paper.

A multi-period distribution network design model under demand uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tabrizi, Babak H.; Razmi, Jafar

2013-05-01

Supply chain management is taken into account as an inseparable component in satisfying customers' requirements. This paper deals with the distribution network design (DND) problem which is a critical issue in achieving supply chain accomplishments. A capable DND can guarantee the success of the entire network performance. However, there are many factors that can cause fluctuations in input data determining market treatment, with respect to short-term planning, on the one hand. On the other hand, network performance may be threatened by the changes that take place within practicing periods, with respect to long-term planning. Thus, in order to bring both kinds of changes under control, we considered a new multi-period, multi-commodity, multi-source DND problem in circumstances where the network encounters uncertain demands. The fuzzy logic is applied here as an efficient tool for controlling the potential customers' demand risk. The defuzzifying framework leads the practitioners and decision-makers to interact with the solution procedure continuously. The fuzzy model is then validated by a sensitivity analysis test, and a typical problem is solved in order to illustrate the implementation steps. Finally, the formulation is tested by some different-sized problems to show its total performance.

Disturbance observer based model predictive control for accurate atmospheric entry of spacecraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Chao; Yang, Jun; Li, Shihua; Li, Qi; Guo, Lei

2018-05-01

Facing the complex aerodynamic environment of Mars atmosphere, a composite atmospheric entry trajectory tracking strategy is investigated in this paper. External disturbances, initial states uncertainties and aerodynamic parameters uncertainties are the main problems. The composite strategy is designed to solve these problems and improve the accuracy of Mars atmospheric entry. This strategy includes a model predictive control for optimized trajectory tracking performance, as well as a disturbance observer based feedforward compensation for external disturbances and uncertainties attenuation. 500-run Monte Carlo simulations show that the proposed composite control scheme achieves more precise Mars atmospheric entry (3.8 km parachute deployment point distribution error) than the baseline control scheme (8.4 km) and integral control scheme (5.8 km).

Distributed Optimization Design of Continuous-Time Multiagent Systems With Unknown-Frequency Disturbances.

PubMed

Wang, Xinghu; Hong, Yiguang; Yi, Peng; Ji, Haibo; Kang, Yu

2017-05-24

In this paper, a distributed optimization problem is studied for continuous-time multiagent systems with unknown-frequency disturbances. A distributed gradient-based control is proposed for the agents to achieve the optimal consensus with estimating unknown frequencies and rejecting the bounded disturbance in the semi-global sense. Based on convex optimization analysis and adaptive internal model approach, the exact optimization solution can be obtained for the multiagent system disturbed by exogenous disturbances with uncertain parameters.

Learning in engineered multi-agent systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menon, Anup

Consider the problem of maximizing the total power produced by a wind farm. Due to aerodynamic interactions between wind turbines, each turbine maximizing its individual power---as is the case in present-day wind farms---does not lead to optimal farm-level power capture. Further, there are no good models to capture the said aerodynamic interactions, rendering model based optimization techniques ineffective. Thus, model-free distributed algorithms are needed that help turbines adapt their power production on-line so as to maximize farm-level power capture. Motivated by such problems, the main focus of this dissertation is a distributed model-free optimization problem in the context of multi-agent systems. The set-up comprises of a fixed number of agents, each of which can pick an action and observe the value of its individual utility function. An individual's utility function may depend on the collective action taken by all agents. The exact functional form (or model) of the agent utility functions, however, are unknown; an agent can only measure the numeric value of its utility. The objective of the multi-agent system is to optimize the welfare function (i.e. sum of the individual utility functions). Such a collaborative task requires communications between agents and we allow for the possibility of such inter-agent communications. We also pay attention to the role played by the pattern of such information exchange on certain aspects of performance. We develop two algorithms to solve this problem. The first one, engineered Interactive Trial and Error Learning (eITEL) algorithm, is based on a line of work in the Learning in Games literature and applies when agent actions are drawn from finite sets. While in a model-free setting, we introduce a novel qualitative graph-theoretic framework to encode known directed interactions of the form "which agents' action affect which others' payoff" (interaction graph). We encode explicit inter-agent communications in a directed graph (communication graph) and, under certain conditions, prove convergence of agent joint action (under eITEL) to the welfare optimizing set. The main condition requires that the union of interaction and communication graphs be strongly connected; thus the algorithm combines an implicit form of communication (via interactions through utility functions) with explicit inter-agent communications to achieve the given collaborative goal. This work has kinship with certain evolutionary computation techniques such as Simulated Annealing; the algorithm steps are carefully designed such that it describes an ergodic Markov chain with a stationary distribution that has support over states where agent joint actions optimize the welfare function. The main analysis tool is perturbed Markov chains and results of broader interest regarding these are derived as well. The other algorithm, Collaborative Extremum Seeking (CES), uses techniques from extremum seeking control to solve the problem when agent actions are drawn from the set of real numbers. In this case, under the assumption of existence of a local minimizer for the welfare function and a connected undirected communication graph between agents, a result regarding convergence of joint action to a small neighborhood of a local optimizer of the welfare function is proved. Since extremum seeking control uses a simultaneous gradient estimation-descent scheme, gradient information available in the continuous action space formulation is exploited by the CES algorithm to yield improved convergence speeds. The effectiveness of this algorithm for the wind farm power maximization problem is evaluated via simulations. Lastly, we turn to a different question regarding role of the information exchange pattern on performance of distributed control systems by means of a case study for the vehicle platooning problem. In the vehicle platoon control problem, the objective is to design distributed control laws for individual vehicles in a platoon (or a road-train) that regulate inter-vehicle distances at a specified safe value while the entire platoon follows a leader-vehicle. While most of the literature on the problem deals with some inadequacy in control performance when the information exchange is of the nearest neighbor-type, we consider an arbitrary graph serving as information exchange pattern and derive a relationship between how a certain indicator of control performance is related to the information pattern. Such analysis helps in understanding qualitative features of the `right' information pattern for this problem.

CHARACTERIZATION OF SUB-MICRON AQUEOUS IRON(III) COLLOIDS FORMED IN THE PRESENCE OF PHOSPHATE BY SEDIMENTATION FIELD FLOW FRACTIONATION WITH MULTI-ANGLE LASER LIGHT SCATTERING DETECTION

EPA Science Inventory

Iron colloids play a major role in the water chemistry of natural watersheds and of engineered drinking water distribution systems. Phosphate is frequently added to distribution systems to control corrosion problems, so iron-phosphate colloids may form through reaction of iron in...

Chandrasekhar equations and computational algorithms for distributed parameter systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burns, J. A.; Ito, K.; Powers, R. K.

1984-01-01

The Chandrasekhar equations arising in optimal control problems for linear distributed parameter systems are considered. The equations are derived via approximation theory. This approach is used to obtain existence, uniqueness, and strong differentiability of the solutions and provides the basis for a convergent computation scheme for approximating feedback gain operators. A numerical example is presented to illustrate these ideas.

Information spread in networks: Games, optimal control, and stabilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khanafer, Ali

This thesis focuses on designing efficient mechanisms for controlling information spread in networks. We consider two models for information spread. The first one is the well-known distributed averaging dynamics. The second model is a nonlinear one that describes virus spread in computer and biological networks. We seek to design optimal, robust, and stabilizing controllers under practical constraints. For distributed averaging networks, we study the interaction between a network designer and an adversary. We consider two types of attacks on the network. In Attack-I, the adversary strategically disconnects a set of links to prevent the nodes from reaching consensus. Meanwhile, the network designer assists the nodes in reaching consensus by changing the weights of a limited number of links in the network. We formulate two problems to describe this competition where the order in which the players act is reversed in the two problems. Although the canonical equations provided by the Pontryagin's Maximum Principle (MP) seem to be intractable, we provide an alternative characterization for the optimal strategies that makes connection to potential theory. Further, we provide a sufficient condition for the existence of a saddle-point equilibrium (SPE) for the underlying zero-sum game. In Attack-II, the designer and the adversary are both capable of altering the measurements of all nodes in the network by injecting global signals. We impose two constraints on both players: a power constraint and an energy constraint. We assume that the available energy to each player is not sufficient to operate at maximum power throughout the horizon of the game. We show the existence of an SPE and derive the optimal strategies in closed form for this attack scenario. As an alternative to the "network designer vs. adversary" framework, we investigate the possibility of stabilizing unknown network diffusion processes using a distributed mechanism, where the uncertainty is due to an attack on the network. To this end, we propose a distributed version of the classical logic-based supervisory control scheme. Given a network of agents whose dynamics contain unknown parameters, the distributed supervisory control scheme is used to assist the agents to converge to a certain set-point without requiring them to have explicit knowledge of that set-point. Unlike the classical supervisory control scheme where a centralized supervisor makes switching decisions among the candidate controllers, in our scheme, each agent is equipped with a local supervisor that switches among the available controllers. The switching decisions made at a certain agent depend only on the information from its neighboring agents. We provide sufficient conditions for stabilization and apply our framework to the distributed averaging problem in the presence of large modeling uncertainty. For infected networks, we study the stability properties of a susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) diffusion model, so-called the n-intertwined Markov model, over arbitrary network topologies. Similar to the majority of infection spread dynamics, this model exhibits a threshold phenomenon. When the curing rates in the network are high, the all-healthy state is the unique equilibrium over the network. Otherwise, an endemic equilibrium state emerges, where some infection remains within the network. Using notions from positive systems theory, we provide conditions for the global asymptotic stability of the equilibrium points in both cases over strongly and weakly connected directed networks based on the value of the basic reproduction number, a fundamental quantity in the study of epidemics. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the n-intertwined Markov model can be viewed as a best-response dynamical system of a concave game among the nodes. This characterization allows us to cast new infection spread dynamics; additionally, we provide a sufficient condition, for the global convergence to the all-healthy state, that can be checked in a distributed fashion. Moreover, we investigate the problem of stabilizing the network when the curing rates of a limited number of nodes can be controlled. In particular, we characterize the number of controllers required for a class of undirected graphs. We also design optimal controllers capable of minimizing the total infection in the network at minimum cost. Finally, we outline a set of open problems in the area of information spread control.

Generation of intervention strategy for a genetic regulatory network represented by a family of Markov Chains.

PubMed

Berlow, Noah; Pal, Ranadip

2011-01-01

Genetic Regulatory Networks (GRNs) are frequently modeled as Markov Chains providing the transition probabilities of moving from one state of the network to another. The inverse problem of inference of the Markov Chain from noisy and limited experimental data is an ill posed problem and often generates multiple model possibilities instead of a unique one. In this article, we address the issue of intervention in a genetic regulatory network represented by a family of Markov Chains. The purpose of intervention is to alter the steady state probability distribution of the GRN as the steady states are considered to be representative of the phenotypes. We consider robust stationary control policies with best expected behavior. The extreme computational complexity involved in search of robust stationary control policies is mitigated by using a sequential approach to control policy generation and utilizing computationally efficient techniques for updating the stationary probability distribution of a Markov chain following a rank one perturbation.

Cognitive process modelling of controllers in en route air traffic control.

PubMed

Inoue, Satoru; Furuta, Kazuo; Nakata, Keiichi; Kanno, Taro; Aoyama, Hisae; Brown, Mark

2012-01-01

In recent years, various efforts have been made in air traffic control (ATC) to maintain traffic safety and efficiency in the face of increasing air traffic demands. ATC is a complex process that depends to a large degree on human capabilities, and so understanding how controllers carry out their tasks is an important issue in the design and development of ATC systems. In particular, the human factor is considered to be a serious problem in ATC safety and has been identified as a causal factor in both major and minor incidents. There is, therefore, a need to analyse the mechanisms by which errors occur due to complex factors and to develop systems that can deal with these errors. From the cognitive process perspective, it is essential that system developers have an understanding of the more complex working processes that involve the cooperative work of multiple controllers. Distributed cognition is a methodological framework for analysing cognitive processes that span multiple actors mediated by technology. In this research, we attempt to analyse and model interactions that take place in en route ATC systems based on distributed cognition. We examine the functional problems in an ATC system from a human factors perspective, and conclude by identifying certain measures by which to address these problems. This research focuses on the analysis of air traffic controllers' tasks for en route ATC and modelling controllers' cognitive processes. This research focuses on an experimental study to gain a better understanding of controllers' cognitive processes in air traffic control. We conducted ethnographic observations and then analysed the data to develop a model of controllers' cognitive process. This analysis revealed that strategic routines are applicable to decision making.

Controllability of Deterministic Networks with the Identical Degree Sequence

PubMed Central

Ma, Xiujuan; Zhao, Haixing; Wang, Binghong

2015-01-01

Controlling complex network is an essential problem in network science and engineering. Recent advances indicate that the controllability of complex network is dependent on the network's topology. Liu and Barabási, et.al speculated that the degree distribution was one of the most important factors affecting controllability for arbitrary complex directed network with random link weights. In this paper, we analysed the effect of degree distribution to the controllability for the deterministic networks with unweighted and undirected. We introduce a class of deterministic networks with identical degree sequence, called (x,y)-flower. We analysed controllability of the two deterministic networks ((1, 3)-flower and (2, 2)-flower) by exact controllability theory in detail and give accurate results of the minimum number of driver nodes for the two networks. In simulation, we compare the controllability of (x,y)-flower networks. Our results show that the family of (x,y)-flower networks have the same degree sequence, but their controllability is totally different. So the degree distribution itself is not sufficient to characterize the controllability of deterministic networks with unweighted and undirected. PMID:26020920

Leader-following control of multiple nonholonomic systems over directed communication graphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Wenjie; Djapic, Vladimir

2016-06-01

This paper considers the leader-following control problem of multiple nonlinear systems with directed communication topology and a leader. If the state of each system is measurable, distributed state feedback controllers are proposed using neighbours' state information with the aid of Lyapunov techniques and properties of Laplacian matrix for time-invariant communication graph and time-varying communication graph. It is shown that the state of each system exponentially converges to the state of a leader. If the state of each system is not measurable, distributed observer-based output feedback control laws are proposed. As an application of the proposed results, formation control of wheeled mobile robots is studied. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed results.

Relationships between digital signal processing and control and estimation theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Willsky, A. S.

1978-01-01

Research areas associated with digital signal processing and control and estimation theory are identified. Particular attention is given to image processing, system identification problems (parameter identification, linear prediction, least squares, Kalman filtering), stability analyses (the use of the Liapunov theory, frequency domain criteria, passivity), and multiparameter systems, distributed processes, and random fields.

Aedes Mosquitoes and Aedes-Borne Arboviruses in Africa: Current and Future Threats

PubMed Central

Weetman, David; Shearer, Freya M.; Coulibaly, Mamadou

2018-01-01

The Zika crisis drew attention to the long-overlooked problem of arboviruses transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes in Africa. Yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya and Zika are poorly controlled in Africa and often go unrecognized. However, to combat these diseases, both in Africa and worldwide, it is crucial that this situation changes. Here, we review available data on the distribution of each disease in Africa, their Aedes vectors, transmission potential, and challenges and opportunities for Aedes control. Data on disease and vector ranges are sparse, and consequently maps of risk are uncertain. Issues such as genetic and ecological diversity, and opportunities for integration with malaria control, are primarily African; others such as ever-increasing urbanization, insecticide resistance and lack of evidence for most control-interventions reflect problems throughout the tropics. We identify key knowledge gaps and future research areas, and in particular, highlight the need to improve knowledge of the distributions of disease and major vectors, insecticide resistance, and to develop specific plans and capacity for arboviral disease surveillance, prevention and outbreak responses. PMID:29382107

Distributed Evaluation Functions for Fault Tolerant Multi-Rover Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agogino, Adrian; Turner, Kagan

2005-01-01

The ability to evolve fault tolerant control strategies for large collections of agents is critical to the successful application of evolutionary strategies to domains where failures are common. Furthermore, while evolutionary algorithms have been highly successful in discovering single-agent control strategies, extending such algorithms to multiagent domains has proven to be difficult. In this paper we present a method for shaping evaluation functions for agents that provide control strategies that both are tolerant to different types of failures and lead to coordinated behavior in a multi-agent setting. This method neither relies of a centralized strategy (susceptible to single point of failures) nor a distributed strategy where each agent uses a system wide evaluation function (severe credit assignment problem). In a multi-rover problem, we show that agents using our agent-specific evaluation perform up to 500% better than agents using the system evaluation. In addition we show that agents are still able to maintain a high level of performance when up to 60% of the agents fail due to actuator, communication or controller faults.

The individual time trial as an optimal control problem

PubMed Central

de Jong, Jenny; Fokkink, Robbert; Olsder, Geert Jan; Schwab, AL

2017-01-01

In a cycling time trial, the rider needs to distribute his power output optimally to minimize the time between start and finish. Mathematically, this is an optimal control problem. Even for a straight and flat course, its solution is non-trivial and involves a singular control, which corresponds to a power that is slightly above the aerobic level. The rider must start at full anaerobic power to reach an optimal speed and maintain that speed for the rest of the course. If the course is flat but not straight, then the speed at which the rider can round the bends becomes crucial. PMID:29388631

Definition, analysis and development of an optical data distribution network for integrated avionics and control systems. Part 2: Component development and system integration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yen, H. W.; Morrison, R. J.

1984-01-01

Fiber optic transmission is emerging as an attractive concept in data distribution onboard civil aircraft. Development of an Optical Data Distribution Network for Integrated Avionics and Control Systems for commercial aircraft will provide a data distribution network that gives freedom from EMI-RFI and ground loop problems, eliminates crosstalk and short circuits, provides protection and immunity from lightning induced transients and give a large bandwidth data transmission capability. In addition there is a potential for significantly reducing the weight and increasing the reliability over conventional data distribution networks. Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is a candidate method for data communication between the various avionic subsystems. With WDM all systems could conceptually communicate with each other without time sharing and requiring complicated coding schemes for each computer and subsystem to recognize a message. However, the state of the art of optical technology limits the application of fiber optics in advanced integrated avionics and control systems. Therefore, it is necessary to address the architecture for a fiber optics data distribution system for integrated avionics and control systems as well as develop prototype components and systems.

Research on Three-phase Four-wire Inverter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xin, W. D.; Li, X. K.; Huang, G. Z.; Fan, X. C.; Gong, X. J.; Sun, L.; Wang, J.; Zhu, D. W.

2017-05-01

The concept of Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based hybrid AC and DC distribution system architecture is proposed, which can solve the traditional AC distribution power quality problems and respond to the request of DC distribution development. At first, a novel VSC system structure combining the four-leg based three-phase four-wire with LC filter is adopted, using the overall coordination control scheme of the AC current tracking compensation based grid-interfaced VSC. In the end, the 75 kW simulation experimental system is designed and tested to verify the performance of the proposed VSC under DC distribution, distributed DC sources conditions, as well as power quality management of AC distribution.

Minimal-Approximation-Based Distributed Consensus Tracking of a Class of Uncertain Nonlinear Multiagent Systems With Unknown Control Directions.

PubMed

Choi, Yun Ho; Yoo, Sung Jin

2017-03-28

A minimal-approximation-based distributed adaptive consensus tracking approach is presented for strict-feedback multiagent systems with unknown heterogeneous nonlinearities and control directions under a directed network. Existing approximation-based consensus results for uncertain nonlinear multiagent systems in lower-triangular form have used multiple function approximators in each local controller to approximate unmatched nonlinearities of each follower. Thus, as the follower's order increases, the number of the approximators used in its local controller increases. However, the proposed approach employs only one function approximator to construct the local controller of each follower regardless of the order of the follower. The recursive design methodology using a new error transformation is derived for the proposed minimal-approximation-based design. Furthermore, a bounding lemma on parameters of Nussbaum functions is presented to handle the unknown control direction problem in the minimal-approximation-based distributed consensus tracking framework and the stability of the overall closed-loop system is rigorously analyzed in the Lyapunov sense.

Establish a Data Transmission Platform of the Rig Based on the Distributed Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bao, Zefu; Li, Tao

In order to control in real-time ,closed-loop feedback the information, saving the money and labor,we distribute a platform of network data. It through the establishment of the platform in the oil drilling to achieve the easiest route of each device of the rig that conveying timely. The design proposed the platform to transfer networking data by PA which allows the rig control for optimal use. Against the idea,achieving first through on-site cabling and the establishment of data transmission module in the rig monitoring system. The results of standard field application show that the platform solve the problem of rig control.

The Restricted Stackelberg Problem.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-06-01

CONTROL LABORATORY W- THE RESTRICTED -STACKELBERG PROBLEM *JOHN TING-YUNG WEN DTIC FEB 1 8 1983D E tab, APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE. DISTRIBUTION...P A G E ,’W lben D ata E n tered) R E ADIN S T R U C TI O N S REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE FORE MsPUTIORS.::! -BEF oRE COMPLETINmG F’ORM I. REPORT...STACKELBERG PROBLEM 7 6. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER _ _._ _ _ _ _-944DC-46) :UILU-ENG-81-2242 7. AUTHOR( e ) 8. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBER(@) NSF ECS-79

A new formation control of multiple underactuated surface vessels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Wenjing; Ma, Baoli; Fernando, Tyrone; Iu, Herbert Ho-Ching

2018-05-01

This work investigates a new formation control problem of multiple underactuated surface vessels. The controller design is based on input-output linearisation technique, graph theory, consensus idea and some nonlinear tools. The proposed smooth time-varying distributed control law guarantees that the multiple underactuated surface vessels globally exponentially converge to some desired geometric shape, which is especially centred at the initial average position of vessels. Furthermore, the stability analysis of zero dynamics proves that the orientations of vessels tend to some constants that are dependent on the initial values of vessels, and the velocities and control inputs of the vessels decay to zero. All the results are obtained under the communication scenarios of static directed balanced graph with a spanning tree. Effectiveness of the proposed distributed control scheme is demonstrated using a simulation example.

Optimal coordinated voltage control in active distribution networks using backtracking search algorithm

PubMed Central

Tengku Hashim, Tengku Juhana; Mohamed, Azah

2017-01-01

The growing interest in distributed generation (DG) in recent years has led to a number of generators connected to a distribution system. The integration of DGs in a distribution system has resulted in a network known as active distribution network due to the existence of bidirectional power flow in the system. Voltage rise issue is one of the predominantly important technical issues to be addressed when DGs exist in an active distribution network. This paper presents the application of the backtracking search algorithm (BSA), which is relatively new optimisation technique to determine the optimal settings of coordinated voltage control in a distribution system. The coordinated voltage control considers power factor, on-load tap-changer and generation curtailment control to manage voltage rise issue. A multi-objective function is formulated to minimise total losses and voltage deviation in a distribution system. The proposed BSA is compared with that of particle swarm optimisation (PSO) so as to evaluate its effectiveness in determining the optimal settings of power factor, tap-changer and percentage active power generation to be curtailed. The load flow algorithm from MATPOWER is integrated in the MATLAB environment to solve the multi-objective optimisation problem. Both the BSA and PSO optimisation techniques have been tested on a radial 13-bus distribution system and the results show that the BSA performs better than PSO by providing better fitness value and convergence rate. PMID:28991919

Optimal coordinated voltage control in active distribution networks using backtracking search algorithm.

PubMed

Tengku Hashim, Tengku Juhana; Mohamed, Azah

2017-01-01

The growing interest in distributed generation (DG) in recent years has led to a number of generators connected to a distribution system. The integration of DGs in a distribution system has resulted in a network known as active distribution network due to the existence of bidirectional power flow in the system. Voltage rise issue is one of the predominantly important technical issues to be addressed when DGs exist in an active distribution network. This paper presents the application of the backtracking search algorithm (BSA), which is relatively new optimisation technique to determine the optimal settings of coordinated voltage control in a distribution system. The coordinated voltage control considers power factor, on-load tap-changer and generation curtailment control to manage voltage rise issue. A multi-objective function is formulated to minimise total losses and voltage deviation in a distribution system. The proposed BSA is compared with that of particle swarm optimisation (PSO) so as to evaluate its effectiveness in determining the optimal settings of power factor, tap-changer and percentage active power generation to be curtailed. The load flow algorithm from MATPOWER is integrated in the MATLAB environment to solve the multi-objective optimisation problem. Both the BSA and PSO optimisation techniques have been tested on a radial 13-bus distribution system and the results show that the BSA performs better than PSO by providing better fitness value and convergence rate.

Analysis of logistic distribution performance of good supply from PT. Mentari Trans Nusantara distribution center to branches using Smart PLS 3.0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endrawati, Titin; Siregar, M. Tirtana

2018-03-01

PT Mentari Trans Nusantara is a company engaged in the distribution of goods from the manufacture of the product to the distributor branch of the customer so that the product distribution must be controlled directly from the PT Mentari Trans Nusantara Center for faster delivery process. Problems often occur on the expedition company which in charge in sending the goods although it has quite extensive networking. The company is less control over logistics management. Meanwhile, logistics distribution management control policy will affect the company's performance in distributing products to customer distributor branches and managing product inventory in distribution center. PT Mentari Trans Nusantara is an expedition company which engaged in good delivery, including in Jakarta. Logistics management performance is very important due to its related to the supply of goods from the central activities to the branches based oncustomer demand. Supply chain management performance is obviously depends on the location of both the distribution center and branches, the smoothness of transportation in the distribution and the availability of the product in the distribution center to meet the demand in order to avoid losing sales. This study concluded that the company could be more efficient and effective in minimizing the risks of loses by improve its logistic management.

Data-Driven H∞ Control for Nonlinear Distributed Parameter Systems.

PubMed

Luo, Biao; Huang, Tingwen; Wu, Huai-Ning; Yang, Xiong

2015-11-01

The data-driven H∞ control problem of nonlinear distributed parameter systems is considered in this paper. An off-policy learning method is developed to learn the H∞ control policy from real system data rather than the mathematical model. First, Karhunen-Loève decomposition is used to compute the empirical eigenfunctions, which are then employed to derive a reduced-order model (ROM) of slow subsystem based on the singular perturbation theory. The H∞ control problem is reformulated based on the ROM, which can be transformed to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs (HJI) equation, theoretically. To learn the solution of the HJI equation from real system data, a data-driven off-policy learning approach is proposed based on the simultaneous policy update algorithm and its convergence is proved. For implementation purpose, a neural network (NN)- based action-critic structure is developed, where a critic NN and two action NNs are employed to approximate the value function, control, and disturbance policies, respectively. Subsequently, a least-square NN weight-tuning rule is derived with the method of weighted residuals. Finally, the developed data-driven off-policy learning approach is applied to a nonlinear diffusion-reaction process, and the obtained results demonstrate its effectiveness.

Distributed Optimal Consensus Control for Multiagent Systems With Input Delay.

PubMed

Zhang, Huaipin; Yue, Dong; Zhao, Wei; Hu, Songlin; Dou, Chunxia; Huaipin Zhang; Dong Yue; Wei Zhao; Songlin Hu; Chunxia Dou; Hu, Songlin; Zhang, Huaipin; Dou, Chunxia; Yue, Dong; Zhao, Wei

2018-06-01

This paper addresses the problem of distributed optimal consensus control for a continuous-time heterogeneous linear multiagent system subject to time varying input delays. First, by discretization and model transformation, the continuous-time input-delayed system is converted into a discrete-time delay-free system. Two delicate performance index functions are defined for these two systems. It is shown that the performance index functions are equivalent and the optimal consensus control problem of the input-delayed system can be cast into that of the delay-free system. Second, by virtue of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations, an optimal control policy for each agent is designed based on the delay-free system and a novel value iteration algorithm is proposed to learn the solutions to the HJB equations online. The proposed adaptive dynamic programming algorithm is implemented on the basis of a critic-action neural network (NN) structure. Third, it is proved that local consensus errors of the two systems and weight estimation errors of the critic-action NNs are uniformly ultimately bounded while the approximated control policies converge to their target values. Finally, two simulation examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed method.

Parasites that cause problems in Malaysia: soil-transmitted helminths and malaria parasites.

PubMed

Singh, B; Cox-Singh, J

2001-12-01

Malaysia is a developing country with a range of parasitic infections. Indeed, soil-transmitted helminths and malaria parasites continue to have a significant impact on public health in Malaysia. In this article, the prevalence and distribution of these parasites, the problems associated with parasitic infections, the control measures taken to deal with these parasites and implications for the future will be discussed.

Graph Design via Convex Optimization: Online and Distributed Perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, De

Network and graph have long been natural abstraction of relations in a variety of applications, e.g. transportation, power system, social network, communication, electrical circuit, etc. As a large number of computation and optimization problems are naturally defined on graphs, graph structures not only enable important properties of these problems, but also leads to highly efficient distributed and online algorithms. For example, graph separability enables the parallelism for computation and operation as well as limits the size of local problems. More interestingly, graphs can be defined and constructed in order to take best advantage of those problem properties. This dissertation focuses on graph structure and design in newly proposed optimization problems, which establish a bridge between graph properties and optimization problem properties. We first study a new optimization problem called Geodesic Distance Maximization Problem (GDMP). Given a graph with fixed edge weights, finding the shortest path, also known as the geodesic, between two nodes is a well-studied network flow problem. We introduce the Geodesic Distance Maximization Problem (GDMP): the problem of finding the edge weights that maximize the length of the geodesic subject to convex constraints on the weights. We show that GDMP is a convex optimization problem for a wide class of flow costs, and provide a physical interpretation using the dual. We present applications of the GDMP in various fields, including optical lens design, network interdiction, and resource allocation in the control of forest fires. We develop an Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) by exploiting specific problem structures to solve large-scale GDMP, and demonstrate its effectiveness in numerical examples. We then turn our attention to distributed optimization on graph with only local communication. Distributed optimization arises in a variety of applications, e.g. distributed tracking and localization, estimation problems in sensor networks, multi-agent coordination. Distributed optimization aims to optimize a global objective function formed by summation of coupled local functions over a graph via only local communication and computation. We developed a weighted proximal ADMM for distributed optimization using graph structure. This fully distributed, single-loop algorithm allows simultaneous updates and can be viewed as a generalization of existing algorithms. More importantly, we achieve faster convergence by jointly designing graph weights and algorithm parameters. Finally, we propose a new problem on networks called Online Network Formation Problem: starting with a base graph and a set of candidate edges, at each round of the game, player one first chooses a candidate edge and reveals it to player two, then player two decides whether to accept it; player two can only accept limited number of edges and make online decisions with the goal to achieve the best properties of the synthesized network. The network properties considered include the number of spanning trees, algebraic connectivity and total effective resistance. These network formation games arise in a variety of cooperative multiagent systems. We propose a primal-dual algorithm framework for the general online network formation game, and analyze the algorithm performance by the competitive ratio and regret.

Can Targeted Intervention Mitigate Early Emotional and Behavioral Problems?: Generating Robust Evidence within Randomized Controlled Trials

PubMed Central

Doyle, Orla; McGlanaghy, Edel; O’Farrelly, Christine; Tremblay, Richard E.

2016-01-01

This study examined the impact of a targeted Irish early intervention program on children’s emotional and behavioral development using multiple methods to test the robustness of the results. Data on 164 Preparing for Life participants who were randomly assigned into an intervention group, involving home visits from pregnancy onwards, or a control group, was used to test the impact of the intervention on Child Behavior Checklist scores at 24-months. Using inverse probability weighting to account for differential attrition, permutation testing to address small sample size, and quantile regression to characterize the distributional impact of the intervention, we found that the few treatment effects were largely concentrated among boys most at risk of developing emotional and behavioral problems. The average treatment effect identified a 13% reduction in the likelihood of falling into the borderline clinical threshold for Total Problems. The interaction and subgroup analysis found that this main effect was driven by boys. The distributional analysis identified a 10-point reduction in the Externalizing Problems score for boys at the 90th percentile. No effects were observed for girls or for the continuous measures of Total, Internalizing, and Externalizing problems. These findings suggest that the impact of this prenatally commencing home visiting program may be limited to boys experiencing the most difficulties. Further adoption of the statistical methods applied here may help to improve the internal validity of randomized controlled trials and contribute to the field of evaluation science more generally. Trial Registration: ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN04631728 PMID:27253184

Adaptive Fault-Resistant Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-10-01

An Architectural Overview of the Alpha Real-Time Distributed Kernel . In Proceeding., of the USEN[X Workshop on Microkernels and Other Kernel ...system and the controller are monolithic . We have noted earlier some of the problems of distributed systems-for exam- ple, the need to bound the...are monolithic . In practice, designers employ a layered structuring for their systems in order to manage complexity, and we expect that practical

Distributed Adaptive Control: Beyond Single-Instant, Discrete Variables

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolpert, David H.; Bieniawski, Stefan

2005-01-01

In extensive form noncooperative game theory, at each instant t, each agent i sets its state x, independently of the other agents, by sampling an associated distribution, q(sub i)(x(sub i)). The coupling between the agents arises in the joint evolution of those distributions. Distributed control problems can be cast the same way. In those problems the system designer sets aspects of the joint evolution of the distributions to try to optimize the goal for the overall system. Now information theory tells us what the separate q(sub i) of the agents are most likely to be if the system were to have a particular expected value of the objective function G(x(sub 1),x(sub 2), ...). So one can view the job of the system designer as speeding an iterative process. Each step of that process starts with a specified value of E(G), and the convergence of the q(sub i) to the most likely set of distributions consistent with that value. After this the target value for E(sub q)(G) is lowered, and then the process repeats. Previous work has elaborated many schemes for implementing this process when the underlying variables x(sub i) all have a finite number of possible values and G does not extend to multiple instants in time. That work also is based on a fixed mapping from agents to control devices, so that the the statistical independence of the agents' moves means independence of the device states. This paper also extends that work to relax all of these restrictions. This extends the applicability of that work to include continuous spaces and Reinforcement Learning. This paper also elaborates how some of that earlier work can be viewed as a first-principles justification of evolution-based search algorithms.

Numerical Study of Groundwater Flow and Salinity Distribution Cycling Controlled by Seawater/Freshwater Interaction in Karst Aquifer Using SEAWAT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Z.; Hu, B.

2017-12-01

The interest to predict seawater intrusion and salinity distribution in Woodville Karst Plain (WKP) has increased due to the huge challenge on quality of drinkable water and serious environmental problems. Seawater intrudes into the conduit system from submarine karst caves at Spring Creek Spring due to density difference and sea level rising, nowadays the low salinity has been detected at Wakulla Spring which is 18 km from coastal line. The groundwater discharge at two major springs and salinity distribution in this area is controlled by the seawater/freshwater interaction under different rainfall conditions: during low rainfall periods, seawater flow into the submarine spring through karst windows, then the salinity rising at the submarine spring leads to seawater further intrudes into conduit system; during high rainfall periods, seawater is pushed out by fresh water discharge at submarine spring. The previous numerical studies of WKP mainly focused on the density independent transport modeling and seawater/freshwater discharge at major karst springs, in this study, a SEAWAT model has been developed to fully investigate the salinity distribution in the WKP under repeating phases of low rainfall and high rainfall periods, the conduit system was simulated as porous media with high conductivity and porosity. The precipitation, salinity and discharge at springs were used to calibrate the model. The results showed that the salinity distribution in porous media and conduit system is controlled by the rainfall change, in general, the salinity distribution inland under low rainfall conditions is much higher and wider than the high rainfall conditions. The results propose a prediction on the environmental problem caused by seawater intrusion in karst coastal aquifer, in addition, provide a visual and scientific basis for future groundwater remediation.

Distributed Fault-Tolerant Control of Networked Uncertain Euler-Lagrange Systems Under Actuator Faults.

PubMed

Chen, Gang; Song, Yongduan; Lewis, Frank L

2016-05-03

This paper investigates the distributed fault-tolerant control problem of networked Euler-Lagrange systems with actuator and communication link faults. An adaptive fault-tolerant cooperative control scheme is proposed to achieve the coordinated tracking control of networked uncertain Lagrange systems on a general directed communication topology, which contains a spanning tree with the root node being the active target system. The proposed algorithm is capable of compensating for the actuator bias fault, the partial loss of effectiveness actuation fault, the communication link fault, the model uncertainty, and the external disturbance simultaneously. The control scheme does not use any fault detection and isolation mechanism to detect, separate, and identify the actuator faults online, which largely reduces the online computation and expedites the responsiveness of the controller. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a test-bed of multiple robot-arm cooperative control system is developed for real-time verification. Experiments on the networked robot-arms are conduced and the results confirm the benefits and the effectiveness of the proposed distributed fault-tolerant control algorithms.

Optimal solution and optimality condition of the Hunter-Saxton equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Chunyu

2018-02-01

This paper is devoted to the optimal distributed control problem governed by the Hunter-Saxton equation with constraints on the control. We first investigate the existence and uniqueness of weak solution for the controlled system with appropriate initial value and boundary conditions. In contrast with our previous research, the proof of solution mapping is local Lipschitz continuous, which is one big improvement. Second, based on the well-posedness result, we find a unique optimal control and optimal solution for the controlled system with the quadratic cost functional. Moreover, we establish the sufficient and necessary optimality condition of an optimal control by means of the optimal control theory, not limited to the necessary condition, which is another major novelty of this paper. We also discuss the optimality conditions corresponding to two physical meaningful distributed observation cases.

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.

Graph theoretical stable allocation as a tool for reproduction of control by human operators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Nooijen, Ronald; Ertsen, Maurits; Kolechkina, Alla

2016-04-01

During the design of central control algorithms for existing water resource systems under manual control it is important to consider the interaction with parts of the system that remain under manual control and to compare the proposed new system with the existing manual methods. In graph theory the "stable allocation" problem has good solution algorithms and allows for formulation of flow distribution problems in terms of priorities. As a test case for the use of this approach we used the algorithm to derive water allocation rules for the Gezira Scheme, an irrigation system located between the Blue and White Niles south of Khartoum. In 1925, Gezira started with 300,000 acres; currently it covers close to two million acres.

Dynamic Control of Facts Devices to Enable Large Scale Penetration of Renewable Energy Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chavan, Govind Sahadeo

This thesis focuses on some of the problems caused by large scale penetration of Renewable Energy Resources within EHV transmission networks, and investigates some approaches in resolving these problems. In chapter 4, a reduced-order model of the 500 kV WECC transmission system is developed by estimating its key parameters from phasor measurement unit (PMU) data. The model was then implemented in RTDS and was investigated for its accuracy with respect to the PMU data. Finally it was tested for observing the effects of various contingencies like transmission line loss, generation loss and large scale penetration of wind farms on EHV transmission systems. Chapter 5 introduces Static Series Synchronous Compensators (SSSC) which are seriesconnected converters that can control real power flow along a transmission line. A new application of SSSCs in mitigating Ferranti effect on unloaded transmission lines was demonstrated on PSCAD. A new control scheme for SSSCs based on the Cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converter configuration was proposed and was demonstrated using PSCAD and RTDS. A new centralized controller was developed for the distributed SSSCs based on some of the concepts used in the CHB-based SSSC. The controller's efficacy was demonstrated using RTDS. Finally chapter 6 introduces the problem of power oscillations induced by renewable sources in a transmission network. A power oscillation damping (POD) controller is designed using distributed SSSCs in NYPA's 345 kV three-bus AC system and its efficacy is demonstrated in PSCAD. A similar POD controller is then designed for the CHB-based SSSC in the IEEE 14 bus system in PSCAD. Both controllers were noted to have significantly damped power oscillations in the transmission networks.

Quantitative estimation of magnetic nanoparticle distributions in one dimension using low-frequency continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coene, A.; Crevecoeur, G.; Dupré, L.; Vaes, P.

2013-06-01

In recent years, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have gained increased attention due to their superparamagnetic properties. These properties allow the development of innovative biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery and tumour heating. However, these modalities lack effective operation arising from the inaccurate quantification of the spatial MNP distribution. This paper proposes an approach for assessing the one-dimensional (1D) MNP distribution using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). EPR is able to accurately determine the MNP concentration in a single volume but not the MNP distribution throughout this volume. A new approach that exploits the solution of inverse problems for the correct interpretation of the measured EPR signals, is investigated. We achieve reconstruction of the 1D distribution of MNPs using EPR. Furthermore, the impact of temperature control on the reconstructed distributions is analysed by comparing two EPR setups where the latter setup is temperature controlled. Reconstruction quality for the temperature-controlled setup increases with an average of 5% and with a maximum increase of 13% for distributions with relatively lower iron concentrations and higher resolutions. However, these measurements are only a validation of our new method and form no hard limits.

Genotyping and inflated type I error rate in genome-wide association case/control studies

PubMed Central

Sampson, Joshua N; Zhao, Hongyu

2009-01-01

Background One common goal of a case/control genome wide association study (GWAS) is to find SNPs associated with a disease. Traditionally, the first step in such studies is to assign a genotype to each SNP in each subject, based on a statistic summarizing fluorescence measurements. When the distributions of the summary statistics are not well separated by genotype, the act of genotype assignment can lead to more potential problems than acknowledged by the literature. Results Specifically, we show that the proportions of each called genotype need not equal the true proportions in the population, even as the number of subjects grows infinitely large. The called genotypes for two subjects need not be independent, even when their true genotypes are independent. Consequently, p-values from tests of association can be anti-conservative, even when the distributions of the summary statistic for the cases and controls are identical. To address these problems, we propose two new tests designed to reduce the inflation in the type I error rate caused by these problems. The first algorithm, logiCALL, measures call quality by fully exploring the likelihood profile of intensity measurements, and the second algorithm avoids genotyping by using a likelihood ratio statistic. Conclusion Genotyping can introduce avoidable false positives in GWAS. PMID:19236714

Combined structures-controls optimization of lattice trusses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Balakrishnan, A. V.

1991-01-01

The role that distributed parameter model can play in CSI is demonstrated, in particular in combined structures controls optimization problems of importance in preliminary design. Closed form solutions can be obtained for performance criteria such as rms attitude error, making possible analytical solutions of the optimization problem. This is in contrast to the need for numerical computer solution involving the inversion of large matrices in traditional finite element model (FEM) use. Another advantage of the analytic solution is that it can provide much needed insight into phenomena that can otherwise be obscured or difficult to discern from numerical computer results. As a compromise in level of complexity between a toy lab model and a real space structure, the lattice truss used in the EPS (Earth Pointing Satellite) was chosen. The optimization problem chosen is a generic one: of minimizing the structure mass subject to a specified stability margin and to a specified upper bond on the rms attitude error, using a co-located controller and sensors. Standard FEM treating each bar as a truss element is used, while the continuum model is anisotropic Timoshenko beam model. Performance criteria are derived for each model, except that for the distributed parameter model, explicit closed form solutions was obtained. Numerical results obtained by the two model show complete agreement.

Robust scalable stabilisability conditions for large-scale heterogeneous multi-agent systems with uncertain nonlinear interactions: towards a distributed computing architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manfredi, Sabato

2016-06-01

Large-scale dynamic systems are becoming highly pervasive in their occurrence with applications ranging from system biology, environment monitoring, sensor networks, and power systems. They are characterised by high dimensionality, complexity, and uncertainty in the node dynamic/interactions that require more and more computational demanding methods for their analysis and control design, as well as the network size and node system/interaction complexity increase. Therefore, it is a challenging problem to find scalable computational method for distributed control design of large-scale networks. In this paper, we investigate the robust distributed stabilisation problem of large-scale nonlinear multi-agent systems (briefly MASs) composed of non-identical (heterogeneous) linear dynamical systems coupled by uncertain nonlinear time-varying interconnections. By employing Lyapunov stability theory and linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique, new conditions are given for the distributed control design of large-scale MASs that can be easily solved by the toolbox of MATLAB. The stabilisability of each node dynamic is a sufficient assumption to design a global stabilising distributed control. The proposed approach improves some of the existing LMI-based results on MAS by both overcoming their computational limits and extending the applicative scenario to large-scale nonlinear heterogeneous MASs. Additionally, the proposed LMI conditions are further reduced in terms of computational requirement in the case of weakly heterogeneous MASs, which is a common scenario in real application where the network nodes and links are affected by parameter uncertainties. One of the main advantages of the proposed approach is to allow to move from a centralised towards a distributed computing architecture so that the expensive computation workload spent to solve LMIs may be shared among processors located at the networked nodes, thus increasing the scalability of the approach than the network size. Finally, a numerical example shows the applicability of the proposed method and its advantage in terms of computational complexity when compared with the existing approaches.

A development framework for distributed artificial intelligence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adler, Richard M.; Cottman, Bruce H.

1989-01-01

The authors describe distributed artificial intelligence (DAI) applications in which multiple organizations of agents solve multiple domain problems. They then describe work in progress on a DAI system development environment, called SOCIAL, which consists of three primary language-based components. The Knowledge Object Language defines models of knowledge representation and reasoning. The metaCourier language supplies the underlying functionality for interprocess communication and control access across heterogeneous computing environments. The metaAgents language defines models for agent organization coordination, control, and resource management. Application agents and agent organizations will be constructed by combining metaAgents and metaCourier building blocks with task-specific functionality such as diagnostic or planning reasoning. This architecture hides implementation details of communications, control, and integration in distributed processing environments, enabling application developers to concentrate on the design and functionality of the intelligent agents and agent networks themselves.

Output Feedback Distributed Containment Control for High-Order Nonlinear Multiagent Systems.

PubMed

Li, Yafeng; Hua, Changchun; Wu, Shuangshuang; Guan, Xinping

2017-01-31

In this paper, we study the problem of output feedback distributed containment control for a class of high-order nonlinear multiagent systems under a fixed undirected graph and a fixed directed graph, respectively. Only the output signals of the systems can be measured. The novel reduced order dynamic gain observer is constructed to estimate the unmeasured state variables of the system with the less conservative condition on nonlinear terms than traditional Lipschitz one. Via the backstepping method, output feedback distributed nonlinear controllers for the followers are designed. By means of the novel first virtual controllers, we separate the estimated state variables of different agents from each other. Consequently, the designed controllers show independence on the estimated state variables of neighbors except outputs information, and the dynamics of each agent can be greatly different, which make the design method have a wider class of applications. Finally, a numerical simulation is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Supervisory control and diagnostics system for the mirror fusion test facility: overview and status 1980

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

McGoldrick, P.R.

1981-01-01

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) is a complex facility requiring a highly-computerized Supervisory Control and Diagnostics System (SCDS) to monitor and provide control over ten subsystems; three of which require true process control. SCDS will provide physicists with a method of studying machine and plasma behavior by acquiring and processing up to four megabytes of plasma diagnostic information every five minutes. A high degree of availability and throughput is provided by a distributed computer system (nine 32-bit minicomputers on shared memory). Data, distributed across SCDS, is managed by a high-bandwidth Distributed Database Management System. The MFTF operators' control roommore » consoles use color television monitors with touch sensitive screens; this is a totally new approach. The method of handling deviations to normal machine operation and how the operator should be notified and assisted in the resolution of problems has been studied and a system designed.« less

Global finite-time attitude consensus tracking control for a group of rigid spacecraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Penghua

2017-10-01

The problem of finite-time attitude consensus for multiple rigid spacecraft with a leader-follower architecture is investigated in this paper. To achieve the finite-time attitude consensus, at the first step, a distributed finite-time convergent observer is proposed for each follower to estimate the leader's attitude in a finite time. Then based on the terminal sliding mode control method, a new finite-time attitude tracking controller is designed such that the leader's attitude can be tracked in a finite time. Finally, a finite-time observer-based distributed control strategy is proposed. It is shown that the attitude consensus can be achieved in a finite time under the proposed controller. Simulation results are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

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

Fluid Intelligence Predicts Novel Rule Implementation in a Distributed Frontoparietal Control Network.

PubMed

Tschentscher, Nadja; Mitchell, Daniel; Duncan, John

2017-05-03

Fluid intelligence has been associated with a distributed cognitive control or multiple-demand (MD) network, comprising regions of lateral frontal, insular, dorsomedial frontal, and parietal cortex. Human fluid intelligence is also intimately linked to task complexity, and the process of solving complex problems in a sequence of simpler, more focused parts. Here, a complex target detection task included multiple independent rules, applied one at a time in successive task epochs. Although only one rule was applied at a time, increasing task complexity (i.e., the number of rules) impaired performance in participants of lower fluid intelligence. Accompanying this loss of performance was reduced response to rule-critical events across the distributed MD network. The results link fluid intelligence and MD function to a process of attentional focus on the successive parts of complex behavior. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Fluid intelligence is intimately linked to the ability to structure complex problems in a sequence of simpler, more focused parts. We examine the basis for this link in the functions of a distributed frontoparietal or multiple-demand (MD) network. With increased task complexity, participants of lower fluid intelligence showed reduced responses to task-critical events. Reduced responses in the MD system were accompanied by impaired behavioral performance. Low fluid intelligence is linked to poor foregrounding of task-critical information across a distributed MD system. Copyright © 2017 Tschentscher et al.

Incremental planning to control a blackboard-based problem solver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Durfee, E. H.; Lesser, V. R.

1987-01-01

To control problem solving activity, a planner must resolve uncertainty about which specific long-term goals (solutions) to pursue and about which sequences of actions will best achieve those goals. A planner is described that abstracts the problem solving state to recognize possible competing and compatible solutions and to roughly predict the importance and expense of developing these solutions. With this information, the planner plans sequences of problem solving activities that most efficiently resolve its uncertainty about which of the possible solutions to work toward. The planner only details actions for the near future because the results of these actions will influence how (and whether) a plan should be pursued. As problem solving proceeds, the planner adds new details to the plan incrementally, and monitors and repairs the plan to insure it achieves its goals whenever possible. Through experiments, researchers illustrate how these new mechanisms significantly improve problem solving decisions and reduce overall computation. They briefly discuss current research directions, including how these mechanisms can improve a problem solver's real-time response and can enhance cooperation in a distributed problem solving network.

Distributed Control for Networked Systems with Non-Traditional Communication Constraints: Lossy Links, Power and Usage Limitations, and Induced Cooperation

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-07-12

fields ranging from real- time alarm systems and vehicle systems to aeronautical guidance and formation control , the need for establishing a theoretical...noisy channels In the publication [7], we have considered the problem of remotely controlling a continuous- time lin- ear time -invariant system driven by...the controller ) and the reverse channel (connecting the controller to the plant). For stability of the closed-loop system , we look for the existence of

Network-Cognizant Design of Decentralized Volt/VAR Controllers

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

Baker, Kyri A; Bernstein, Andrey; Zhao, Changhong

This paper considers the problem of designing decentralized Volt/VAR controllers for distributed energy resources (DERs). The voltage-reactive power characteristics of individual DERs are obtained by solving a convex optimization problem, where given performance objectives (e.g., minimization of the voltage deviations from a given profile) are specified and stability constraints are enforced. The resultant Volt/VAR characteristics are network-cognizant, in the sense that they embed information on the location of the DERs and, consequently, on the effect of reactive-power adjustments on the voltages throughout the feeder. Bounds on the maximum voltage deviation incurred by the controllers are analytically established. Numerical results aremore » reported to corroborate the technical findings.« less

Applied Joint-Space Torque and Stiffness Control of Tendon-Driven Fingers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abdallah, Muhammad E.; Platt, Robert, Jr.; Wampler, Charles W.; Hargrave, Brian

2010-01-01

Existing tendon-driven fingers have applied force control through independent tension controllers on each tendon, i.e. in the tendon-space. The coupled kinematics of the tendons, however, cause such controllers to exhibit a transient coupling in their response. This problem can be resolved by alternatively framing the controllers in the joint-space of the manipulator. This work presents a joint-space torque control law that demonstrates both a decoupled and significantly faster response than an equivalent tendon-space formulation. The law also demonstrates greater speed and robustness than comparable PI controllers. In addition, a tension distribution algorithm is presented here to allocate forces from the joints to the tendons. It allocates the tensions so that they satisfy both an upper and lower bound, and it does so without requiring linear programming or open-ended iterations. The control law and tension distribution algorithm are implemented on the robotic hand of Robonaut-2.

Non-fragile observer-based output feedback control for polytopic uncertain system under distributed model predictive control approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Kaiqun; Song, Yan; Zhang, Sunjie; Zhong, Zhaozhun

2017-07-01

In this paper, a non-fragile observer-based output feedback control problem for the polytopic uncertain system under distributed model predictive control (MPC) approach is discussed. By decomposing the global system into some subsystems, the computation complexity is reduced, so it follows that the online designing time can be saved.Moreover, an observer-based output feedback control algorithm is proposed in the framework of distributed MPC to deal with the difficulties in obtaining the states measurements. In this way, the presented observer-based output-feedback MPC strategy is more flexible and applicable in practice than the traditional state-feedback one. What is more, the non-fragility of the controller has been taken into consideration in favour of increasing the robustness of the polytopic uncertain system. After that, a sufficient stability criterion is presented by using Lyapunov-like functional approach, meanwhile, the corresponding control law and the upper bound of the quadratic cost function are derived by solving an optimisation subject to convex constraints. Finally, some simulation examples are employed to show the effectiveness of the method.

OVERVIEW OF USEPA MICROBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN DRINKING WATER

EPA Science Inventory

The Microbial Contaminants Control Branch (MCCB) conducts research on microbiological problems related to drinking water treatment, distribution and storage, and has recently become involved in watershed and source water quality issues such as fecal indicator bacteria and fecal p...

Replication in Mobile Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

control number. 1. REPORT DATE 01 DEC 2007 2. REPORT TYPE N/A 3. DATES COVERED 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Data Replication Over Disadvantaged ...Communication, Information Processing, and Ergonomics KIE What is the Problem? Data replication among distributed databases occurring over disadvantaged

Flight investigation of cabin noise control treatments for a light turboprop aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilby, J. F.; Oneal, R. L.; Mixson, J. S.

1985-01-01

The in-flight evaluation of noise control treatments for a light, twin-engined turboprop aircraft presents several problems associated with data analysis and interpretation. These problems include data repeatability, propeller synchronization, spatial distributions of the exterior pressure field and acoustic treatment, and the presence of flanking paths. They are discussed here with regard to a specific aeroplane configuration. Measurements were made in an untreated cabin and in a cabin fitted with an experimental sidewall treatment. Results are presented in terms of the insertion loss provided by the treatment and comparison made with predictions based on laboratory measurements.

Robust tracking and distributed synchronization control of a multi-motor servomechanism with H-infinity performance.

PubMed

Wang, Minlin; Ren, Xuemei; Chen, Qiang

2018-01-01

The multi-motor servomechanism (MMS) is a multi-variable, high coupling and nonlinear system, which makes the controller design challenging. In this paper, an adaptive robust H-infinity control scheme is proposed to achieve both the load tracking and multi-motor synchronization of MMS. This control scheme consists of two parts: a robust tracking controller and a distributed synchronization controller. The robust tracking controller is constructed by incorporating a neural network (NN) K-filter observer into the dynamic surface control, while the distributed synchronization controller is designed by combining the mean deviation coupling control strategy with the distributed technique. The proposed control scheme has several merits: 1) by using the mean deviation coupling synchronization control strategy, the tracking controller and the synchronization controller can be designed individually without any coupling problem; 2) the immeasurable states and unknown nonlinearities are handled by a NN K-filter observer, where the number of NN weights is largely reduced by using the minimal learning parameter technique; 3) the H-infinity performances of tracking error and synchronization error are guaranteed by introducing a robust term into the tracking controller and the synchronization controller, respectively. The stabilities of the tracking and synchronization control systems are analyzed by the Lyapunov theory. Simulation and experimental results based on a four-motor servomechanism are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Innovative Multi-Agent Search-and-Rescue Path Planning Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-09

search problems from search theory and artificial intelligence /distributed robotic control, and pursuit-evasion problem perspectives may be found in...Dissanayake, “Probabilistic search for a moving target in an indoor environment”, In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2006, pp...3393-3398. [7] H. Lau, and G. Dissanayake, “Optimal search for multiple targets in a built environment”, In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intelligent

An adaptive grid scheme using the boundary element method

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

Munipalli, R.; Anderson, D.A.

1996-09-01

A technique to solve the Poisson grid generation equations by Green`s function related methods has been proposed, with the source terms being purely position dependent. The use of distributed singularities in the flow domain coupled with the boundary element method (BEM) formulation is presented in this paper as a natural extension of the Green`s function method. This scheme greatly simplifies the adaption process. The BEM reduces the dimensionality of the given problem by one. Internal grid-point placement can be achieved for a given boundary distribution by adding continuous and discrete source terms in the BEM formulation. A distribution of vortexmore » doublets is suggested as a means of controlling grid-point placement and grid-line orientation. Examples for sample adaption problems are presented and discussed. 15 refs., 20 figs.« less

Distributed resource allocation under communication constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dodin, Pierre; Nimier, Vincent

2001-03-01

This paper deals with a study of the multi-sensor management problem for multi-target tracking. The collaboration between many sensors observing the same target means that they are able to fuse their data during the information process. Then one must take into account this possibility to compute the optimal association sensors-target at each step of time. In order to solve this problem for real large scale system, one must both consider the information aspect and the control aspect of the problem. To unify these problems, one possibility is to use a decentralized filtering algorithm locally driven by an assignment algorithm. The decentralized filtering algorithm we use in our model is the filtering algorithm of Grime, which relaxes the usual full-connected hypothesis. By full-connected, one means that the information in a full-connected system is totally distributed everywhere at the same moment, which is unacceptable for a real large scale system. We modelize the distributed assignment decision with the help of a greedy algorithm. Each sensor performs a global optimization, in order to estimate other information sets. A consequence of the relaxation of the full- connected hypothesis is that the sensors' information set are not the same at each step of time, producing an information dis- symmetry in the system. The assignment algorithm uses a local knowledge of this dis-symmetry. By testing the reactions and the coherence of the local assignment decisions of our system, against maneuvering targets, we show that it is still possible to manage with decentralized assignment control even though the system is not full-connected.

Into Turbulent Air: Hummingbird Aerodynamic Control in Unsteady Circumstances

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-24

costs of flight. We have also completed studies of hummingbird hovering flight within a vertical wind tunnel to enable study of the vortex ring state...vertical wind tunnel to enable study of the vortex ring state, a well-known problem in helicopter descent. This work evaluated both ascending and...wakes. DISTRIBUTION A: Distribution approved for public release. Our work with hummingbirds hovering in a vertical wind tunnel has enabled

Transfer of Department of Defense Managed Sustainment Programs in Iraq to Department of State Control

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-22

responsible for conducting Reception , Staging, Onward movement, and Integration of personnel and equipment, the distribution management of supplies...temperature refrigerated containers or leased refrigerated containers on semi- trailers . Class III Distribution As the DoD executive agent, DLA is...quantitative approach involves the investigation of a human or social problem, and tests the theory based on the collection of variables, numerically

242A Distributed Control System Year 2000 Acceptance Test Report

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

TEATS, M.C.

1999-08-31

This report documents acceptance test results for the 242-A Evaporator distributive control system upgrade to D/3 version 9.0-2 for year 2000 compliance. This report documents the test results obtained by acceptance testing as directed by procedure HNF-2695. This verification procedure will document the initial testing and evaluation of the potential 242-A Distributed Control System (DCS) operating difficulties across the year 2000 boundary and the calendar adjustments needed for the leap year. Baseline system performance data will be recorded using current, as-is operating system software. Data will also be collected for operating system software that has been modified to correct yearmore » 2000 problems. This verification procedure is intended to be generic such that it may be performed on any D/3{trademark} (GSE Process Solutions, Inc.) distributed control system that runs with the VMSTM (Digital Equipment Corporation) operating system. This test may be run on simulation or production systems depending upon facility status. On production systems, DCS outages will occur nine times throughout performance of the test. These outages are expected to last about 10 minutes each.« less

A Comparative Study of Probability Collectives Based Multi-agent Systems and Genetic Algorithms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huang, Chien-Feng; Wolpert, David H.; Bieniawski, Stefan; Strauss, Charles E. M.

2005-01-01

We compare Genetic Algorithms (GA's) with Probability Collectives (PC), a new framework for distributed optimization and control. In contrast to GA's, PC-based methods do not update populations of solutions. Instead they update an explicitly parameterized probability distribution p over the space of solutions. That updating of p arises as the optimization of a functional of p. The functional is chosen so that any p that optimizes it should be p peaked about good solutions. The PC approach works in both continuous and discrete problems. It does not suffer from the resolution limitation of the finite bit length encoding of parameters into GA alleles. It also has deep connections with both game theory and statistical physics. We review the PC approach using its motivation as the information theoretic formulation of bounded rationality for multi-agent systems. It is then compared with GA's on a diverse set of problems. To handle high dimensional surfaces, in the PC method investigated here p is restricted to a product distribution. Each distribution in that product is controlled by a separate agent. The test functions were selected for their difficulty using either traditional gradient descent or genetic algorithms. On those functions the PC-based approach significantly outperforms traditional GA's in both rate of descent, trapping in false minima, and long term optimization.

Challenges in reducing the computational time of QSTS simulations for distribution system analysis.

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

Deboever, Jeremiah; Zhang, Xiaochen; Reno, Matthew J.

The rapid increase in penetration of distributed energy resources on the electric power distribution system has created a need for more comprehensive interconnection modelling and impact analysis. Unlike conventional scenario - based studies , quasi - static time - series (QSTS) simulation s can realistically model time - dependent voltage controllers and the diversity of potential impacts that can occur at different times of year . However, to accurately model a distribution system with all its controllable devices, a yearlong simulation at 1 - second resolution is often required , which could take conventional computers a computational time of 10more » to 120 hours when an actual unbalanced distribution feeder is modeled . This computational burden is a clear l imitation to the adoption of QSTS simulation s in interconnection studies and for determining optimal control solutions for utility operations . Our ongoing research to improve the speed of QSTS simulation has revealed many unique aspects of distribution system modelling and sequential power flow analysis that make fast QSTS a very difficult problem to solve. In this report , the most relevant challenges in reducing the computational time of QSTS simulations are presented: number of power flows to solve, circuit complexity, time dependence between time steps, multiple valid power flow solutions, controllable element interactions, and extensive accurate simulation analysis.« less

Applying AI systems in the T and D arena. [Artificial Intelligence, Transmission and Distribution

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

Venkata, S.S.; Liu, Chenching; Sumic, Z.

1993-04-01

The power engineering community has capitalized on various computer technologies since the early 1960s, with most successful application to solving well-defined problems that are capable of being modeled. Although computing methods have made notable progress in the power engineering arena, there is still a class of problems that is not easy to define or formulate to apply conventional computerized methods. In addition to being difficult to express in a closed mathematical form, these problems are often characterized by the absence of one or both of the following features: a predetermined decision path from the initial state to goal (ill-structured problem);more » a well-defined criteria for whether an obtained solution is acceptable (open-ended problem). Power engineers have been investigating the application of AI-based methodologies to power system problems. Most of the work in the past has been geared towards the development of expert systems as an operator's aid in energy control centers for bulk power transmission systems operating under abnormal conditions. Alarm processing, fault diagnosis, system restoration, and voltage/var control are a few key areas where significant research work has progressed to date. Results of this research have effected more than 100 prototype expert systems for power systems throughout the US, Japan, and Europe. The objectives of this article are to: expose engineers to the benefits of using AI methods for a host of transmission and distribution (T and D) problems that need immediate attention; identify problems that could be solved more effectively by applying AI approaches; summarize recent developments and successful AI applications in T and D.« less

Model Predictive Optimal Control of a Time-Delay Distributed-Parameter Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, Nhan

2006-01-01

This paper presents an optimal control method for a class of distributed-parameter systems governed by first order, quasilinear hyperbolic partial differential equations that arise in many physical systems. Such systems are characterized by time delays since information is transported from one state to another by wave propagation. A general closed-loop hyperbolic transport model is controlled by a boundary control embedded in a periodic boundary condition. The boundary control is subject to a nonlinear differential equation constraint that models actuator dynamics of the system. The hyperbolic equation is thus coupled with the ordinary differential equation via the boundary condition. Optimality of this coupled system is investigated using variational principles to seek an adjoint formulation of the optimal control problem. The results are then applied to implement a model predictive control design for a wind tunnel to eliminate a transport delay effect that causes a poor Mach number regulation.

Initialization Method for Grammar-Guided Genetic Programming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Arnau, M.; Manrique, D.; Ríos, J.; Rodríguez-Patón, A.

This paper proposes a new tree-generation algorithm for grammarguided genetic programming that includes a parameter to control the maximum size of the trees to be generated. An important feature of this algorithm is that the initial populations generated are adequately distributed in terms of tree size and distribution within the search space. Consequently, genetic programming systems starting from the initial populations generated by the proposed method have a higher convergence speed. Two different problems have been chosen to carry out the experiments: a laboratory test involving searching for arithmetical equalities and the real-world task of breast cancer prognosis. In both problems, comparisons have been made to another five important initialization methods.

Model for the design of distributed data bases

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

Ram, S.

This research focuses on developing a model to solve the File Allocation Problem (FAP). The model integrates two major design issues, namely Concurrently Control and Data Distribution. The central node locking mechanism is incorporated in developing a nonlinear integer programming model. Two solution algorithms are proposed, one of which was implemented in FORTRAN.V. The allocation of data bases and programs are examined using this heuristic. Several decision rules were also formulated based on the results of the heuristic. A second more comprehensive heuristic was proposed, based on the knapsack problem. The development and implementation of this algorithm has been leftmore » as a topic for future research.« less

Disturb-Free Three-Dimensional Vertical Floating Gate NAND with Separated-Sidewall Control Gate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, Moon-Sik; Endoh, Tetsuo

2012-02-01

Recently, the three-dimensional (3D) vertical floating gate (FG) type NAND cell arrays with the sidewall control gate (SCG) structure are receiving attention to overcome the reliability issues of charge trap (CT) type 3D NAND. In order to achieve the multilevel cell (MLC) operation for lower bit cost in 3D NAND, it is important to eliminate reliability issues, such as the Vth distribution with interference and disturbance problems and Vth shift with retention issues. In this paper, we intensively investigated the disturbance problems of the 3D vertical FG type NAND cell with separated-sidewall control gate (S-SCG) structure for the reliable MLC operation. Above all, we successfully demonstrate the fully suppressed disturbance problems, such as indirect programming of the unselected cells, hot electron injection of the edge cells and direct influence to the neighboring passing cells, by using the S-SCG with 30 nm pillar size.

Automatic phase control in solar power satellite systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindsey, W. C.; Kantak, A. V.

1978-01-01

Various approaches to the problem of generating, maintaining and distributing a coherent, reference phase signal over a large area are suggested, mathematically modeled and analyzed with respect to their ability to minimize: phase build-up, beam diffusion and beam steering phase jitter, cable length, and maximize power transfer efficiency. In addition, phase control configurations are suggested which alleviate the need for layout symmetry.

Fuzzy distributed cooperative tracking for a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles with heterogeneous goals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kladis, Georgios P.; Menon, Prathyush P.; Edwards, Christopher

2016-12-01

This article proposes a systematic analysis for a tracking problem which ensures cooperation amongst a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), modelled as nonlinear systems with linear and angular velocity constraints, in order to achieve different goals. A distributed Takagi-Sugeno (TS) framework design is adopted for the representation of the nonlinear model of the dynamics of the UAVs. The distributed control law which is introduced is composed of both node and network level information. Firstly, feedback gains are synthesised using a parallel distributed compensation (PDC) control law structure, for a collection of isolated UAVs; ignoring communications among the swarm. Then secondly, based on an alternation-like procedure, the resulting feedback gains are used to determine Lyapunov matrices which are utilised at network level to incorporate into the control law, the relative differences in the states of the vehicles, and to induce cooperative behaviour. Eventually stability is guaranteed for the entire swarm. The control synthesis is performed using tools from linear control theory: in particular the design criteria are posed as linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). An example based on a UAV tracking scenario is included to outline the efficacy of the approach.

Statistical mechanics of budget-constrained auctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Altarelli, F.; Braunstein, A.; Realpe-Gomez, J.; Zecchina, R.

2009-07-01

Finding the optimal assignment in budget-constrained auctions is a combinatorial optimization problem with many important applications, a notable example being in the sale of advertisement space by search engines (in this context the problem is often referred to as the off-line AdWords problem). On the basis of the cavity method of statistical mechanics, we introduce a message-passing algorithm that is capable of solving efficiently random instances of the problem extracted from a natural distribution, and we derive from its properties the phase diagram of the problem. As the control parameter (average value of the budgets) is varied, we find two phase transitions delimiting a region in which long-range correlations arise.

A Bankruptcy Problem Approach to Load-shedding in Multiagent-based Microgrid Operation

PubMed Central

Kim, Hak-Man; Kinoshita, Tetsuo; Lim, Yujin; Kim, Tai-Hoon

2010-01-01

A microgrid is composed of distributed power generation systems (DGs), distributed energy storage devices (DSs), and loads. To maintain a specific frequency in the islanded mode as an important requirement, the control of DGs’ output and charge action of DSs are used in supply surplus conditions and load-shedding and discharge action of DSs are used in supply shortage conditions. Recently, multiagent systems for autonomous microgrid operation have been studied. Especially, load-shedding, which is intentional reduction of electricity use, is a critical problem in islanded microgrid operation based on the multiagent system. Therefore, effective schemes for load-shedding are required. Meanwhile, the bankruptcy problem deals with dividing short resources among multiple agents. In order to solve the bankruptcy problem, division rules, such as the constrained equal awards rule (CEA), the constrained equal losses rule (CEL), and the random arrival rule (RA), have been used. In this paper, we approach load-shedding as a bankruptcy problem. We compare load-shedding results by above-mentioned rules in islanded microgrid operation based on wireless sensor network (WSN) as the communication link for an agent’s interactions. PMID:22163386

A bankruptcy problem approach to load-shedding in multiagent-based microgrid operation.

PubMed

Kim, Hak-Man; Kinoshita, Tetsuo; Lim, Yujin; Kim, Tai-Hoon

2010-01-01

A microgrid is composed of distributed power generation systems (DGs), distributed energy storage devices (DSs), and loads. To maintain a specific frequency in the islanded mode as an important requirement, the control of DGs' output and charge action of DSs are used in supply surplus conditions and load-shedding and discharge action of DSs are used in supply shortage conditions. Recently, multiagent systems for autonomous microgrid operation have been studied. Especially, load-shedding, which is intentional reduction of electricity use, is a critical problem in islanded microgrid operation based on the multiagent system. Therefore, effective schemes for load-shedding are required. Meanwhile, the bankruptcy problem deals with dividing short resources among multiple agents. In order to solve the bankruptcy problem, division rules, such as the constrained equal awards rule (CEA), the constrained equal losses rule (CEL), and the random arrival rule (RA), have been used. In this paper, we approach load-shedding as a bankruptcy problem. We compare load-shedding results by above-mentioned rules in islanded microgrid operation based on wireless sensor network (WSN) as the communication link for an agent's interactions.

A fuzzy reinforcement learning approach to power control in wireless transmitters.

PubMed

Vengerov, David; Bambos, Nicholas; Berenji, Hamid R

2005-08-01

We address the issue of power-controlled shared channel access in wireless networks supporting packetized data traffic. We formulate this problem using the dynamic programming framework and present a new distributed fuzzy reinforcement learning algorithm (ACFRL-2) capable of adequately solving a class of problems to which the power control problem belongs. Our experimental results show that the algorithm converges almost deterministically to a neighborhood of optimal parameter values, as opposed to a very noisy stochastic convergence of earlier algorithms. The main tradeoff facing a transmitter is to balance its current power level with future backlog in the presence of stochastically changing interference. Simulation experiments demonstrate that the ACFRL-2 algorithm achieves significant performance gains over the standard power control approach used in CDMA2000. Such a large improvement is explained by the fact that ACFRL-2 allows transmitters to learn implicit coordination policies, which back off under stressful channel conditions as opposed to engaging in escalating "power wars."

Resonance controlled transport in phase space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leoncini, Xavier; Vasiliev, Alexei; Artemyev, Anton

2018-02-01

We consider the mechanism of controlling particle transport in phase space by means of resonances in an adiabatic setting. Using a model problem describing nonlinear wave-particle interaction, we show that captures into resonances can be used to control transport in momentum space as well as in physical space. We design the model system to provide creation of a narrow peak in the distribution function, thus producing effective cooling of a sub-ensemble of the particles.

Dynamic optimization of distributed biological systems using robust and efficient numerical techniques.

PubMed

Vilas, Carlos; Balsa-Canto, Eva; García, Maria-Sonia G; Banga, Julio R; Alonso, Antonio A

2012-07-02

Systems biology allows the analysis of biological systems behavior under different conditions through in silico experimentation. The possibility of perturbing biological systems in different manners calls for the design of perturbations to achieve particular goals. Examples would include, the design of a chemical stimulation to maximize the amplitude of a given cellular signal or to achieve a desired pattern in pattern formation systems, etc. Such design problems can be mathematically formulated as dynamic optimization problems which are particularly challenging when the system is described by partial differential equations.This work addresses the numerical solution of such dynamic optimization problems for spatially distributed biological systems. The usual nonlinear and large scale nature of the mathematical models related to this class of systems and the presence of constraints on the optimization problems, impose a number of difficulties, such as the presence of suboptimal solutions, which call for robust and efficient numerical techniques. Here, the use of a control vector parameterization approach combined with efficient and robust hybrid global optimization methods and a reduced order model methodology is proposed. The capabilities of this strategy are illustrated considering the solution of a two challenging problems: bacterial chemotaxis and the FitzHugh-Nagumo model. In the process of chemotaxis the objective was to efficiently compute the time-varying optimal concentration of chemotractant in one of the spatial boundaries in order to achieve predefined cell distribution profiles. Results are in agreement with those previously published in the literature. The FitzHugh-Nagumo problem is also efficiently solved and it illustrates very well how dynamic optimization may be used to force a system to evolve from an undesired to a desired pattern with a reduced number of actuators. The presented methodology can be used for the efficient dynamic optimization of generic distributed biological systems.

Literature Survey on Operational Voltage Control and Reactive Power Management on Transmission and Sub-Transmission Networks

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

Elizondo, Marcelo A.; Samaan, Nader A.; Makarov, Yuri V.

Voltage and reactive power system control is generally performed following usual patterns of loads, based on off-line studies for daily and seasonal operations. This practice is currently challenged by the inclusion of distributed renewable generation, such as solar. There has been focus on resolving this problem at the distribution level; however, the transmission and sub-transmission levels have received less attention. This paper provides a literature review of proposed methods and solution approaches to coordinate and optimize voltage control and reactive power management, with an emphasis on applications at transmission and sub-transmission level. The conclusion drawn from the survey is thatmore » additional research is needed in the areas of optimizing switch shunt actions and coordinating all available resources to deal with uncertain patterns from increasing distributed renewable generation in the operational time frame. These topics are not deeply explored in the literature.« less

A Simplified Theory of Coupled Oscillator Array Phase Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pogorzelski, R. J.; York, R. A.

1997-01-01

Linear and planar arrays of coupled oscillators have been proposed as means of achieving high power rf sources through coherent spatial power combining. In such - applications, a uniform phase distribution over the aperture is desired. However, it has been shown that by detuning some of the oscillators away from the oscillation frequency of the ensemble of oscillators, one may achieve other useful aperture phase distributions. Notable among these are linear phase distributions resulting in steering of the output rf beam away from the broadside direction. The theory describing the operation of such arrays of coupled oscillators is quite complicated since the phenomena involved are inherently nonlinear. This has made it difficult to develop an intuitive understanding of the impact of oscillator tuning on phase control and has thus impeded practical application. In this work a simpl!fied theory is developed which facilitates intuitive understanding by establishing an analog of the phase control problem in terms of electrostatics.

Interaction and Impact Studies for Distributed Energy Resource, Transactive Energy, and Electric Grid, using High Performance Computing ?based Modeling and Simulation

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

Kelley, B. M.

The electric utility industry is undergoing significant transformations in its operation model, including a greater emphasis on automation, monitoring technologies, and distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS). With these changes and new technologies, while driving greater efficiencies and reliability, these new models may introduce new vectors of cyber attack. The appropriate cybersecurity controls to address and mitigate these newly introduced attack vectors and potential vulnerabilities are still widely unknown and performance of the control is difficult to vet. This proposal argues that modeling and simulation (M&S) is a necessary tool to address and better understand these problems introduced by emergingmore » technologies for the grid. M&S will provide electric utilities a platform to model its transmission and distribution systems and run various simulations against the model to better understand the operational impact and performance of cybersecurity controls.« less

Experiences in evaluating regional air quality models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Mei-Kao; Greenfield, Stanley M.

Any area of the world concerned with the health and welfare of its people and the viability of its ecological system must eventually address the question of the control of air pollution. This is true in developed countries as well as countries that are undergoing a considerable degree of industrialization. The control or limitation of the emissions of a pollutant can be very costly. To avoid ineffective or unnecessary control, the nature of the problem must be fully understood and the relationship between source emissions and ambient concentrations must be established. Mathematical models, while admittedly containing large uncertainties, can be used to examine alternatives of emission restrictions for achieving safe ambient concentrations. The focus of this paper is to summarize our experiences with modeling regional air quality in the United States and Western Europe. The following modeling experiences have been used: future SO 2 and sulfate distributions and projected acidic deposition as related to coal development in the northern Great Plains in the U.S.; analysis of regional ozone and sulfate episodes in the northeastern U.S.; analysis of the regional ozone problem in western Europe in support of alternative emission control strategies; analysis of distributions of toxic chemicals in the Southeast Ohio River Valley in support of the design of a monitoring network human exposure. Collectively, these prior modeling analyses can be invaluable in examining a similar problem in other parts of the world as well, such as the Pacific rim in Asia.

Noise Response Data Reveal Novel Controllability Gramian for Nonlinear Network Dynamics

PubMed Central

Kashima, Kenji

2016-01-01

Control of nonlinear large-scale dynamical networks, e.g., collective behavior of agents interacting via a scale-free connection topology, is a central problem in many scientific and engineering fields. For the linear version of this problem, the so-called controllability Gramian has played an important role to quantify how effectively the dynamical states are reachable by a suitable driving input. In this paper, we first extend the notion of the controllability Gramian to nonlinear dynamics in terms of the Gibbs distribution. Next, we show that, when the networks are open to environmental noise, the newly defined Gramian is equal to the covariance matrix associated with randomly excited, but uncontrolled, dynamical state trajectories. This fact theoretically justifies a simple Monte Carlo simulation that can extract effectively controllable subdynamics in nonlinear complex networks. In addition, the result provides a novel insight into the relationship between controllability and statistical mechanics. PMID:27264780

A feedback linearization approach to spacecraft control using momentum exchange devices. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dzielski, John Edward

1988-01-01

Recent developments in the area of nonlinear control theory have shown how coordiante changes in the state and input spaces can be used with nonlinear feedback to transform certain nonlinear ordinary differential equations into equivalent linear equations. These feedback linearization techniques are applied to resolve two problems arising in the control of spacecraft equipped with control moment gyroscopes (CMGs). The first application involves the computation of rate commands for the gimbals that rotate the individual gyroscopes to produce commanded torques on the spacecraft. The second application is to the long-term management of stored momentum in the system of control moment gyroscopes using environmental torques acting on the vehicle. An approach to distributing control effort among a group of redundant actuators is described that uses feedback linearization techniques to parameterize sets of controls which influence a specified subsystem in a desired way. The approach is adapted for use in spacecraft control with double-gimballed gyroscopes to produce an algorithm that avoids problematic gimbal configurations by approximating sets of gimbal rates that drive CMG rotors into desirable configurations. The momentum management problem is stated as a trajectory optimization problem with a nonlinear dynamical constraint. Feedback linearization and collocation are used to transform this problem into an unconstrainted nonlinear program. The approach to trajectory optimization is fast and robust. A number of examples are presented showing applications to the proposed NASA space station.

A technique for designing active control systems for astronomical telescope mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howell, W. E.; Creedon, J. F.

1973-01-01

The problem of designing a control system to achieve and maintain the required surface accuracy of the primary mirror of a large space telescope was considered. Control over the mirror surface is obtained through the application of a corrective force distribution by actuators located on the rear surface of the mirror. The design procedure is an extension of a modal control technique developed for distributed parameter plants with known eigenfunctions to include plants whose eigenfunctions must be approximated by numerical techniques. Instructions are given for constructing the mathematical model of the system, and a design procedure is developed for use with typical numerical data in selecting the number and location of the actuators. Examples of actuator patterns and their effect on various errors are given.

Adaptive Multi-Agent Systems for Constrained Optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macready, William; Bieniawski, Stefan; Wolpert, David H.

2004-01-01

Product Distribution (PD) theory is a new framework for analyzing and controlling distributed systems. Here we demonstrate its use for distributed stochastic optimization. First we review one motivation of PD theory, as the information-theoretic extension of conventional full-rationality game theory to the case of bounded rational agents. In this extension the equilibrium of the game is the optimizer of a Lagrangian of the (probability distribution of) the joint state of the agents. When the game in question is a team game with constraints, that equilibrium optimizes the expected value of the team game utility, subject to those constraints. The updating of the Lagrange parameters in the Lagrangian can be viewed as a form of automated annealing, that focuses the MAS more and more on the optimal pure strategy. This provides a simple way to map the solution of any constrained optimization problem onto the equilibrium of a Multi-Agent System (MAS). We present computer experiments involving both the Queen s problem and K-SAT validating the predictions of PD theory and its use for off-the-shelf distributed adaptive optimization.

Robust automatic control system of vessel descent-rise device for plant with distributed parameters “cable – towed underwater vehicle”

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chupina, K. V.; Kataev, E. V.; Khannanov, A. M.; Korshunov, V. N.; Sennikov, I. A.

2018-05-01

The paper is devoted to a problem of synthesis of the robust control system for a distributed parameters plant. The vessel descent-rise device has a heave compensation function for stabilization of the towed underwater vehicle on a set depth. A sea state code, parameters of the underwater vehicle and cable vary during underwater operations, the vessel heave is a stochastic process. It means that the plant and external disturbances have uncertainty. That is why it is necessary to use the robust theory for synthesis of an automatic control system, but without use of traditional methods of optimization, because this cable has distributed parameters. The offered technique has allowed one to design an effective control system for stabilization of immersion depth of the towed underwater vehicle for various degrees of sea roughness and to provide its robustness to deviations of parameters of the vehicle and cable’s length.

Processor tradeoffs in distributed real-time systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krishna, C. M.; Shin, Kang G.; Bhandari, Inderpal S.

1987-01-01

The problem of the optimization of the design of real-time distributed systems is examined with reference to a class of computer architectures similar to the continuously reconfigurable multiprocessor flight control system structure, CM2FCS. Particular attention is given to the impact of processor replacement and the burn-in time on the probability of dynamic failure and mean cost. The solution is obtained numerically and interpreted in the context of real-time applications.

Finite-dimensional approximation for optimal fixed-order compensation of distributed parameter systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bernstein, Dennis S.; Rosen, I. G.

1988-01-01

In controlling distributed parameter systems it is often desirable to obtain low-order, finite-dimensional controllers in order to minimize real-time computational requirements. Standard approaches to this problem employ model/controller reduction techniques in conjunction with LQG theory. In this paper we consider the finite-dimensional approximation of the infinite-dimensional Bernstein/Hyland optimal projection theory. This approach yields fixed-finite-order controllers which are optimal with respect to high-order, approximating, finite-dimensional plant models. The technique is illustrated by computing a sequence of first-order controllers for one-dimensional, single-input/single-output, parabolic (heat/diffusion) and hereditary systems using spline-based, Ritz-Galerkin, finite element approximation. Numerical studies indicate convergence of the feedback gains with less than 2 percent performance degradation over full-order LQG controllers for the parabolic system and 10 percent degradation for the hereditary system.

Job Scheduling in a Heterogeneous Grid Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shan, Hong-Zhang; Smith, Warren; Oliker, Leonid; Biswas, Rupak

2004-01-01

Computational grids have the potential for solving large-scale scientific problems using heterogeneous and geographically distributed resources. However, a number of major technical hurdles must be overcome before this potential can be realized. One problem that is critical to effective utilization of computational grids is the efficient scheduling of jobs. This work addresses this problem by describing and evaluating a grid scheduling architecture and three job migration algorithms. The architecture is scalable and does not assume control of local site resources. The job migration policies use the availability and performance of computer systems, the network bandwidth available between systems, and the volume of input and output data associated with each job. An extensive performance comparison is presented using real workloads from leading computational centers. The results, based on several key metrics, demonstrate that the performance of our distributed migration algorithms is significantly greater than that of a local scheduling framework and comparable to a non-scalable global scheduling approach.

On the continuous dependence with respect to sampling of the linear quadratic regulator problem for distributed parameter systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosen, I. G.; Wang, C.

1990-01-01

The convergence of solutions to the discrete or sampled time linear quadratic regulator problem and associated Riccati equation for infinite dimensional systems to the solutions to the corresponding continuous time problem and equation, as the length of the sampling interval (the sampling rate) tends toward zero (infinity) is established. Both the finite and infinite time horizon problems are studied. In the finite time horizon case, strong continuity of the operators which define the control system and performance index together with a stability and consistency condition on the sampling scheme are required. For the infinite time horizon problem, in addition, the sampled systems must be stabilizable and detectable, uniformly with respect to the sampling rate. Classes of systems for which this condition can be verified are discussed. Results of numerical studies involving the control of a heat/diffusion equation, a hereditary of delay system, and a flexible beam are presented and discussed.

On the continuous dependence with respect to sampling of the linear quadratic regulator problem for distributed parameter system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosen, I. G.; Wang, C.

1992-01-01

The convergence of solutions to the discrete- or sampled-time linear quadratic regulator problem and associated Riccati equation for infinite-dimensional systems to the solutions to the corresponding continuous time problem and equation, as the length of the sampling interval (the sampling rate) tends toward zero(infinity) is established. Both the finite-and infinite-time horizon problems are studied. In the finite-time horizon case, strong continuity of the operators that define the control system and performance index, together with a stability and consistency condition on the sampling scheme are required. For the infinite-time horizon problem, in addition, the sampled systems must be stabilizable and detectable, uniformly with respect to the sampling rate. Classes of systems for which this condition can be verified are discussed. Results of numerical studies involving the control of a heat/diffusion equation, a hereditary or delay system, and a flexible beam are presented and discussed.

How to Integrate Variable Power Source into a Power Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asano, Hiroshi

This paper discusses how to integrate variable power source such as wind power and photovoltaic generation into a power grid. The intermittent renewable generation is expected to penetrate for less carbon intensive power supply system, but it causes voltage control problem in the distribution system, and supply-demand imbalance problem in a whole power system. Cooperative control of customers' energy storage equipment such as water heater with storage tank for reducing inverse power flow from the roof-top PV system, the operation technique using a battery system and the solar radiation forecast for stabilizing output of variable generation, smart charging of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for load frequency control (LFC), and other methods to integrate variable power source with improving social benefits are surveyed.

Assessing the risk zones of Chagas' disease in Chile, in a world marked by global climatic change

PubMed Central

Tapia-Garay, Valentina; Figueroa, Daniela P; Maldonado, Ana; Frías-Laserre, Daniel; Gonzalez, Christian R; Parra, Alonso; Canals, Lucia; Apt, Werner; Alvarado, Sergio; Cáceres, Dante; Canals, Mauricio

2018-01-01

BACKGROUND Vector transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi appears to be interrupted in Chile; however, data show increasing incidence of Chagas' disease, raising concerns that there may be a reemerging problem. OBJECTIVE To estimate the actual risk in a changing world it is necessary to consider the historical vector distribution and correlate this distribution with the presence of cases and climate change. METHODS Potential distribution models of Triatoma infestans and Chagas disease were performed using Maxent, a machine-learning method. FINDINGS Climate change appears to play a major role in the reemergence of Chagas' disease and T. infestans in Chile. The distribution of both T. infestans and Chagas' disease correlated with maximum temperature, and the precipitation during the driest month. The overlap of Chagas' disease and T. infestans distribution areas was high. The distribution of T. infestans, under two global change scenarios, showed a minimal reduction tendency in suitable areas. MAIN CONCLUSION The impact of temperature and precipitation on the distribution of T. infestans, as shown by the models, indicates the need for aggressive control efforts; the current control measures, including T. infestans control campaigns, should be maintained with the same intensity as they have at present, avoiding sylvatic foci, intrusions, and recolonisation of human dwellings. PMID:29211105

Short-Term State Forecasting-Based Optimal Voltage Regulation in Distribution Systems: Preprint

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

Yang, Rui; Jiang, Huaiguang; Zhang, Yingchen

2017-05-17

A novel short-term state forecasting-based optimal power flow (OPF) approach for distribution system voltage regulation is proposed in this paper. An extreme learning machine (ELM) based state forecaster is developed to accurately predict system states (voltage magnitudes and angles) in the near future. Based on the forecast system states, a dynamically weighted three-phase AC OPF problem is formulated to minimize the voltage violations with higher penalization on buses which are forecast to have higher voltage violations in the near future. By solving the proposed OPF problem, the controllable resources in the system are optimally coordinated to alleviate the potential severemore » voltage violations and improve the overall voltage profile. The proposed approach has been tested in a 12-bus distribution system and simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach.« less

Distributed Computing Framework for Synthetic Radar Application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gurrola, Eric M.; Rosen, Paul A.; Aivazis, Michael

2006-01-01

We are developing an extensible software framework, in response to Air Force and NASA needs for distributed computing facilities for a variety of radar applications. The objective of this work is to develop a Python based software framework, that is the framework elements of the middleware that allows developers to control processing flow on a grid in a distributed computing environment. Framework architectures to date allow developers to connect processing functions together as interchangeable objects, thereby allowing a data flow graph to be devised for a specific problem to be solved. The Pyre framework, developed at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and now being used as the basis for next-generation radar processing at JPL, is a Python-based software framework. We have extended the Pyre framework to include new facilities to deploy processing components as services, including components that monitor and assess the state of the distributed network for eventual real-time control of grid resources.

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

Stroemqvist, Martin H., E-mail: stromqv@kth.se

We study the problem of optimally controlling the solution of the obstacle problem in a domain perforated by small periodically distributed holes. The solution is controlled by the choice of a perforated obstacle which is to be chosen in such a fashion that the solution is close to a given profile and the obstacle is not too irregular. We prove existence, uniqueness and stability of an optimal obstacle and derive necessary and sufficient conditions for optimality. When the number of holes increase indefinitely we determine the limit of the sequence of optimal obstacles and solutions. This limit depends strongly onmore » the rate at which the size of the holes shrink.« less

[Commentary on "group and organization: a dimension of collaboration of anthropology and epidemiology" by Song LM and Wang N].

PubMed

Liao, Su-Su; Zhang, Qing-Ning; Hou, Lei

2012-10-01

Epidemiology, as the study of occurrence and distribution of diseases or health events in specified populations and the application of the study to control health problems, is not just a method to study determinants of diseases at individual level through analysis of mass data based on individuals. To achieve the aims on the control of health problems in specified populations, Epidemiology should be public health-oriented to reduce incidence, prevalence and mortality, and should include study on determinants at the population level. Interdisplinarity and systems science will facilitate the breakthrough in improving health of the populations.

A service-oriented data access control model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Wei; Li, Fengmin; Pan, Juchen; Song, Song; Bian, Jiali

2017-01-01

The development of mobile computing, cloud computing and distributed computing meets the growing individual service needs. Facing with complex application system, it's an urgent problem to ensure real-time, dynamic, and fine-grained data access control. By analyzing common data access control models, on the basis of mandatory access control model, the paper proposes a service-oriented access control model. By regarding system services as subject and data of databases as object, the model defines access levels and access identification of subject and object, and ensures system services securely to access databases.

Distributed Finite-Time Cooperative Control of Multiple High-Order Nonholonomic Mobile Robots.

PubMed

Du, Haibo; Wen, Guanghui; Cheng, Yingying; He, Yigang; Jia, Ruting

2017-12-01

The consensus problem of multiple nonholonomic mobile robots in the form of high-order chained structure is considered in this paper. Based on the model features and the finite-time control technique, a finite-time cooperative controller is explicitly constructed which guarantees that the states consensus is achieved in a finite time. As an application of the proposed results, finite-time formation control of multiple wheeled mobile robots is studied and a finite-time formation control algorithm is proposed. To show effectiveness of the proposed approach, a simulation example is given.

Approximation of discrete-time LQG compensators for distributed systems with boundary input and unbounded measurement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gibson, J. S.; Rosen, I. G.

1987-01-01

The approximation of optimal discrete-time linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) compensators for distributed parameter control systems with boundary input and unbounded measurement is considered. The approach applies to a wide range of problems that can be formulated in a state space on which both the discrete-time input and output operators are continuous. Approximating compensators are obtained via application of the LQG theory and associated approximation results for infinite dimensional discrete-time control systems with bounded input and output. Numerical results for spline and modal based approximation schemes used to compute optimal compensators for a one dimensional heat equation with either Neumann or Dirichlet boundary control and pointwise measurement of temperature are presented and discussed.

Parallel Optimization of Polynomials for Large-scale Problems in Stability and Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamyar, Reza

In this thesis, we focus on some of the NP-hard problems in control theory. Thanks to the converse Lyapunov theory, these problems can often be modeled as optimization over polynomials. To avoid the problem of intractability, we establish a trade off between accuracy and complexity. In particular, we develop a sequence of tractable optimization problems --- in the form of Linear Programs (LPs) and/or Semi-Definite Programs (SDPs) --- whose solutions converge to the exact solution of the NP-hard problem. However, the computational and memory complexity of these LPs and SDPs grow exponentially with the progress of the sequence - meaning that improving the accuracy of the solutions requires solving SDPs with tens of thousands of decision variables and constraints. Setting up and solving such problems is a significant challenge. The existing optimization algorithms and software are only designed to use desktop computers or small cluster computers --- machines which do not have sufficient memory for solving such large SDPs. Moreover, the speed-up of these algorithms does not scale beyond dozens of processors. This in fact is the reason we seek parallel algorithms for setting-up and solving large SDPs on large cluster- and/or super-computers. We propose parallel algorithms for stability analysis of two classes of systems: 1) Linear systems with a large number of uncertain parameters; 2) Nonlinear systems defined by polynomial vector fields. First, we develop a distributed parallel algorithm which applies Polya's and/or Handelman's theorems to some variants of parameter-dependent Lyapunov inequalities with parameters defined over the standard simplex. The result is a sequence of SDPs which possess a block-diagonal structure. We then develop a parallel SDP solver which exploits this structure in order to map the computation, memory and communication to a distributed parallel environment. Numerical tests on a supercomputer demonstrate the ability of the algorithm to efficiently utilize hundreds and potentially thousands of processors, and analyze systems with 100+ dimensional state-space. Furthermore, we extend our algorithms to analyze robust stability over more complicated geometries such as hypercubes and arbitrary convex polytopes. Our algorithms can be readily extended to address a wide variety of problems in control such as Hinfinity synthesis for systems with parametric uncertainty and computing control Lyapunov functions.

Analysis of the Space Propulsion System Problem Using RAVEN

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

diego mandelli; curtis smith; cristian rabiti

This paper presents the solution of the space propulsion problem using a PRA code currently under development at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). RAVEN (Reactor Analysis and Virtual control ENviroment) is a multi-purpose Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) software framework that allows dispatching different functionalities. It is designed to derive and actuate the control logic required to simulate the plant control system and operator actions (guided procedures) and to perform both Monte- Carlo sampling of random distributed events and Event Tree based analysis. In order to facilitate the input/output handling, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and a post-processing data-mining module are available.more » RAVEN allows also to interface with several numerical codes such as RELAP5 and RELAP-7 and ad-hoc system simulators. For the space propulsion system problem, an ad-hoc simulator has been developed and written in python language and then interfaced to RAVEN. Such simulator fully models both deterministic (e.g., system dynamics and interactions between system components) and stochastic behaviors (i.e., failures of components/systems such as distribution lines and thrusters). Stochastic analysis is performed using random sampling based methodologies (i.e., Monte-Carlo). Such analysis is accomplished to determine both the reliability of the space propulsion system and to propagate the uncertainties associated to a specific set of parameters. As also indicated in the scope of the benchmark problem, the results generated by the stochastic analysis are used to generate risk-informed insights such as conditions under witch different strategy can be followed.« less

Optimal Regulation of Virtual Power Plants

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

Dall Anese, Emiliano; Guggilam, Swaroop S.; Simonetto, Andrea

This paper develops a real-time algorithmic framework for aggregations of distributed energy resources (DERs) in distribution networks to provide regulation services in response to transmission-level requests. Leveraging online primal-dual-type methods for time-varying optimization problems and suitable linearizations of the nonlinear AC power-flow equations, we believe this work establishes the system-theoretic foundation to realize the vision of distribution-level virtual power plants. The optimization framework controls the output powers of dispatchable DERs such that, in aggregate, they respond to automatic-generation-control and/or regulation-services commands. This is achieved while concurrently regulating voltages within the feeder and maximizing customers' and utility's performance objectives. Convergence andmore » tracking capabilities are analytically established under suitable modeling assumptions. Simulations are provided to validate the proposed approach.« less

Features of the use of time-frequency distributions for controlling the mixture-producing aggregate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fedosenkov, D. B.; Simikova, A. A.; Fedosenkov, B. A.

2018-05-01

The paper submits and argues the information on filtering properties of the mixing unit as a part of the mixture-producing aggregate. Relevant theoretical data concerning a channel transfer function of the mixing unit and multidimensional material flow signals are adduced here. Note that ordinary one-dimensional material flow signals are defined in terms of time-frequency distributions of Cohen’s class representations operating with Gabor wavelet functions. Two time-frequencies signal representations are written about in the paper to show how one can solve controlling problems as applied to mixture-producing systems: they are the so-called Rihaczek and Wigner-Ville distributions. In particular, the latter illustrates low-pass filtering properties that are practically available in any of low-pass elements of a physical system.

Causes Of Low Efficiency Of Combined Ventilation System In Coal Mines In Resolving The Problem Of Air Leaks (Inflows) Between Levels And Surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popov, Valeriy; Filatov, Yuriy; Lee, Hee; Golik, Anatoliy

2017-11-01

The paper discusses the problem of the underground mining safety control. The long-term air intake to coal accumulations is reviewed as one of the reasons of endogenous fires during mining. The methods of combating air leaks (inflows) in order to prevent endogenous fires are analyzed. The calculations showing the discrepancy between the design calculations for the mine ventilation, disregarding a number of mining-andgeological and mining-engineering factors, and the actual conditions of mining are given. It is proved that the conversion of operating mines to combined (pressure and exhaust) ventilation system in order to reduce the endogenous fire hazard of underground mining is unreasonable due to impossibility of providing an optimal distribution of aerodynamic pressure in mines. The conversion does not exclude the entry of air into potentially hazardous zones of endogenous fires. The essence of the combined application of positive and negative control methods for the distribution of air pressure is revealed. It consists of air doors installation in easily ventilated airways and installation of pressure equalization chambers equipped with auxiliary fans near the stoppings, working sections and in parallel airways.The effectiveness of the combined application of negative and positive control methods for the air pressure distribution in order to reduce endogenous fire hazard of mining operations is proved.

A high performance long-reach passive optical network with a novel excess bandwidth distribution scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chao, I.-Fen; Zhang, Tsung-Min

2015-06-01

Long-reach passive optical networks (LR-PONs) have been considered to be promising solutions for future access networks. In this paper, we propose a distributed medium access control (MAC) scheme over an advantageous LR-PON network architecture that reroutes the control information from and back to all ONUs through an (N + 1) × (N + 1) star coupler (SC) deployed near the ONUs, thereby overwhelming the extremely long propagation delay problem in LR-PONs. In the network, the control slot is designed to contain all bandwidth requirements of all ONUs and is in-band time-division-multiplexed with a number of data slots within a cycle. In the proposed MAC scheme, a novel profit-weight-based dynamic bandwidth allocation (P-DBA) scheme is presented. The algorithm is designed to efficiently and fairly distribute the amount of excess bandwidth based on a profit value derived from the excess bandwidth usage of each ONU, which resolves the problems of previously reported DBA schemes that are either unfair or inefficient. The simulation results show that the proposed decentralized algorithms exhibit a nearly three-order-of-magnitude improvement in delay performance compared to the centralized algorithms over LR-PONs. Moreover, the newly proposed P-DBA scheme guarantees low delay performance and fairness even when under attack by the malevolent ONU irrespective of traffic loads and burstiness.

Coupled Directional Stability of Multiple Ship Formations

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

Papoulias, “Bifurcation analysis of line of sight vehicle guidance using sliding modes ,” Int. J. of Bifurcation and Chaos, vol. 1, p.4, 1991. [12] F...DISTRIBUTION CODE 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) This thesis addresses the problem of coordinated motion control and the stability loss of surface...plane with no side slip. A state feedback control law is coupled with a line of sight guidance law to provide path control . A string of three vehicles

Interrupted: The roles of distributed effort and incubation in preventing fixation and generating problem solutions.

PubMed

Sio, Ut Na; Kotovsky, Kenneth; Cagan, Jonathan

2017-05-01

Fixation on inappropriate concepts is a key barrier to problem solving. Previous research has shown that continuous work is likely to cause repeated retrieval of those concepts, resulting in increased fixation. Accordingly, distributing effort across problems through multiple, brief, and interlaced sessions (distributed effort) should prevent such fixation and in turn enhance problem solving. This study examined whether distributed effort can provide an advantage for problem solving, particularly for problems that can induce fixation (Experiment 1), and whether and how incubation can be combined with distributed effort to further enhance performance (Experiment 2). Remote Associates Test (RAT) problems were used as the problem-solving tasks. Half of them (i.e., misleading RAT) were more likely to mislead individuals to fixate on incorrect associates than the other half. Experiments revealed a superiority of distributed over massed effort on misleading RAT performance and a differing time course of incubation for the massed and distributed groups. We conclude that distributed effort facilitates problem solving, most likely via overcoming fixation. Cognitive mechanisms other than the commonly posited forgetting of inappropriate ideas may occur during incubation to facilitate problem solving. The experiments in this article offer support for the occurrence of spreading activation during incubation.

Bayesian LASSO, scale space and decision making in association genetics.

PubMed

Pasanen, Leena; Holmström, Lasse; Sillanpää, Mikko J

2015-01-01

LASSO is a penalized regression method that facilitates model fitting in situations where there are as many, or even more explanatory variables than observations, and only a few variables are relevant in explaining the data. We focus on the Bayesian version of LASSO and consider four problems that need special attention: (i) controlling false positives, (ii) multiple comparisons, (iii) collinearity among explanatory variables, and (iv) the choice of the tuning parameter that controls the amount of shrinkage and the sparsity of the estimates. The particular application considered is association genetics, where LASSO regression can be used to find links between chromosome locations and phenotypic traits in a biological organism. However, the proposed techniques are relevant also in other contexts where LASSO is used for variable selection. We separate the true associations from false positives using the posterior distribution of the effects (regression coefficients) provided by Bayesian LASSO. We propose to solve the multiple comparisons problem by using simultaneous inference based on the joint posterior distribution of the effects. Bayesian LASSO also tends to distribute an effect among collinear variables, making detection of an association difficult. We propose to solve this problem by considering not only individual effects but also their functionals (i.e. sums and differences). Finally, whereas in Bayesian LASSO the tuning parameter is often regarded as a random variable, we adopt a scale space view and consider a whole range of fixed tuning parameters, instead. The effect estimates and the associated inference are considered for all tuning parameters in the selected range and the results are visualized with color maps that provide useful insights into data and the association problem considered. The methods are illustrated using two sets of artificial data and one real data set, all representing typical settings in association genetics.

Observer-based distributed adaptive fault-tolerant containment control of multi-agent systems with general linear dynamics.

PubMed

Ye, Dan; Chen, Mengmeng; Li, Kui

2017-11-01

In this paper, we consider the distributed containment control problem of multi-agent systems with actuator bias faults based on observer method. The objective is to drive the followers into the convex hull spanned by the dynamic leaders, where the input is unknown but bounded. By constructing an observer to estimate the states and bias faults, an effective distributed adaptive fault-tolerant controller is developed. Different from the traditional method, an auxiliary controller gain is designed to deal with the unknown inputs and bias faults together. Moreover, the coupling gain can be adjusted online through the adaptive mechanism without using the global information. Furthermore, the proposed control protocol can guarantee that all the signals of the closed-loop systems are bounded and all the followers converge to the convex hull with bounded residual errors formed by the dynamic leaders. Finally, a decoupled linearized longitudinal motion model of the F-18 aircraft is used to demonstrate the effectiveness. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamic probability control limits for risk-adjusted Bernoulli CUSUM charts.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiang; Woodall, William H

2015-11-10

The risk-adjusted Bernoulli cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart developed by Steiner et al. (2000) is an increasingly popular tool for monitoring clinical and surgical performance. In practice, however, the use of a fixed control limit for the chart leads to a quite variable in-control average run length performance for patient populations with different risk score distributions. To overcome this problem, we determine simulation-based dynamic probability control limits (DPCLs) patient-by-patient for the risk-adjusted Bernoulli CUSUM charts. By maintaining the probability of a false alarm at a constant level conditional on no false alarm for previous observations, our risk-adjusted CUSUM charts with DPCLs have consistent in-control performance at the desired level with approximately geometrically distributed run lengths. Our simulation results demonstrate that our method does not rely on any information or assumptions about the patients' risk distributions. The use of DPCLs for risk-adjusted Bernoulli CUSUM charts allows each chart to be designed for the corresponding particular sequence of patients for a surgeon or hospital. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Distributed Method to Optimal Profile Descent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Geun I.

Current ground automation tools for Optimal Profile Descent (OPD) procedures utilize path stretching and speed profile change to maintain proper merging and spacing requirements at high traffic terminal area. However, low predictability of aircraft's vertical profile and path deviation during decent add uncertainty to computing estimated time of arrival, a key information that enables the ground control center to manage airspace traffic effectively. This paper uses an OPD procedure that is based on a constant flight path angle to increase the predictability of the vertical profile and defines an OPD optimization problem that uses both path stretching and speed profile change while largely maintaining the original OPD procedure. This problem minimizes the cumulative cost of performing OPD procedures for a group of aircraft by assigning a time cost function to each aircraft and a separation cost function to a pair of aircraft. The OPD optimization problem is then solved in a decentralized manner using dual decomposition techniques under inter-aircraft ADS-B mechanism. This method divides the optimization problem into more manageable sub-problems which are then distributed to the group of aircraft. Each aircraft solves its assigned sub-problem and communicate the solutions to other aircraft in an iterative process until an optimal solution is achieved thus decentralizing the computation of the optimization problem.

Multi-Agent Cooperative Target Search

PubMed Central

Hu, Jinwen; Xie, Lihua; Xu, Jun; Xu, Zhao

2014-01-01

This paper addresses a vision-based cooperative search for multiple mobile ground targets by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with limited sensing and communication capabilities. The airborne camera on each UAV has a limited field of view and its target discriminability varies as a function of altitude. First, by dividing the whole surveillance region into cells, a probability map can be formed for each UAV indicating the probability of target existence within each cell. Then, we propose a distributed probability map updating model which includes the fusion of measurement information, information sharing among neighboring agents, information decay and transmission due to environmental changes such as the target movement. Furthermore, we formulate the target search problem as a multi-agent cooperative coverage control problem by optimizing the collective coverage area and the detection performance. The proposed map updating model and the cooperative control scheme are distributed, i.e., assuming that each agent only communicates with its neighbors within its communication range. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is illustrated by simulation. PMID:24865884

Neural network disturbance observer-based distributed finite-time formation tracking control for multiple unmanned helicopters.

PubMed

Wang, Dandan; Zong, Qun; Tian, Bailing; Shao, Shikai; Zhang, Xiuyun; Zhao, Xinyi

2018-02-01

The distributed finite-time formation tracking control problem for multiple unmanned helicopters is investigated in this paper. The control object is to maintain the positions of follower helicopters in formation with external interferences. The helicopter model is divided into a second order outer-loop subsystem and a second order inner-loop subsystem based on multiple-time scale features. Using radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) technique, we first propose a novel finite-time multivariable neural network disturbance observer (FMNNDO) to estimate the external disturbance and model uncertainty, where the neural network (NN) approximation errors can be dynamically compensated by adaptive law. Next, based on FMNNDO, a distributed finite-time formation tracking controller and a finite-time attitude tracking controller are designed using the nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode (NFTSM) method. In order to estimate the second derivative of the virtual desired attitude signal, a novel finite-time sliding mode integral filter is designed. Finally, Lyapunov analysis and multiple-time scale principle ensure the realization of control goal in finite-time. The effectiveness of the proposed FMNNDO and controllers are then verified by numerical simulations. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Principles and problems of environmental pollution of groundwater resources with case examples from developing countries.

PubMed Central

Egboka, B C; Nwankwor, G I; Orajaka, I P; Ejiofor, A O

1989-01-01

The principles and problems of environmental pollution and contamination are outlined. Emphasis is given to case examples from developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America with a comparative analysis to developed countries. The problems of pollution/contamination are widespread in developed countries but are gradually spreading from the urban to rural areas in the developing countries. Great efforts in research and control programs to check pollution-loading into the environment have been made in the industrialized countries, but only negligible actions have been taken in developing countries. Pollutants emanate from both point and distributed sources and have adversely affected both surface water and groundwaters. The influences of the geologic and hydrologic cycles that exacerbate the incidences of pollution/contamination have not been well understood by environmental planners and managers. Professionals in the different areas of pollution control projects, particularly in developing countries, lack the integrated multiobjective approaches and techniques in problem solving. Such countries as Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil, and India are now menaced by pollution hazards. Appropriate methods of control are hereby suggested. PMID:2695325

Optical fiber sensors and signal processing for intelligent structure monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogowski, Robert; Claus, R. O.; Lindner, D. K.; Thomas, Daniel; Cox, Dave

1988-01-01

The analytic and experimental performance of optical fiber sensors for the control of vibration of large aerospace and other structures are investigated. In particular, model domain optical fiber sensor systems, are being studied due to their apparent potential as distributed, low mass sensors of vibration over appropriate ranges of both low frequency and low amplitude displacements. Progress during the past three months is outlined. Progress since September is divided into work in the areas of experimental hardware development, analytical analysis, control design and sensor development. During the next six months, tests of a prototype closed-loop control system for a beam are planned which will demonstrate the solution of several optical fiber instrumentation device problems, the performance of the control system theory which incorporates the model of the modal domain sensor, and the potential for distributed control which this sensor approach offers.

Modeling and distributed gain scheduling strategy for load frequency control in smart grids with communication topology changes.

PubMed

Liu, Shichao; Liu, Xiaoping P; El Saddik, Abdulmotaleb

2014-03-01

In this paper, we investigate the modeling and distributed control problems for the load frequency control (LFC) in a smart grid. In contrast with existing works, we consider more practical and real scenarios, where the communication topology of the smart grid changes because of either link failures or packet losses. These topology changes are modeled as a time-varying communication topology matrix. By using this matrix, a new closed-loop power system model is proposed to integrate the communication topology changes into the dynamics of a physical power system. The globally asymptotical stability of this closed-loop power system is analyzed. A distributed gain scheduling LFC strategy is proposed to compensate for the potential degradation of dynamic performance (mean square errors of state vectors) of the power system under communication topology changes. In comparison to conventional centralized control approaches, the proposed method can improve the robustness of the smart grid to the variation of the communication network as well as to reduce computation load. Simulation results show that the proposed distributed gain scheduling approach is capable to improve the robustness of the smart grid to communication topology changes. © 2013 ISA. Published by ISA. All rights reserved.

Distributed Adaptive Neural Control for Stochastic Nonlinear Multiagent Systems.

PubMed

Wang, Fang; Chen, Bing; Lin, Chong; Li, Xuehua

2016-11-14

In this paper, a consensus tracking problem of nonlinear multiagent systems is investigated under a directed communication topology. All the followers are modeled by stochastic nonlinear systems in nonstrict feedback form, where nonlinearities and stochastic disturbance terms are totally unknown. Based on the structural characteristic of neural networks (in Lemma 4), a novel distributed adaptive neural control scheme is put forward. The raised control method not only effectively handles unknown nonlinearities in nonstrict feedback systems, but also copes with the interactions among agents and coupling terms. Based on the stochastic Lyapunov functional method, it is indicated that all the signals of the closed-loop system are bounded in probability and all followers' outputs are convergent to a neighborhood of the output of leader. At last, the efficiency of the control method is testified by a numerical example.

Electron gun controlled smart structure

DOEpatents

Martin, Jeffrey W.; Main, John Alan; Redmond, James M.; Henson, Tammy D.; Watson, Robert D.

2001-01-01

Disclosed is a method and system for actively controlling the shape of a sheet of electroactive material; the system comprising: one or more electrodes attached to the frontside of the electroactive sheet; a charged particle generator, disposed so as to direct a beam of charged particles (e.g. electrons) onto the electrode; a conductive substrate attached to the backside of the sheet; and a power supply electrically connected to the conductive substrate; whereby the sheet changes its shape in response to an electric field created across the sheet by an accumulation of electric charge within the electrode(s), relative to a potential applied to the conductive substrate. Use of multiple electrodes distributed across on the frontside ensures a uniform distribution of the charge with a single point of e-beam incidence, thereby greatly simplifying the beam scanning algorithm and raster control electronics, and reducing the problems associated with "blooming". By placing a distribution of electrodes over the front surface of a piezoelectric film (or other electroactive material), this arrangement enables improved control over the distribution of surface electric charges (e.g. electrons) by creating uniform (and possibly different) charge distributions within each individual electrode. Removal or deposition of net electric charge can be affected by controlling the secondary electron yield through manipulation of the backside electric potential with the power supply. The system can be used for actively controlling the shape of space-based deployable optics, such as adaptive mirrors and inflatable antennae.

Graphical determination of wall temperatures for heat transfers through walls of arbitrary shape

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lutz, Otto

1950-01-01

A graphical method is given which permits determining of the temperature distribution during heat transfer in arbitrarily shaped walls. Three examples show the application of the method. The further development of heat engines depends to a great extent on the control of the thermal stresses in the walls. The thermal stresses stem from the nonuniform temperature distribution in heat transfer through walls which are, for structural reasons, of various thicknesses and sometimes complicated shape. Thus, it is important to know the temperature distribution in these structural parts. Following, a method is given which permits solution of this problem.

Cluster-based control of a separating flow over a smoothly contoured ramp

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaiser, Eurika; Noack, Bernd R.; Spohn, Andreas; Cattafesta, Louis N.; Morzyński, Marek

2017-12-01

The ability to manipulate and control fluid flows is of great importance in many scientific and engineering applications. The proposed closed-loop control framework addresses a key issue of model-based control: The actuation effect often results from slow dynamics of strongly nonlinear interactions which the flow reveals at timescales much longer than the prediction horizon of any model. Hence, we employ a probabilistic approach based on a cluster-based discretization of the Liouville equation for the evolution of the probability distribution. The proposed methodology frames high-dimensional, nonlinear dynamics into low-dimensional, probabilistic, linear dynamics which considerably simplifies the optimal control problem while preserving nonlinear actuation mechanisms. The data-driven approach builds upon a state space discretization using a clustering algorithm which groups kinematically similar flow states into a low number of clusters. The temporal evolution of the probability distribution on this set of clusters is then described by a control-dependent Markov model. This Markov model can be used as predictor for the ergodic probability distribution for a particular control law. This probability distribution approximates the long-term behavior of the original system on which basis the optimal control law is determined. We examine how the approach can be used to improve the open-loop actuation in a separating flow dominated by Kelvin-Helmholtz shedding. For this purpose, the feature space, in which the model is learned, and the admissible control inputs are tailored to strongly oscillatory flows.

A SIMPLE APPROACH TO ASSESSING COPPER PITTING CORROSION TENDENCIES AND DEVELOPING CONTROL STRATEGIES

EPA Science Inventory

Localized corrosion of copper premise plumbing in drinking water distribution systems can lead to pinhole leaks, which are a growing problem for many homeowners. Despite the fact that water quality is an important factor associated with localized copper corrosion, definitive appr...

CASE STUDIES IN THE INTEGRATED USE OF SCALE ANALYSES TO SOLVE LEAD PROBLEMS

EPA Science Inventory

All methods of controlling lead corrosion involve immobilizing lead into relatively insoluble compounds that deposit on the interior wall of water pipes. Many different solid phases can form under the disparate conditions that exist in distribution systems, which range in how the...

Compulsory Birth Control and Fertility Measures in India.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halli, S. S.

1983-01-01

Discussion of possible applications of the microsimulation approach to analysis of population policy proposes compulsory sterilization policy for all of India. Topics covered include India's population problem, methods for generating a distribution of couples to be sterilized, model validation, data utilized, data analysis, program limitations,…

The Effect of Water Chemistry on the Release of Iron from Pipe Walls

EPA Science Inventory

Colored water problems originating from distribution system materials may be reduced by controlling corrosion, iron released from corrosion scales, and better understanding of the form and properties of the iron particles. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect...

Optimal feedback control infinite dimensional parabolic evolution systems: Approximation techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Banks, H. T.; Wang, C.

1989-01-01

A general approximation framework is discussed for computation of optimal feedback controls in linear quadratic regular problems for nonautonomous parabolic distributed parameter systems. This is done in the context of a theoretical framework using general evolution systems in infinite dimensional Hilbert spaces. Conditions are discussed for preservation under approximation of stabilizability and detectability hypotheses on the infinite dimensional system. The special case of periodic systems is also treated.

Control and Estimation of Distributed Parameter Systems. Volume 126, International Conference in Vorau (Austria)

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-01-01

Parabolic Boundary Control Problem ARIELA BRIANI AND MAURIZIO FALCONE Dipartimento di Matematica Universitä di Pisa Dipartimento di Matematica ...Ministry for University and Scientific Research (MURST Project "Analisi Numerica e Matematica Computazionale"). 50 A Priori Estimates for the...Briani Dipartimento di Matematica Universitä di Pisa Via Buonarroti 2 1-56126 Pisa e-mail:briani@dm.unipi.it Maurizio Falcone Dipartimento di

Approximation techniques for parameter estimation and feedback control for distributed models of large flexible structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Banks, H. T.; Rosen, I. G.

1984-01-01

Approximation ideas are discussed that can be used in parameter estimation and feedback control for Euler-Bernoulli models of elastic systems. Focusing on parameter estimation problems, ways by which one can obtain convergence results for cubic spline based schemes for hybrid models involving an elastic cantilevered beam with tip mass and base acceleration are outlined. Sample numerical findings are also presented.

Modeling of Ultrasonic and Terahertz Radiations in Defective Tiles for Condition Monitoring of Thermal Protection Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-01

different ultrasonic and electromagnetic field modeling problems for NDE (nondestructive evaluation) applications [5- 14]. 2d . Use of the...transient ultrasonic wave propagation using the Distributed Point Source Method”, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectric and Frequency Control...Cavity”, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectric and Frequency Control, Vol. 57(6), pp. 1396-1404, 2010. [10] A. Shelke, S. Das and T. Kundu

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

Hansen, Timothy M.; Palmintier, Bryan; Suryanarayanan, Siddharth

As more Smart Grid technologies (e.g., distributed photovoltaic, spatially distributed electric vehicle charging) are integrated into distribution grids, static distribution simulations are no longer sufficient for performing modeling and analysis. GridLAB-D is an agent-based distribution system simulation environment that allows fine-grained end-user models, including geospatial and network topology detail. A problem exists in that, without outside intervention, once the GridLAB-D simulation begins execution, it will run to completion without allowing the real-time interaction of Smart Grid controls, such as home energy management systems and aggregator control. We address this lack of runtime interaction by designing a flexible communication interface, Bus.pymore » (pronounced bus-dot-pie), that uses Python to pass messages between one or more GridLAB-D instances and a Smart Grid simulator. This work describes the design and implementation of Bus.py, discusses its usefulness in terms of some Smart Grid scenarios, and provides an example of an aggregator-based residential demand response system interacting with GridLAB-D through Bus.py. The small scale example demonstrates the validity of the interface and shows that an aggregator using said interface is able to control residential loads in GridLAB-D during runtime to cause a reduction in the peak load on the distribution system in (a) peak reduction and (b) time-of-use pricing cases.« less

Differences Between S/X and VLBI2010 Operation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hase, Hayo; Himwich, Ed; Neidhardt, Alexander

2010-01-01

The intended VLBI2010 operation has some significant differences to the current S/X operation. The presentation focuses on the problem of extending the operation of a global VLBI network to continuous operation within the frame of the same given amount of human resources. Remote control operation is a suitable solution to minimize operational expenses. The implementation of remote control operation requires more site specific information. A concept of a distributed-centralized remote control of the operation and its implications is presented.

Effect of genes, environment, and lifetime co-occurring disorders on health-related quality of life in problem and pathological gamblers.

PubMed

Scherrer, Jeffrey F; Xian, Hong; Shah, Kamini R; Volberg, Rachel; Slutske, Wendy; Eisen, Seth A

2005-06-01

Problem and pathological gambling are associated with many impairments in quality of life, including financial, family, legal, and social problems. Gambling disorders commonly co-occur with other psychiatric disorders, such as alcoholism and depression. Although these consequences and correlates have been reported, little is known about the health-related functional impairment associated with gambling. To model differences in the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among non-problem gamblers, problem gamblers, and pathological gamblers after controlling for lifetime co-occurring substance use disorders, psychiatric disorders, sociodemographics, and genetic and family environmental influences. Cohort and co-twin studies. Nationally distributed community sample. Male twin members of the Vietnam Era Twin Registry: 53 pathological gamblers, 270 subclinical problem gamblers, and 1346 non-problem gamblers (controls). We obtained HRQoL data, via the 8-Item Short-Form Health Survey, from all participants. Data from a subset of twin pairs discordant for gambling behavior was used to control for genetic and family environmental effects on HRQoL and problem gambling. Main Outcome Measure Health-related quality of life. Results from adjusted logistic regression analyses suggest little difference across groups in the physical domains of the health survey; however, for each mental health domain, pathological gamblers had lower HRQoL scores than problem gamblers (P<.05), who in turn had lower scores than non-problem gamblers (P<.05). After controlling for genes and family environment, no significant differences existed between the non-problem gambling twins and their problem or pathological gambling brothers, but adjusted co-twin analyses resulted in statistically significant differences in 4 of 8 subscales. Pathological and problem gambling are associated with significant decrements in HRQoL. This association is partly explained by genetic and family environmental effects and by lifetime co-occurring substance use disorders. Implications for clinicians, health care utilization, and public health issues are discussed.

Grand Challenge Problems in Real-Time Mission Control Systems for NASA's 21st Century Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pfarr, Barbara B.; Donohue, John T.; Hughes, Peter M.

1999-01-01

Space missions of the 21st Century will be characterized by constellations of distributed spacecraft, miniaturized sensors and satellites, increased levels of automation, intelligent onboard processing, and mission autonomy. Programmatically, these missions will be noted for dramatically decreased budgets and mission development lifecycles. Current progress towards flexible, scaleable, low-cost, reusable mission control systems must accelerate given the current mission deployment schedule, and new technology will need to be infused to achieve desired levels of autonomy and processing capability. This paper will discuss current and future missions being managed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. It will describe the current state of mission control systems and the problems they need to overcome to support the missions of the 21st Century.

Achieving Congestion Mitigation Using Distributed Power Control for Spectrum Sensor Nodes in Sensor Network-Aided Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Networks

PubMed Central

Zhuo, Fan; Duan, Hucai

2017-01-01

The data sequence of spectrum sensing results injected from dedicated spectrum sensor nodes (SSNs) and the data traffic from upstream secondary users (SUs) lead to unpredictable data loads in a sensor network-aided cognitive radio ad hoc network (SN-CRN). As a result, network congestion may occur at a SU acting as fusion center when the offered data load exceeds its available capacity, which degrades network performance. In this paper, we present an effective approach to mitigate congestion of bottlenecked SUs via a proposed distributed power control framework for SSNs over a rectangular grid based SN-CRN, aiming to balance resource load and avoid excessive congestion. To achieve this goal, a distributed power control framework for SSNs from interior tier (IT) and middle tier (MT) is proposed to achieve the tradeoff between channel capacity and energy consumption. In particular, we firstly devise two pricing factors by considering stability of local spectrum sensing and spectrum sensing quality for SSNs. By the aid of pricing factors, the utility function of this power control problem is formulated by jointly taking into account the revenue of power reduction and the cost of energy consumption for IT or MT SSN. By bearing in mind the utility function maximization and linear differential equation constraint of energy consumption, we further formulate the power control problem as a differential game model under a cooperation or noncooperation scenario, and rigorously obtain the optimal solutions to this game model by employing dynamic programming. Then the congestion mitigation for bottlenecked SUs is derived by alleviating the buffer load over their internal buffers. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach under the rectangular grid based SN-CRN scenario. PMID:28914803

Asynchronous Distributed Flow Control Algorithms.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-10-01

all yeX, y <x. We may think of X as a "feasible" set. The fair allocation vector solves the following set of nested problems. The first problem is to...interval parameters that can be adjusted: the time between a succesful update and the next update attempt, and the time between an unsuccessful attempt...For years she took great delight in being able to tell people , quite truthfully, that she was from Mars. In 1970, she graduated from the University of

NASA Mars rover: a testbed for evaluating applications of covariance intersection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uhlmann, Jeffrey K.; Julier, Simon J.; Kamgar-Parsi, Behzad; Lanzagorta, Marco O.; Shyu, Haw-Jye S.

1999-07-01

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has spearheaded the development and application of Covariance Intersection (CI) for a variety of decentralized data fusion problems. Such problems include distributed control, onboard sensor fusion, and dynamic map building and localization. In this paper we describe NRL's development of a CI-based navigation system for the NASA Mars rover that stresses almost all aspects of decentralized data fusion. We also describe how this project relates to NRL's augmented reality, advanced visualization, and REBOT projects.

Optimal Damping of Perturbations of Moving Thermoelastic Panel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banichuk, N. V.; Ivanova, S. Yu.

2018-01-01

The translational motion of a thermoelastic web subject to transverse vibrations caused by initial perturbations is considered. It is assumed that a web moving with a constant translational velocity is described by the model of a thermoelastic panel simply supported at its ends. The problem of optimal damping of vibrations when applying active transverse actions is formulated. For solving the optimization problem, modern methods developed in control theory for systems with distributed parameters described by partial differential equations are used.

Technologies to Increase PV Hosting Capacity in Distribution Feeders: Preprint

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

Ding, Fei; Mather, Barry; Gotseff, Peter

This paper studies the distributed photovoltaic (PV) hosting capacity in distribution feeders by using the stochastic analysis approach. Multiple scenario simulations are conducted to analyze several factors that affect PV hosting capacity, including the existence of voltage regulator, PV location, the power factor of PV inverter and Volt/VAR control. Based on the conclusions obtained from simulation results, three approaches are then proposed to increase distributed PV hosting capacity, which can be formulated as the optimization problem to obtain the optimal solution. All technologies investigated in this paper utilize only existing assets in the feeder and therefore are implementable for amore » low cost. Additionally, the tool developed for these studies is described.« less

Technologies to Increase PV Hosting Capacity in Distribution Feeders

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

Ding, Fei; Mather, Barry; Gotseff, Peter

This paper studies the distributed photovoltaic (PV) hosting capacity in distribution feeders by using the stochastic analysis approach. Multiple scenario simulations are conducted to analyze several factors that affect PV hosting capacity, including the existence of voltage regulator, PV location, the power factor of PV inverter and Volt/VAR control. Based on the conclusions obtained from simulation results, three approaches are then proposed to increase distributed PV hosting capacity, which can be formulated as the optimization problem to obtain the optimal solution. All technologies investigated in this paper utilize only existing assets in the feeder and therefore are implementable for amore » low cost. Additionally, the tool developed for these studies is described.« less

The impact of problem solving strategy with online feedback on students’ conceptual understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pratiwi, H. Y.; Winarko, W.; Ayu, H. D.

2018-04-01

The study aimed to determine the impact of the implementation of problem solving strategy with online feedback towards the students’ concept understanding. This study used quasi experimental design with post-test only control design. The participants were all Physics Education students of Kanjuruhan University year 2015. Then, they were divided into two different groups; 30 students belong to experiment class and the remaining 30 students belong to class of control. The students’ concept understanding was measured by the concept understanding test on multiple integral lesson. The result of the concept understanding test was analyzed by prerequisite test and stated to be normal and homogenic distributed, then the hypothesis was examined by T-test. The result of the study shows that there is difference in the concept understanding between experiment class and control class. Next, the result also shows that the students’ concept understanding which was taught using problem solving strategy with online feedback was higher than those using conventional learning; with average score of 72,10 for experiment class and 52,27 for control class.

Pigeon interaction mode switch-based UAV distributed flocking control under obstacle environments.

PubMed

Qiu, Huaxin; Duan, Haibin

2017-11-01

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flocking control is a serious and challenging problem due to local interactions and changing environments. In this paper, a pigeon flocking model and a pigeon coordinated obstacle-avoiding model are proposed based on a behavior that pigeon flocks will switch between hierarchical and egalitarian interaction mode at different flight phases. Owning to the similarity between bird flocks and UAV swarms in essence, a distributed flocking control algorithm based on the proposed pigeon flocking and coordinated obstacle-avoiding models is designed to coordinate a heterogeneous UAV swarm to fly though obstacle environments with few informed individuals. The comparative simulation results are elaborated to show the feasibility, validity and superiority of our proposed algorithm. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Distributed Cooperative Optimal Control for Multiagent Systems on Directed Graphs: An Inverse Optimal Approach.

PubMed

Zhang, Huaguang; Feng, Tao; Yang, Guang-Hong; Liang, Hongjing

2015-07-01

In this paper, the inverse optimal approach is employed to design distributed consensus protocols that guarantee consensus and global optimality with respect to some quadratic performance indexes for identical linear systems on a directed graph. The inverse optimal theory is developed by introducing the notion of partial stability. As a result, the necessary and sufficient conditions for inverse optimality are proposed. By means of the developed inverse optimal theory, the necessary and sufficient conditions are established for globally optimal cooperative control problems on directed graphs. Basic optimal cooperative design procedures are given based on asymptotic properties of the resulting optimal distributed consensus protocols, and the multiagent systems can reach desired consensus performance (convergence rate and damping rate) asymptotically. Finally, two examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Plug-and-play measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Yujun; Kwon, Osung; Woo, Minki; Oh, Kyunghwan; Han, Sang-Wook; Kim, Yong-Su; Moon, Sung

2016-03-01

Quantum key distribution (QKD) guarantees unconditional communication security based on the laws of quantum physics. However, practical QKD suffers from a number of quantum hackings due to the device imperfections. From the security standpoint, measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) is in the limelight since it eliminates all the possible loopholes in detection. Due to active control units for mode matching between the photons from remote parties, however, the implementation of MDI-QKD is highly impractical. In this paper, we propose a method to resolve the mode matching problem while minimizing the use of active control units. By introducing the plug-and-play (P&P) concept into MDI-QKD, the indistinguishability in spectral and polarization modes between photons can naturally be guaranteed. We show the feasibility of P&P MDI-QKD with a proof-of-principle experiment.

Problem-Based Learning and Problem-Solving Tools: Synthesis and Direction for Distributed Education Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedman, Robert S.; Deek, Fadi P.

2002-01-01

Discusses how the design and implementation of problem-solving tools used in programming instruction are complementary with both the theories of problem-based learning (PBL), including constructivism, and the practices of distributed education environments. Examines how combining PBL, Web-based distributed education, and a problem-solving…

A SIMPLE APPROACH TO ASSESSING COPPER PITTING CORROSION TENDENCIES AND DEVELOPING CONTROL STRATEGIES

EPA Science Inventory

Localized corrosion of copper plumbing in drinking water distribution systems can lead to pinhole leaks, which are a growing problem for many homeowners. Although water quality is one factor that can be responsible for localized copper corrosion, there is not a good approach to ...

Control of New Copper Corrosion in High-Alkalinity Drinking Water using Orthophosphate - article

EPA Science Inventory

Research and field experience have shown that high-alkalinity waters can be associated with elevated copper levels in drinking water. The objective of this study was to document the application of orthophosphate to the distribution system of a building with a copper problem asso...

A Distributed Problem-Solving Approach to Rule Induction: Learning in Distributed Artificial Intelligence Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-11-01

Intelligence Systems," in Distributed Artifcial Intelligence , vol. II, L. Gasser and M. Huhns (eds), Pitman, London, 1989, pp. 413-430. Shaw, M. Harrow, B...IDTIC FILE COPY A Distributed Problem-Solving Approach to Rule Induction: Learning in Distributed Artificial Intelligence Systems N Michael I. Shaw...SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS A Distributed Problem-Solving Approach to Rule Induction: Learning in Distributed Artificial Intelligence Systems 6

Intelligent Load Manager (LOADMAN): Application of Expert System Technology to Load Management Problems in Power Generation and Distribution Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-08-10

addrsesed to it, the wall-receptacle module energizes a relay. Modules can be built to use a triac instead and have the capacity to increase or decrease... modulated by other constraints for a safe, functional ana effective power distribution system. 2.2.3 BackuR Equipment Alternate power sources are...environments have limited sensor capability and no remote control capability. However, future enhancements to current equipment, such as frequency- modulated

Clinical Physiologic Research Instrumentation: An Approach Using Modular Elements and Distributed Processing

PubMed Central

Hagen, R. W.; Ambos, H. D.; Browder, M. W.; Roloff, W. R.; Thomas, L. J.

1979-01-01

The Clinical Physiologic Research System (CPRS) developed from our experience in applying computers to medical instrumentation problems. This experience revealed a set of applications with a commonality in data acquisition, analysis, input/output, and control needs that could be met by a portable system. The CPRS demonstrates a practical methodology for integrating commercial instruments with distributed modular elements of local design in order to make facile responses to changing instrumentation needs in clinical environments. ImagesFigure 3

Meeting Unmanned Air Vehicle Platform Challenges Using Oblique Wing Aircraft

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-11-01

effects need to be assessed with fully relaxed wakes (Section 5). 4.2 Oblique Flying Wing with 75o Folded Tip / Winglet , Mach 0.8, CL = 0.3 Fig.9 (a...e) refers to an OFW flying at 30o sweep with 75o folded tip or winglet , Ref.14. This also acts as a vertical fin or as a control (deflection...design problem. The resultant Cp-x distributions (e) at the design condition are well behaved. The distributions on the winglet are slightly more

Examination and characterization of distribution system biofilms.

PubMed Central

LeChevallier, M W; Babcock, T M; Lee, R G

1987-01-01

Investigations concerning the role of distribution system biofilms on water quality were conducted at a drinking water utility in New Jersey. The utility experienced long-term bacteriological problems in the distribution system, while treatment plant effluents were uniformly negative for coliform bacteria. Results of a monitoring program showed increased coliform levels as the water moved from the treatment plant through the distribution system. Increased coliform densities could not be accounted for by growth of the cells in the water column alone. Identification of coliform bacteria showed that species diversity increased as water flowed through the study area. All materials in the distribution system had high densities of heterotrophic plate count bacteria, while high levels of coliforms were detected only in iron tubercles. Coliform bacteria with the same biochemical profile were found both in distribution system biofilms and in the water column. Assimilable organic carbon determinations showed that carbon levels declined as water flowed through the study area. Maintenance of a 1.0-mg/liter free chlorine residual was insufficient to control coliform occurrences. Flushing and pigging the study area was not an effective control for coliform occurrences in that section. Because coliform bacteria growing in distribution system biofilms may mask the presence of indicator organisms resulting from a true breakdown of treatment barriers, the report recommends that efforts continue to find methods to control growth of coliform bacteria in pipeline biofilms. Images PMID:3435140

Autonomous power management and distribution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dolce, Jim; Kish, Jim

1990-01-01

The goal of the Autonomous Power System program is to develop and apply intelligent problem solving and control to the Space Station Freedom's electric power testbed being developed at NASA's Lewis Research Center. Objectives are to establish artificial intelligence technology paths, craft knowledge-based tools and products for power systems, and integrate knowledge-based and conventional controllers. This program represents a joint effort between the Space Station and Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology to develop and demonstrate space electric power automation technology capable of: (1) detection and classification of system operating status, (2) diagnosis of failure causes, and (3) cooperative problem solving for power scheduling and failure recovery. Program details, status, and plans will be presented.

A degree of controllability definition - Fundamental concepts and application to modal systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Viswanathan, C. N.; Longman, R. W.; Likins, P. W.

1984-01-01

Starting from basic physical considerations, this paper develops a concept of the degree of controllability of a control system, and then develops numerical methods to generate approximate values of the degree of controllability for any linear time-invariant system. In many problems, such as the control of future, very large, flexible spacecraft and certain chemical process control problems, the question of how to choose the number and locations of the control system actuators is an important one. The results obtained here offer the control system designer a tool which allows him to rank the effectiveness of alternative actuator distributions, and hence to choose the actuator locations on a rational basis. The degree of controllability is shown to take a particularly simple form when the dynamic equations of a satellite are in second-order modal form. The degree of controllability concept has still other fundamental uses - it allows one to study the system structural relations between the various inputs and outputs of a linear system, which has applications to decoupling and model reduction.

The Use of Software Agents for Autonomous Control of a DC Space Power System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

May, Ryan D.; Loparo, Kenneth A.

2014-01-01

In order to enable manned deep-space missions, the spacecraft must be controlled autonomously using on-board algorithms. A control architecture is proposed to enable this autonomous operation for an spacecraft electric power system and then implemented using a highly distributed network of software agents. These agents collaborate and compete with each other in order to implement each of the control functions. A subset of this control architecture is tested against a steadystate power system simulation and found to be able to solve a constrained optimization problem with competing objectives using only local information.

Decentralized control of units in smart grids for the support of renewable energy supply

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

Sonnenschein, Michael, E-mail: Michael.Sonnenschein@Uni-Oldenburg.DE; Lünsdorf, Ontje, E-mail: Ontje.Luensdorf@OFFIS.DE; Bremer, Jörg, E-mail: Joerg.Bremer@Uni-Oldenburg.DE

Due to the significant environmental impact of power production from fossil fuels and nuclear fission, future energy systems will increasingly rely on distributed and renewable energy sources (RES). The electrical feed-in from photovoltaic (PV) systems and wind energy converters (WEC) varies greatly both over short and long time periods (from minutes to seasons), and (not only) by this effect the supply of electrical power from RES and the demand for electrical power are not per se matching. In addition, with a growing share of generation capacity especially in distribution grids, the top-down paradigm of electricity distribution is gradually replaced bymore » a bottom-up power supply. This altogether leads to new problems regarding the safe and reliable operation of power grids. In order to address these challenges, the notion of Smart Grids has been introduced. The inherent flexibilities, i.e. the set of feasible power schedules, of distributed power units have to be controlled in order to support demand–supply matching as well as stable grid operation. Controllable power units are e.g. combined heat and power plants, power storage systems such as batteries, and flexible power consumers such as heat pumps. By controlling the flexibilities of these units we are particularly able to optimize the local utilization of RES feed-in in a given power grid by integrating both supply and demand management measures with special respect to the electrical infrastructure. In this context, decentralized systems, autonomous agents and the concept of self-organizing systems will become key elements of the ICT based control of power units. In this contribution, we first show how a decentralized load management system for battery charging/discharging of electrical vehicles (EVs) can increase the locally used share of supply from PV systems in a low voltage grid. For a reliable demand side management of large sets of appliances, dynamic clustering of these appliances into uniformly controlled appliance sets is necessary. We introduce a method for self-organized clustering for this purpose and show how control of such clusters can affect load peaks in distribution grids. Subsequently, we give a short overview on how we are going to expand the idea of self-organized clusters of units into creating a virtual control center for dynamic virtual power plants (DVPP) offering products at a power market. For an efficient organization of DVPPs, the flexibilities of units have to be represented in a compact and easy to use manner. We give an introduction how the problem of representing a set of possibly 10{sup 100} feasible schedules can be solved by a machine-learning approach. In summary, this article provides an overall impression how we use agent based control techniques and methods of self-organization to support the further integration of distributed and renewable energy sources into power grids and energy markets. - Highlights: • Distributed load management for electrical vehicles supports local supply from PV. • Appliances can self-organize into so called virtual appliances for load control. • Dynamic VPPs can be controlled by extensively decentralized control centers. • Flexibilities of units can efficiently be represented by support-vector descriptions.« less

Abate distribution and dengue control in rural Cambodia.

PubMed

Khun, Sokrin; Manderson, Lenore H

2007-02-01

Sustainable public health and community collaboration and partnerships are essential for the effective elimination of vector breeding sites to prevent dengue fever. A prerequisite is that community members appreciate the importance of the infection, understand its transmission and preventive activities, and are able to translate such knowledge to action. In this paper, we draw on an ethnographic study of two villages in the eastern province of Kampong Cham, using data collected from qualitative research methods and entomological surveys to describe community knowledge of the vector, practices related to the reduction of breeding sources, and the effectiveness of temephos to control larvae. During the study period, temephos (distributed as Abate) was applied in water containers only in the rainy season, although these containers were also positive with larvae in the dry season. Discarded containers, ignored in terms of control activities, had twice the number of larvae as water storage containers. The continued reliance on Abate creates financial and technical problems, while its inappropriate distribution raises the possibility of larvicide resistance. Based on research findings, we argue that control strategies emphasizing the use of Abate should be reconsidered.

Autonomous Information Unit: Why Making Data Smart Can also Make Data Secured?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chow, Edward T.

2006-01-01

In this paper, we introduce a new fine-grain distributed information protection mechanism which can self-protect, self-discover, self-organize, and self-manage. In our approach, we decompose data into smaller pieces and provide individualized protection. We also provide a policy control mechanism to allow 'smart' access control and context based re-assembly of the decomposed data. By combining smart policy with individually protected data, we are able to provide better protection of sensitive information and achieve more flexible access during emergency conditions. As a result, this new fine-grain protection mechanism can enable us to achieve better solutions for problems such as distributed information protection and identity theft.

Tuning Monotonic Basin Hopping: Improving the Efficiency of Stochastic Search as Applied to Low-Thrust Trajectory Optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Englander, Jacob; Englander, Arnold

2014-01-01

Trajectory optimization methods using MBH have become well developed during the past decade. An essential component of MBH is a controlled random search through the multi-dimensional space of possible solutions. Historically, the randomness has been generated by drawing RVs from a uniform probability distribution. Here, we investigate the generating the randomness by drawing the RVs from Cauchy and Pareto distributions, chosen because of their characteristic long tails. We demonstrate that using Cauchy distributions (as first suggested by Englander significantly improves MBH performance, and that Pareto distributions provide even greater improvements. Improved performance is defined in terms of efficiency and robustness, where efficiency is finding better solutions in less time, and robustness is efficiency that is undiminished by (a) the boundary conditions and internal constraints of the optimization problem being solved, and (b) by variations in the parameters of the probability distribution. Robustness is important for achieving performance improvements that are not problem specific. In this work we show that the performance improvements are the result of how these long-tailed distributions enable MBH to search the solution space faster and more thoroughly. In developing this explanation, we use the concepts of sub-diffusive, normally-diffusive, and super-diffusive RWs originally developed in the field of statistical physics.

Models of resource allocation optimization when solving the control problems in organizational systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menshikh, V.; Samorokovskiy, A.; Avsentev, O.

2018-03-01

The mathematical model of optimizing the allocation of resources to reduce the time for management decisions and algorithms to solve the general problem of resource allocation. The optimization problem of choice of resources in organizational systems in order to reduce the total execution time of a job is solved. This problem is a complex three-level combinatorial problem, for the solving of which it is necessary to implement the solution to several specific problems: to estimate the duration of performing each action, depending on the number of performers within the group that performs this action; to estimate the total execution time of all actions depending on the quantitative composition of groups of performers; to find such a distribution of the existing resource of performers in groups to minimize the total execution time of all actions. In addition, algorithms to solve the general problem of resource allocation are proposed.

Infrared identification of internal overheating components inside an electric control cabinet by inverse heat transfer problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Li; Wang, Ye; Liu, Huikai; Yan, Guanghui; Kou, Wei

2014-11-01

The components overheating inside an object, such as inside an electric control cabinet, a moving object, and a running machine, can easily lead to equipment failure or fire accident. The infrared remote sensing method is used to inspect the surface temperature of object to identify the overheating components inside the object in recent years. It has important practical application of using infrared thermal imaging surface temperature measurement to identify the internal overheating elements inside an electric control cabinet. In this paper, through the establishment of test bench of electric control cabinet, the experimental study was conducted on the inverse identification technology of internal overheating components inside an electric control cabinet using infrared thermal imaging. The heat transfer model of electric control cabinet was built, and the temperature distribution of electric control cabinet with internal overheating element is simulated using the finite volume method (FVM). The outer surface temperature of electric control cabinet was measured using the infrared thermal imager. Combining the computer image processing technology and infrared temperature measurement, the surface temperature distribution of electric control cabinet was extracted, and using the identification algorithm of inverse heat transfer problem (IHTP) the position and temperature of internal overheating element were identified. The results obtained show that for single element overheating inside the electric control cabinet the identifying errors of the temperature and position were 2.11% and 5.32%. For multiple elements overheating inside the electric control cabinet the identifying errors of the temperature and positions were 3.28% and 15.63%. The feasibility and effectiveness of the method of IHTP and the correctness of identification algorithm of FVM were validated.

Unified control/structure design and modeling research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mingori, D. L.; Gibson, J. S.; Blelloch, P. A.; Adamian, A.

1986-01-01

To demonstrate the applicability of the control theory for distributed systems to large flexible space structures, research was focused on a model of a space antenna which consists of a rigid hub, flexible ribs, and a mesh reflecting surface. The space antenna model used is discussed along with the finite element approximation of the distributed model. The basic control problem is to design an optimal or near-optimal compensator to suppress the linear vibrations and rigid-body displacements of the structure. The application of an infinite dimensional Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control theory to flexible structure is discussed. Two basic approaches for robustness enhancement were investigated: loop transfer recovery and sensitivity optimization. A third approach synthesized from elements of these two basic approaches is currently under development. The control driven finite element approximation of flexible structures is discussed. Three sets of finite element basic vectors for computing functional control gains are compared. The possibility of constructing a finite element scheme to approximate the infinite dimensional Hamiltonian system directly, instead of indirectly is discussed.

Distributed fault-tolerant time-varying formation control for high-order linear multi-agent systems with actuator failures.

PubMed

Hua, Yongzhao; Dong, Xiwang; Li, Qingdong; Ren, Zhang

2017-11-01

This paper investigates the fault-tolerant time-varying formation control problems for high-order linear multi-agent systems in the presence of actuator failures. Firstly, a fully distributed formation control protocol is presented to compensate for the influences of both bias fault and loss of effectiveness fault. Using the adaptive online updating strategies, no global knowledge about the communication topology is required and the bounds of actuator failures can be unknown. Then an algorithm is proposed to determine the control parameters of the fault-tolerant formation protocol, where the time-varying formation feasible conditions and an approach to expand the feasible formation set are given. Furthermore, the stability of the proposed algorithm is proven based on the Lyapunov-like theory. Finally, two simulation examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rendezvous with connectivity preservation for multi-robot systems with an unknown leader

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Yi

2018-02-01

This paper studies the leader-following rendezvous problem with connectivity preservation for multi-agent systems composed of uncertain multi-robot systems subject to external disturbances and an unknown leader, both of which are generated by a so-called exosystem with parametric uncertainty. By combining internal model design, potential function technique and adaptive control, two distributed control strategies are proposed to maintain the connectivity of the communication network, to achieve the asymptotic tracking of all the followers to the output of the unknown leader system, as well as to reject unknown external disturbances. It is also worth to mention that the uncertain parameters in the multi-robot systems and exosystem are further allowed to belong to unknown and unbounded sets when applying the second fully distributed control law containing a dynamic gain inspired by high-gain adaptive control or self-tuning regulator.

An overview of the artificial intelligence and expert systems component of RICIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feagin, Terry

1987-01-01

Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems are the important component of RICIS (Research Institute and Information Systems) research program. For space applications, a number of problem areas that should be able to make good use of the above tools include: resource allocation and management, control and monitoring, environmental control and life support, power distribution, communications scheduling, orbit and attitude maintenance, redundancy management, intelligent man-machine interfaces and fault detection, isolation and recovery.

The Use of Meta-Level Control for Coordination in a Distributed Problem Solving Network,

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

crucial aspect of the design organizational structuring in coordinating the local activity of achs decentralized network control policies. It is...TEMTED EXflD.MENTS WITn and ratings of the subgoals." Threshold values indicating ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCIURING IkeA usaw lani of a subal are specif’ied in...the monitoring are. This environmental vehicle, approximate position, time frame, and belief. The scenario was designed to test the networks ability

Distributed Problem Solving: Adaptive Networks with a Computer Intermediary Resource. Part 1. Group Problem-Solving Performance in a Simulated Military Situation Assessment Task under Varying Environmental Conditions. Part 2. Group Acquisition of Dynamic Control Skills in a Fluid Level Adjustment Problem

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-01

Army position, policy , or decision, unless so designated by other authorized documents. SECLRITY ~ JNU Hs~i REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE fom N o- Ia...ol CLo ruo 0 I 0 0) .0 0K0 a Eo Co E o c: Cuu >.vo CD E ~ v) CnCD CCo 0Lt Co jo 0) 0 0 0 0 C)(w r- wCul S6UiueuwoejP~P~IOUIIE 8OULUJIJ~dPUBPEONMLi

On the stress singularities generated by anisotropic eigenstrains and the hydrostatic stress due to annular inhomogeneities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yavari, Arash; Goriely, Alain

2015-03-01

The problems of singularity formation and hydrostatic stress created by an inhomogeneity with eigenstrain in an incompressible isotropic hyperelastic material are considered. For both a spherical ball and a cylindrical bar with a radially symmetric distribution of finite possibly anisotropic eigenstrains, we show that the anisotropy of these eigenstrains at the center (the center of the sphere or the axis of the cylinder) controls the stress singularity. If they are equal at the center no stress singularity develops but if they are not equal then stress always develops a logarithmic singularity. In both cases, the energy density and strains are everywhere finite. As a related problem, we consider annular inclusions for which the eigenstrains vanish in a core around the center. We show that even for an anisotropic distribution of eigenstrains, the stress inside the core is always hydrostatic. We show how these general results are connected to recent claims on similar problems in the limit of small eigenstrains.

An access control model with high security for distributed workflow and real-time application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Ruo-Fei; Wang, Hou-Xiang

2007-11-01

The traditional mandatory access control policy (MAC) is regarded as a policy with strict regulation and poor flexibility. The security policy of MAC is so compelling that few information systems would adopt it at the cost of facility, except some particular cases with high security requirement as military or government application. However, with the increasing requirement for flexibility, even some access control systems in military application have switched to role-based access control (RBAC) which is well known as flexible. Though RBAC can meet the demands for flexibility but it is weak in dynamic authorization and consequently can not fit well in the workflow management systems. The task-role-based access control (T-RBAC) is then introduced to solve the problem. It combines both the advantages of RBAC and task-based access control (TBAC) which uses task to manage permissions dynamically. To satisfy the requirement of system which is distributed, well defined with workflow process and critically for time accuracy, this paper will analyze the spirit of MAC, introduce it into the improved T&RBAC model which is based on T-RBAC. At last, a conceptual task-role-based access control model with high security for distributed workflow and real-time application (A_T&RBAC) is built, and its performance is simply analyzed.

The effect of problem solving and decision making skills on tendency to depression and anxiety in patients with type 2 diabetes.

PubMed

Abazarian, Elaheh; Baboli, M Teimourzadeh; Abazarian, Elham; Ghashghaei, F Esteki

2015-01-01

Diabetes is the most prevalent disease that has involved 177 million people all over the world and, due to this, these patients suffer from depression and anxiety and they should use special methods for controlling the same. The aim of this research is the study of the effect of problem solving and decision making skill on the rate of the tendency to depression and anxiety. This research is a quasi-experimental (case-control) study. Statistically, the population of the present study was all diabetic patients of Qaemshahr who were controlled by physicians in 2011-2012. Thirty files were selected randomly from them and divided into two 15 patients' groups (control and subject group) randomly. The measurement tools were Back depression inventory (21 items) and Zank anxiety questionnaire that were distributed among two groups. Then, the subject group participated in eight sessions of teaching problem solving and decision making courses separately, and the second group (control group) did not receive any instruction. Finally, both groups had passed post-test and the data obtained from the questionnaires were studied by variance analysis statistical methods. The results showed that teaching problem solving and decision making skills was very effective in reducing diabetic patients' depression and anxiety and resulted in reducing their depression and anxiety.

The effect of problem solving and decision making skills on tendency to depression and anxiety in patients with type 2 diabetes

PubMed Central

Abazarian, Elaheh; Baboli, M Teimourzadeh; Abazarian, Elham; Ghashghaei, F Esteki

2015-01-01

Background: Diabetes is the most prevalent disease that has involved 177 million people all over the world and, due to this, these patients suffer from depression and anxiety and they should use special methods for controlling the same. The aim of this research is the study of the effect of problem solving and decision making skill on the rate of the tendency to depression and anxiety. Materials and Methods: This research is a quasi-experimental (case-control) study. Statistically, the population of the present study was all diabetic patients of Qaemshahr who were controlled by physicians in 2011-2012. Thirty files were selected randomly from them and divided into two 15 patients’ groups (control and subject group) randomly. The measurement tools were Back depression inventory (21 items) and Zank anxiety questionnaire that were distributed among two groups. Then, the subject group participated in eight sessions of teaching problem solving and decision making courses separately, and the second group (control group) did not receive any instruction. Results: Finally, both groups had passed post-test and the data obtained from the questionnaires were studied by variance analysis statistical methods. Conclusion: The results showed that teaching problem solving and decision making skills was very effective in reducing diabetic patients’ depression and anxiety and resulted in reducing their depression and anxiety. PMID:26261814

Distributed cooperative H∞ optimal tracking control of MIMO nonlinear multi-agent systems in strict-feedback form via adaptive dynamic programming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luy, N. T.

2018-04-01

The design of distributed cooperative H∞ optimal controllers for multi-agent systems is a major challenge when the agents' models are uncertain multi-input and multi-output nonlinear systems in strict-feedback form in the presence of external disturbances. In this paper, first, the distributed cooperative H∞ optimal tracking problem is transformed into controlling the cooperative tracking error dynamics in affine form. Second, control schemes and online algorithms are proposed via adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) and the theory of zero-sum differential graphical games. The schemes use only one neural network (NN) for each agent instead of three from ADP to reduce computational complexity as well as avoid choosing initial NN weights for stabilising controllers. It is shown that despite not using knowledge of cooperative internal dynamics, the proposed algorithms not only approximate values to Nash equilibrium but also guarantee all signals, such as the NN weight approximation errors and the cooperative tracking errors in the closed-loop system, to be uniformly ultimately bounded. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is shown by simulation results of an application to wheeled mobile multi-robot systems.

Driving Parameters for Distributed and Centralized Air Transportation Architectures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feron, Eric

2001-01-01

This report considers the problem of intersecting aircraft flows under decentralized conflict avoidance rules. Using an Eulerian standpoint (aircraft flow through a fixed control volume), new air traffic control models and scenarios are defined that enable the study of long-term airspace stability problems. Considering a class of two intersecting aircraft flows, it is shown that airspace stability, defined both in terms of safety and performance, is preserved under decentralized conflict resolution algorithms. Performance bounds are derived for the aircraft flow problem under different maneuver models. Besides analytical approaches, numerical examples are presented to test the theoretical results, as well as to generate some insight about the structure of the traffic flow after resolution. Considering more than two intersecting aircraft flows, simulations indicate that flow stability may not be guaranteed under simple conflict avoidance rules. Finally, a comparison is made with centralized strategies to conflict resolution.

A Control Variate Method for Probabilistic Performance Assessment. Improved Estimates for Mean Performance Quantities of Interest

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

MacKinnon, Robert J.; Kuhlman, Kristopher L

2016-05-01

We present a method of control variates for calculating improved estimates for mean performance quantities of interest, E(PQI) , computed from Monte Carlo probabilistic simulations. An example of a PQI is the concentration of a contaminant at a particular location in a problem domain computed from simulations of transport in porous media. To simplify the presentation, the method is described in the setting of a one- dimensional elliptical model problem involving a single uncertain parameter represented by a probability distribution. The approach can be easily implemented for more complex problems involving multiple uncertain parameters and in particular for application tomore » probabilistic performance assessment of deep geologic nuclear waste repository systems. Numerical results indicate the method can produce estimates of E(PQI)having superior accuracy on coarser meshes and reduce the required number of simulations needed to achieve an acceptable estimate.« less

Global stabilization analysis of inertial memristive recurrent neural networks with discrete and distributed delays.

PubMed

Wang, Leimin; Zeng, Zhigang; Ge, Ming-Feng; Hu, Junhao

2018-05-02

This paper deals with the stabilization problem of memristive recurrent neural networks with inertial items, discrete delays, bounded and unbounded distributed delays. First, for inertial memristive recurrent neural networks (IMRNNs) with second-order derivatives of states, an appropriate variable substitution method is invoked to transfer IMRNNs into a first-order differential form. Then, based on nonsmooth analysis theory, several algebraic criteria are established for the global stabilizability of IMRNNs under proposed feedback control, where the cases with both bounded and unbounded distributed delays are successfully addressed. Finally, the theoretical results are illustrated via the numerical simulations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Finite-Time and Fixed-Time Cluster Synchronization With or Without Pinning Control.

PubMed

Liu, Xiwei; Chen, Tianping

2018-01-01

In this paper, the finite-time and fixed-time cluster synchronization problem for complex networks with or without pinning control are discussed. Finite-time (or fixed-time) synchronization has been a hot topic in recent years, which means that the network can achieve synchronization in finite-time, and the settling time depends on the initial values for finite-time synchronization (or the settling time is bounded by a constant for any initial values for fixed-time synchronization). To realize the finite-time and fixed-time cluster synchronization, some simple distributed protocols with or without pinning control are designed and the effectiveness is rigorously proved. Several sufficient criteria are also obtained to clarify the effects of coupling terms for finite-time and fixed-time cluster synchronization. Especially, when the cluster number is one, the cluster synchronization becomes the complete synchronization problem; when the network has only one node, the coupling term between nodes will disappear, and the synchronization problem becomes the simplest master-slave case, which also includes the stability problem for nonlinear systems like neural networks. All these cases are also discussed. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the correctness of obtained theoretical results.

Gyrodampers for large space structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aubrun, J. N.; Margulies, G.

1979-01-01

The problem of controlling the vibrations of a large space structures by the use of actively augmented damping devices distributed throughout the structure is addressed. The gyrodamper which consists of a set of single gimbal control moment gyros which are actively controlled to extract the structural vibratory energy through the local rotational deformations of the structure, is described and analyzed. Various linear and nonlinear dynamic simulations of gyrodamped beams are shown, including results on self-induced vibrations due to sensor noise and rotor imbalance. The complete nonlinear dynamic equations are included. The problem of designing and sizing a system of gyrodampers for a given structure, or extrapolating results for one gyrodamped structure to another is solved in terms of scaling laws. Novel scaling laws for gyro systems are derived, based upon fundamental physical principles, and various examples are given.

Epidemiology, Science as Inquiry and Scientific Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaelin, Mark; Huebner, Wendy

2003-01-01

The recent worldwide SARS outbreak has put the science of epidemiology into the headlines once again. Epidemiology is "... the study of the distribution and the determinants of health-related states or events and the application of these methods to the control of health problems" (Gordis 2000). In this context, the authors have developed a…

AIR DISTRIBUTION NOISE CONTROL IN CRITICAL AUDITORIUMS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

HOOVER, R.M.

THE ACHIEVEMENT OF EXTREMELY LOW AIR-CONDITIONING NOISE LEVELS REQUIRED FOR MODERN AUDITORIUMS ARE THE RESULT OF CAREFUL PLANNING AND THOROUGH DETAILING. PROBLEMS FACED AND TECHNIQUES USED IN ARRIVING AT LEVELS AS LOW AS NC-15 FOR A SINGLE SYSTEM SERVING A HALL ARE DESCRIBED. SIX CASE HISTORIES ARE EXAMINED AND THE FOLLOWING OBSERVATIONS ARE…

Control and design of multiple unmanned air vehicles for persistent surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nigam, Nikhil

Control of multiple autonomous aircraft for search and exploration, is a topic of current research interest for applications such as weather monitoring, geographical surveys, search and rescue, tactical reconnaissance, and extra-terrestrial exploration, and the need to distribute sensing is driven by considerations of efficiency, reliability, cost and scalability. Hence, this problem has been extensively studied in the fields of controls and artificial intelligence. The task of persistent surveillance is different from a coverage/exploration problem, in that all areas need to be continuously searched, minimizing the time between visitations to each region in the target space. This distinction does not allow a straightforward application of most exploration techniques to the problem, although ideas from these methods can still be used. The use of aerial vehicles is motivated by their ability to cover larger spaces and their relative insensitivity to terrain. However, the dynamics of Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) adds complexity to the control problem. Most of the work in the literature decouples the vehicle dynamics and control policies, but their interaction is particularly interesting for a surveillance mission. Stochastic environments and UAV failures further enrich the problem by requiring the control policies to be robust, and this aspect is particularly important for hardware implementations. For a persistent mission, it becomes imperative to consider the range/endurance constraints of the vehicles. The coupling of the control policy with the endurance constraints of the vehicles is an aspect that has not been sufficiently explored. Design of UAVs for desirable mission performance is also an issue of considerable significance. The use of a single monolithic optimization for such a problem has practical limitations, and decomposition-based design is a potential alternative. In this research high-level control policies are devised, that are scalable, reliable, efficient, and robust to changes in the environment. Most of the existing techniques that carry performance guarantees are not scalable or robust to changes. The scalable techniques are often heuristic in nature, resulting in lack of reliability and performance. Our policies are tested in a multi-UAV simulation environment developed for this problem, and shown to be near-optimal in spite of being completely reactive in nature. We explicitly account for the coupling between aircraft dynamics and control policies as well, and suggest modifications to improve performance under dynamic constraints. A smart refueling policy is also developed to account for limited endurance, and large performance benefits are observed. The method is based on the solution of a linear program that can be efficiently solved online in a distributed setting, unlike previous work. The Vehicle Swarm Technology Laboratory (VSTL), a hardware testbed developed at Boeing Research and Technology for evaluating swarm of UAVs, is described next and used to test the control strategy in a real-world scenario. The simplicity and robustness of the strategy allows easy implementation and near replication of the performance observed in simulation. Finally, an architecture for system-of-systems design based on Collaborative Optimization (CO) is presented. Earlier work coupling operations and design has used frameworks that make certain assumptions not valid for this problem. The efficacy of our approach is illustrated through preliminary design results, and extension to more realistic settings is also demonstrated.

Key node selection in minimum-cost control of complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Jie; Wen, Changyun; Li, Guoqi

2017-11-01

Finding the key node set that is connected with a given number of external control sources for driving complex networks from initial state to any predefined state with minimum cost, known as minimum-cost control problem, is critically important but remains largely open. By defining an importance index for each node, we propose revisited projected gradient method extension (R-PGME) in Monte-Carlo scenario to determine key node set. It is found that the importance index of a node is strongly correlated to occurrence rate of that node to be selected as a key node in Monte-Carlo realizations for three elementary topologies, Erdős-Rényi and scale-free networks. We also discover the distribution patterns of key nodes when the control cost reaches its minimum. Specifically, the importance indices of all nodes in an elementary stem show a quasi-periodic distribution with high peak values in the beginning and end of a quasi-period while they approach to a uniform distribution in an elementary cycle. We further point out that an elementary dilation can be regarded as two elementary stems whose lengths are the closest, and the importance indices in each stem present similar distribution as in an elementary stem. Our results provide a better understanding and deep insight of locating the key nodes in different topologies with minimum control cost.

Automated distribution system management for multichannel space power systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fleck, G. W.; Decker, D. K.; Graves, J.

1983-01-01

A NASA sponsored study of space power distribution system technology is in progress to develop an autonomously managed power system (AMPS) for large space power platforms. The multichannel, multikilowatt, utility-type power subsystem proposed presents new survivability requirements and increased subsystem complexity. The computer controls under development for the power management system must optimize the power subsystem performance and minimize the life cycle cost of the platform. A distribution system management philosophy has been formulated which incorporates these constraints. Its implementation using a TI9900 microprocessor and FORTH as the programming language is presented. The approach offers a novel solution to the perplexing problem of determining the optimal combination of loads which should be connected to each power channel for a versatile electrical distribution concept.

An Integrated Framework for Model-Based Distributed Diagnosis and Prognosis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bregon, Anibal; Daigle, Matthew J.; Roychoudhury, Indranil

2012-01-01

Diagnosis and prognosis are necessary tasks for system reconfiguration and fault-adaptive control in complex systems. Diagnosis consists of detection, isolation and identification of faults, while prognosis consists of prediction of the remaining useful life of systems. This paper presents a novel integrated framework for model-based distributed diagnosis and prognosis, where system decomposition is used to enable the diagnosis and prognosis tasks to be performed in a distributed way. We show how different submodels can be automatically constructed to solve the local diagnosis and prognosis problems. We illustrate our approach using a simulated four-wheeled rover for different fault scenarios. Our experiments show that our approach correctly performs distributed fault diagnosis and prognosis in an efficient and robust manner.

A formation control strategy with coupling weights for the multi-robot system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Xudong; Wang, Siming; Li, Weijie

2017-12-01

The distributed formation problem of the multi-robot system with general linear dynamic characteristics and directed communication topology is discussed. In order to avoid that the multi-robot system can not maintain the desired formation in the complex communication environment, the distributed cooperative algorithm with coupling weights based on zipf distribution is designed. The asymptotic stability condition for the formation of the multi-robot system is given, and the theory of the graph and the Lyapunov theory are used to prove that the formation can converge to the desired geometry formation and the desired motion rules of the virtual leader under this condition. Nontrivial simulations are performed to validate the effectiveness of the distributed cooperative algorithm with coupling weights.

Computational procedure of optimal inventory model involving controllable backorder rate and variable lead time with defective units

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Wen-Chuan; Wu, Jong-Wuu; Tsou, Hsin-Hui; Lei, Chia-Ling

2012-10-01

This article considers that the number of defective units in an arrival order is a binominal random variable. We derive a modified mixture inventory model with backorders and lost sales, in which the order quantity and lead time are decision variables. In our studies, we also assume that the backorder rate is dependent on the length of lead time through the amount of shortages and let the backorder rate be a control variable. In addition, we assume that the lead time demand follows a mixture of normal distributions, and then relax the assumption about the form of the mixture of distribution functions of the lead time demand and apply the minimax distribution free procedure to solve the problem. Furthermore, we develop an algorithm procedure to obtain the optimal ordering strategy for each case. Finally, three numerical examples are also given to illustrate the results.

Optimal Load-Side Control for Frequency Regulation in Smart Grids

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

Zhao, Changhong; Mallada, Enrique; Low, Steven

Frequency control rebalances supply and demand while maintaining the network state within operational margins. It is implemented using fast ramping reserves that are expensive and wasteful, and which are expected to become increasingly necessary with the current acceleration of renewable penetration. The most promising solution to this problem is the use of demand response, i.e., load participation in frequency control. Yet it is still unclear how to efficiently integrate load participation without introducing instabilities and violating operational constraints. In this paper, we present a comprehensive load-side frequency control mechanism that can maintain the grid within operational constraints. In particular, ourmore » controllers can rebalance supply and demand after disturbances, restore the frequency to its nominal value, and preserve interarea power flows. Furthermore, our controllers are distributed (unlike the currently implemented frequency control), can allocate load updates optimally, and can maintain line flows within thermal limits. We prove that such a distributed load-side control is globally asymptotically stable and robust to unknown load parameters. We illustrate its effectiveness through simulations.« less

Distributed synchronization control of complex networks with communication constraints.

PubMed

Xu, Zhenhua; Zhang, Dan; Song, Hongbo

2016-11-01

This paper is concerned with the distributed synchronization control of complex networks with communication constraints. In this work, the controllers communicate with each other through the wireless network, acting as a controller network. Due to the constrained transmission power, techniques such as the packet size reduction and transmission rate reduction schemes are proposed which could help reduce communication load of the controller network. The packet dropout problem is also considered in the controller design since it is often encountered in networked control systems. We show that the closed-loop system can be modeled as a switched system with uncertainties and random variables. By resorting to the switched system approach and some stochastic system analysis method, a new sufficient condition is firstly proposed such that the exponential synchronization is guaranteed in the mean-square sense. The controller gains are determined by using the well-known cone complementarity linearization (CCL) algorithm. Finally, a simulation study is performed, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed design algorithm. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implicit Multibody Penalty-BasedDistributed Contact.

PubMed

Xu, Hongyi; Zhao, Yili; Barbic, Jernej

2014-09-01

The penalty method is a simple and popular approach to resolving contact in computer graphics and robotics. Penalty-based contact, however, suffers from stability problems due to the highly variable and unpredictable net stiffness, and this is particularly pronounced in simulations with time-varying distributed geometrically complex contact. We employ semi-implicit integration, exact analytical contact gradients, symbolic Gaussian elimination and a SVD solver to simulate stable penalty-based frictional contact with large, time-varying contact areas, involving many rigid objects and articulated rigid objects in complex conforming contact and self-contact. We also derive implicit proportional-derivative control forces for real-time control of articulated structures with loops. We present challenging contact scenarios such as screwing a hexbolt into a hole, bowls stacked in perfectly conforming configurations, and manipulating many objects using actively controlled articulated mechanisms in real time.

Distributed control topologies for deep space formation flying spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hadaegh, F. Y.; Smith, R. S.

2002-01-01

A formation of satellites flying in deep space can be specified in terms of the relative satellite positions and absolute satellite orientations. The redundancy in the relative position specification generates a family of control topologies with equivalent stability and reference tracking performance, one of which can be implemented without requiring communication between the spacecraft. A relative position design formulation is inherently unobservable, and a methodology for circumventing this problem is presented. Additional redundancy in the control actuation space can be exploited for feed-forward control of the formation centroid's location in space, or for minimization of total fuel consumption.

The Position Control of the Surface Motor with the Poles Distribution of Triangular Lattice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watada, Masaya; Katsuyama, Norikazu; Ebihara, Daiki

Recently, as for the machine tools or industrial robots, high performance, accuracy, etc. are demanded. Generally, when drive of many degrees of freedom is required in the machine tools or industrial robots, it has realized by using two or more motors. For example, two-dimensional positioning stages such as the X-Y plotter or the X-Y stage are enabling the two-dimensional drive by using each one motor in the direction of x, y. In order to use plural motors, these, however, have problems that equipment becomes large and complicate control system. From such problems, the Surface Motor (SFM) that can drive two directions by only one motor is researched. Authors have proposed SFM that considered wide range movement and the application to a curved surface. In this paper, the characteristics of the micro step drive by the open loop control are showed. Introduction of closed loop control for highly accurate positioning, moreover, is examined. The drive characteristics by each control are compared.

Modelling and control system of multi motor conveyor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovalchuk, M. S.; Baburin, S. V.

2018-03-01

The paper deals with the actual problem of developing the mathematical model of electromechanical system: conveyor – multimotor electric drive with a frequency converter, with the implementation in Simulink/MatLab, which allows one to perform studies of conveyor operation modes, taking into account the specifics of the mechanism with different electric drives control algorithms. The authors designed the mathematical models of the conveyor and its control system that provides increased uniformity of load distribution between drive motors and restriction of dynamic loads on the belt (over-regulation until 15%).

Estimation and Control of Distributed Models for Certain Elastic Systems Arising in Large Space Structures.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-30

igennfy by ""aU numiir,) PIAL GROUP Sue. Go. RCI (Cm, inve o owuera Ineeemerv 4R an~ b-, bloca number) The goal of this research was to study...estimation and control of elastic systems compoited of beams and plates. Specifically, the research con- sidered the problem of lcating the optimal placement...estimation and control of elastic systems com- posed of beams and plates. This general goal has served as a guide for our research over the last several

Strict integrity control of biomedical images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coatrieux, Gouenou; Maitre, Henri; Sankur, Bulent

2001-08-01

The control of the integrity and authentication of medical images is becoming ever more important within the Medical Information Systems (MIS). The intra- and interhospital exchange of images, such as in the PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems), and the ease of copying, manipulation and distribution of images have brought forth the security aspects. In this paper we focus on the role of watermarking for MIS security and address the problem of integrity control of medical images. We discuss alternative schemes to extract verification signatures and compare their tamper detection performance.

Sparse distributed memory overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raugh, Mike

1990-01-01

The Sparse Distributed Memory (SDM) project is investigating the theory and applications of massively parallel computing architecture, called sparse distributed memory, that will support the storage and retrieval of sensory and motor patterns characteristic of autonomous systems. The immediate objectives of the project are centered in studies of the memory itself and in the use of the memory to solve problems in speech, vision, and robotics. Investigation of methods for encoding sensory data is an important part of the research. Examples of NASA missions that may benefit from this work are Space Station, planetary rovers, and solar exploration. Sparse distributed memory offers promising technology for systems that must learn through experience and be capable of adapting to new circumstances, and for operating any large complex system requiring automatic monitoring and control. Sparse distributed memory is a massively parallel architecture motivated by efforts to understand how the human brain works. Sparse distributed memory is an associative memory, able to retrieve information from cues that only partially match patterns stored in the memory. It is able to store long temporal sequences derived from the behavior of a complex system, such as progressive records of the system's sensory data and correlated records of the system's motor controls.

Cooperative crossing of traffic intersections in a distributed robot system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rausch, Alexander; Oswald, Norbert; Levi, Paul

1995-09-01

In traffic scenarios a distributed robot system has to cope with problems like resource sharing, distributed planning, distributed job scheduling, etc. While travelling along a street segment can be done autonomously by each robot, crossing of an intersection as a shared resource forces the robot to coordinate its actions with those of other robots e.g. by means of negotiations. We discuss the issue of cooperation on the design of a robot control architecture. Task and sensor specific cooperation between robots requires the robots' architectures to be interlinked at different hierarchical levels. Inside each level control cycles are running in parallel and provide fast reaction on events. Internal cooperation may occur between cycles of the same level. Altogether the architecture is matrix-shaped and contains abstract control cycles with a certain degree of autonomy. Based upon the internal structure of a cycle we consider the horizontal and vertical interconnection of cycles to form an individual architecture. Thereafter we examine the linkage of several agents and its influence on an interacting architecture. A prototypical implementation of a scenario, which combines aspects of active vision and cooperation, illustrates our approach. Two vision-guided vehicles are faced with line following, intersection recognition and negotiation.

Energy optimization in mobile sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Shengwei

Mobile sensor networks are considered to consist of a network of mobile robots, each of which has computation, communication and sensing capabilities. Energy efficiency is a critical issue in mobile sensor networks, especially when mobility (i.e., locomotion control), routing (i.e., communications) and sensing are unique characteristics of mobile robots for energy optimization. This thesis focuses on the problem of energy optimization of mobile robotic sensor networks, and the research results can be extended to energy optimization of a network of mobile robots that monitors the environment, or a team of mobile robots that transports materials from stations to stations in a manufacturing environment. On the energy optimization of mobile robotic sensor networks, our research focuses on the investigation and development of distributed optimization algorithms to exploit the mobility of robotic sensor nodes for network lifetime maximization. In particular, the thesis studies these five problems: 1. Network-lifetime maximization by controlling positions of networked mobile sensor robots based on local information with distributed optimization algorithms; 2. Lifetime maximization of mobile sensor networks with energy harvesting modules; 3. Lifetime maximization using joint design of mobility and routing; 4. Optimal control for network energy minimization; 5. Network lifetime maximization in mobile visual sensor networks. In addressing the first problem, we consider only the mobility strategies of the robotic relay nodes in a mobile sensor network in order to maximize its network lifetime. By using variable substitutions, the original problem is converted into a convex problem, and a variant of the sub-gradient method for saddle-point computation is developed for solving this problem. An optimal solution is obtained by the method. Computer simulations show that mobility of robotic sensors can significantly prolong the lifetime of the whole robotic sensor network while consuming negligible amount of energy for mobility cost. For the second problem, the problem is extended to accommodate mobile robotic nodes with energy harvesting capability, which makes it a non-convex optimization problem. The non-convexity issue is tackled by using the existing sequential convex approximation method, based on which we propose a novel procedure of modified sequential convex approximation that has fast convergence speed. For the third problem, the proposed procedure is used to solve another challenging non-convex problem, which results in utilizing mobility and routing simultaneously in mobile robotic sensor networks to prolong the network lifetime. The results indicate that joint design of mobility and routing has an edge over other methods in prolonging network lifetime, which is also the justification for the use of mobility in mobile sensor networks for energy efficiency purpose. For the fourth problem, we include the dynamics of the robotic nodes in the problem by modeling the networked robotic system using hybrid systems theory. A novel distributed method for the networked hybrid system is used to solve the optimal moving trajectories for robotic nodes and optimal network links, which are not answered by previous approaches. Finally, the fact that mobility is more effective in prolonging network lifetime for a data-intensive network leads us to apply our methods to study mobile visual sensor networks, which are useful in many applications. We investigate the joint design of mobility, data routing, and encoding power to help improving the video quality while maximizing the network lifetime. This study leads to a better understanding of the role mobility can play in data-intensive surveillance sensor networks.

A decentralized mechanism for improving the functional robustness of distribution networks.

PubMed

Shi, Benyun; Liu, Jiming

2012-10-01

Most real-world distribution systems can be modeled as distribution networks, where a commodity can flow from source nodes to sink nodes through junction nodes. One of the fundamental characteristics of distribution networks is the functional robustness, which reflects the ability of maintaining its function in the face of internal or external disruptions. In view of the fact that most distribution networks do not have any centralized control mechanisms, we consider the problem of how to improve the functional robustness in a decentralized way. To achieve this goal, we study two important problems: 1) how to formally measure the functional robustness, and 2) how to improve the functional robustness of a network based on the local interaction of its nodes. First, we derive a utility function in terms of network entropy to characterize the functional robustness of a distribution network. Second, we propose a decentralized network pricing mechanism, where each node need only communicate with its distribution neighbors by sending a "price" signal to its upstream neighbors and receiving "price" signals from its downstream neighbors. By doing so, each node can determine its outflows by maximizing its own payoff function. Our mathematical analysis shows that the decentralized pricing mechanism can produce results equivalent to those of an ideal centralized maximization with complete information. Finally, to demonstrate the properties of our mechanism, we carry out a case study on the U.S. natural gas distribution network. The results validate the convergence and effectiveness of our mechanism when comparing it with an existing algorithm.

Investigating the Impact of the Year 2000 Problem: Summary of the Committee’s Work in the 105th Congress,

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-02-24

technology. Y2K related failures in business systems will generally cause an en - terprise to lose partial or complete control of critical...generation systems may include steam turbines, diesel en - gines, or hydraulic turbines connected to alternators that gener- ERCOT ;*_... Inter...control centers used to manage sub- transmission and distribution sys- tems. These systems are typically operated using a subset of an en - ergy

Vehicle Routing Problem Using Genetic Algorithm with Multi Compartment on Vegetable Distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurnia, Hari; Gustri Wahyuni, Elyza; Cergas Pembrani, Elang; Gardini, Syifa Tri; Kurnia Aditya, Silfa

2018-03-01

The problem that is often gained by the industries of managing and distributing vegetables is how to distribute vegetables so that the quality of the vegetables can be maintained properly. The problems encountered include optimal route selection and little travel time or so-called TSP (Traveling Salesman Problem). These problems can be modeled using the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) algorithm with rating ranking, a cross order based crossing, and also order based mutation mutations on selected chromosomes. This study uses limitations using only 20 market points, 2 point warehouse (multi compartment) and 5 vehicles. It is determined that for one distribution, one vehicle can only distribute to 4 market points only from 1 particular warehouse, and also one such vehicle can only accommodate 100 kg capacity.

Pharmacology in space. Part 2. Controlling motion sickness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lathers, C. M.; Charles, J. B.; Bungo, M. W.

1989-01-01

In this second article in the two-part series on pharmacology in space, Claire Lathers and colleagues discuss the pharmacology of drugs used to control motion sickness in space and note that the pharmacology of the 'ideal' agent has yet to be worked out. That motion sickness may impair the pharmacological action of a drug by interfering with its absorption and distribution because of alteration of physiology is a problem unique to pharmacology in space. The authors comment on the problem of designing suitable ground-based studies to evaluate the pharmacological effect of drugs to be used in space and discuss the use of salivary samples collected during space flight to allow pharmacokinetic evaluations necessary for non-invasive clinical drug monitoring.

Printing quality control automation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trapeznikova, O. V.

2018-04-01

One of the most important problems in the concept of standardizing the process of offset printing is the control the quality rating of printing and its automation. To solve the problem, a software has been developed taking into account the specifics of printing system components and the behavior in printing process. In order to characterize the distribution of ink layer on the printed substrate the so-called deviation of the ink layer thickness on the sheet from nominal surface is suggested. The geometric data construction the surface projections of the color gamut bodies allows to visualize the color reproduction gamut of printing systems in brightness ranges and specific color sectors, that provides a qualitative comparison of the system by the reproduction of individual colors in a varying ranges of brightness.

Decentralized learning in Markov games.

PubMed

Vrancx, Peter; Verbeeck, Katja; Nowé, Ann

2008-08-01

Learning automata (LA) were recently shown to be valuable tools for designing multiagent reinforcement learning algorithms. One of the principal contributions of the LA theory is that a set of decentralized independent LA is able to control a finite Markov chain with unknown transition probabilities and rewards. In this paper, we propose to extend this algorithm to Markov games--a straightforward extension of single-agent Markov decision problems to distributed multiagent decision problems. We show that under the same ergodic assumptions of the original theorem, the extended algorithm will converge to a pure equilibrium point between agent policies.

Distributed On-line Monitoring System Based on Modem and Public Phone Net

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Dandan; Zhang, Qiushi; Li, Guiru

In order to solve the monitoring problem of urban sewage disposal, a distributed on-line monitoring system is proposed. By introducing dial-up communication technology based on Modem, the serial communication program can rationally solve the information transmission problem between master station and slave station. The realization of serial communication program is based on the MSComm control of C++ Builder 6.0.The software includes real-time data operation part and history data handling part, which using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 for database, and C++ Builder6.0 for user interface. The monitoring center displays a user interface with alarm information of over-standard data and real-time curve. Practical application shows that the system has successfully accomplished the real-time data acquisition from data gather station, and stored them in the terminal database.

A modular Space Station/Base electrical power system - Requirements and design study.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eliason, J. T.; Adkisson, W. B.

1972-01-01

The requirements and procedures necessary for definition and specification of an electrical power system (EPS) for the future space station are discussed herein. The considered space station EPS consists of a replaceable main power module with self-contained auxiliary power, guidance, control, and communication subsystems. This independent power source may 'plug into' a space station module which has its own electrical distribution, control, power conditioning, and auxiliary power subsystems. Integration problems are discussed, and a transmission system selected with local floor-by-floor power conditioning and distribution in the station module. This technique eliminates the need for an immediate long range decision on the ultimate space base power sources by providing capability for almost any currently considered option.

Study of sandy soil grain-size distribution on its deformation properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antropova, L. B.; Gruzin, A. V.; Gildebrandt, M. I.; Malaya, L. D.; Nikulina, V. B.

2018-04-01

As a rule, new oil and gas fields' development faces the challenges of providing construction objects with material and mineral resources, for example, medium sand soil for buildings and facilities footings of the technological infrastructure under construction. This problem solution seems to lie in a rational usage of the existing environmental resources, soils included. The study was made of a medium sand soil grain-size distribution impact on its deformation properties. Based on the performed investigations, a technique for controlling sandy soil deformation properties was developed.

User's Manual for Computer Program ROTOR. [to calculate tilt-rotor aircraft dynamic characteristics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yasue, M.

1974-01-01

A detailed description of a computer program to calculate tilt-rotor aircraft dynamic characteristics is presented. This program consists of two parts: (1) the natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes of the rotor blade and wing are developed from structural data (mass distribution and stiffness distribution); and (2) the frequency response (to gust and blade pitch control inputs) and eigenvalues of the tilt-rotor dynamic system, based on the natural frequencies and mode shapes, are derived. Sample problems are included to assist the user.

Organization of the secure distributed computing based on multi-agent system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khovanskov, Sergey; Rumyantsev, Konstantin; Khovanskova, Vera

2018-04-01

Nowadays developing methods for distributed computing is received much attention. One of the methods of distributed computing is using of multi-agent systems. The organization of distributed computing based on the conventional network computers can experience security threats performed by computational processes. Authors have developed the unified agent algorithm of control system of computing network nodes operation. Network PCs is used as computing nodes. The proposed multi-agent control system for the implementation of distributed computing allows in a short time to organize using of the processing power of computers any existing network to solve large-task by creating a distributed computing. Agents based on a computer network can: configure a distributed computing system; to distribute the computational load among computers operated agents; perform optimization distributed computing system according to the computing power of computers on the network. The number of computers connected to the network can be increased by connecting computers to the new computer system, which leads to an increase in overall processing power. Adding multi-agent system in the central agent increases the security of distributed computing. This organization of the distributed computing system reduces the problem solving time and increase fault tolerance (vitality) of computing processes in a changing computing environment (dynamic change of the number of computers on the network). Developed a multi-agent system detects cases of falsification of the results of a distributed system, which may lead to wrong decisions. In addition, the system checks and corrects wrong results.

Flow distribution in parallel microfluidic networks and its effect on concentration gradient

PubMed Central

Guermonprez, Cyprien; Michelin, Sébastien; Baroud, Charles N.

2015-01-01

The architecture of microfluidic networks can significantly impact the flow distribution within its different branches and thereby influence tracer transport within the network. In this paper, we study the flow rate distribution within a network of parallel microfluidic channels with a single input and single output, using a combination of theoretical modeling and microfluidic experiments. Within the ladder network, the flow rate distribution follows a U-shaped profile, with the highest flow rate occurring in the initial and final branches. The contrast with the central branches is controlled by a single dimensionless parameter, namely, the ratio of hydrodynamic resistance between the distribution channel and the side branches. This contrast in flow rates decreases when the resistance of the side branches increases relative to the resistance of the distribution channel. When the inlet flow is composed of two parallel streams, one of which transporting a diffusing species, a concentration variation is produced within the side branches of the network. The shape of this concentration gradient is fully determined by two dimensionless parameters: the ratio of resistances, which determines the flow rate distribution, and the Péclet number, which characterizes the relative speed of diffusion and advection. Depending on the values of these two control parameters, different distribution profiles can be obtained ranging from a flat profile to a step distribution of solute, with well-distributed gradients between these two limits. Our experimental results are in agreement with our numerical model predictions, based on a simplified 2D advection-diffusion problem. Finally, two possible applications of this work are presented: the first one combines the present design with self-digitization principle to encapsulate the controlled concentration in nanoliter chambers, while the second one extends the present design to create a continuous concentration gradient within an open flow chamber. PMID:26487905

Distributed learning and multi-objectivity in traffic light control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brys, Tim; Pham, Tong T.; Taylor, Matthew E.

2014-01-01

Traffic jams and suboptimal traffic flows are ubiquitous in modern societies, and they create enormous economic losses each year. Delays at traffic lights alone account for roughly 10% of all delays in US traffic. As most traffic light scheduling systems currently in use are static, set up by human experts rather than being adaptive, the interest in machine learning approaches to this problem has increased in recent years. Reinforcement learning (RL) approaches are often used in these studies, as they require little pre-existing knowledge about traffic flows. Distributed constraint optimisation approaches (DCOP) have also been shown to be successful, but are limited to cases where the traffic flows are known. The distributed coordination of exploration and exploitation (DCEE) framework was recently proposed to introduce learning in the DCOP framework. In this paper, we present a study of DCEE and RL techniques in a complex simulator, illustrating the particular advantages of each, comparing them against standard isolated traffic actuated signals. We analyse how learning and coordination behave under different traffic conditions, and discuss the multi-objective nature of the problem. Finally we evaluate several alternative reward signals in the best performing approach, some of these taking advantage of the correlation between the problem-inherent objectives to improve performance.

Intelligent and robust optimization frameworks for smart grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhansri, Naren Reddy

A smart grid implies a cyberspace real-time distributed power control system to optimally deliver electricity based on varying consumer characteristics. Although smart grids solve many of the contemporary problems, they give rise to new control and optimization problems with the growing role of renewable energy sources such as wind or solar energy. Under highly dynamic nature of distributed power generation and the varying consumer demand and cost requirements, the total power output of the grid should be controlled such that the load demand is met by giving a higher priority to renewable energy sources. Hence, the power generated from renewable energy sources should be optimized while minimizing the generation from non renewable energy sources. This research develops a demand-based automatic generation control and optimization framework for real-time smart grid operations by integrating conventional and renewable energy sources under varying consumer demand and cost requirements. Focusing on the renewable energy sources, the intelligent and robust control frameworks optimize the power generation by tracking the consumer demand in a closed-loop control framework, yielding superior economic and ecological benefits and circumvent nonlinear model complexities and handles uncertainties for superior real-time operations. The proposed intelligent system framework optimizes the smart grid power generation for maximum economical and ecological benefits under an uncertain renewable wind energy source. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed framework is a viable approach to integrate various energy sources for real-time smart grid implementations. The robust optimization framework results demonstrate the effectiveness of the robust controllers under bounded power plant model uncertainties and exogenous wind input excitation while maximizing economical and ecological performance objectives. Therefore, the proposed framework offers a new worst-case deterministic optimization algorithm for smart grid automatic generation control.

Using CLIPS in a distributed system: The Network Control Center (NCC) expert system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wannemacher, Tom

1990-01-01

This paper describes an intelligent troubleshooting system for the Help Desk domain. It was developed on an IBM-compatible 80286 PC using Microsoft C and CLIPS and an AT&T 3B2 minicomputer using the UNIFY database and a combination of shell script, C programs and SQL queries. The two computers are linked by a lan. The functions of this system are to help non-technical NCC personnel handle trouble calls, to keep a log of problem calls with complete, concise information, and to keep a historical database of problems. The database helps identify hardware and software problem areas and provides a source of new rules for the troubleshooting knowledge base.

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

Hao, He; Sun, Yannan; Carroll, Thomas E.

We propose a coordination algorithm for cooperative power allocation among a collection of commercial buildings within a campus. We introduced thermal and power models of a typical commercial building Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, and utilize model predictive control to characterize their power flexibility. The power allocation problem is formulated as a cooperative game using the Nash Bargaining Solution (NBS) concept, in which buildings collectively maximize the product of their utilities subject to their local flexibility constraints and a total power limit set by the campus coordinator. To solve the optimal allocation problem, a distributed protocol is designedmore » using dual decomposition of the Nash bargaining problem. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed allocation method« less

Optimal Operation and Management for Smart Grid Subsumed High Penetration of Renewable Energy, Electric Vehicle, and Battery Energy Storage System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shigenobu, Ryuto; Noorzad, Ahmad Samim; Muarapaz, Cirio; Yona, Atsushi; Senjyu, Tomonobu

2016-04-01

Distributed generators (DG) and renewable energy sources have been attracting special attention in distribution systems in all over the world. Renewable energies, such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine generators are considered as green energy. However, a large amount of DG penetration causes voltage deviation beyond the statutory range and reverse power flow at interconnection points in the distribution system. If excessive voltage deviation occurs, consumer's electric devices might break and reverse power flow will also has a negative impact on the transmission system. Thus, mass interconnections of DGs has an adverse effect on both of the utility and the customer. Therefore, reactive power control method is proposed previous research by using inverters attached DGs for prevent voltage deviations. Moreover, battery energy storage system (BESS) is also proposed for resolve reverse power flow. In addition, it is possible to supply high quality power for managing DGs and BESSs. Therefore, this paper proposes a method to maintain voltage, active power, and reactive power flow at interconnection points by using cooperative controlled of PVs, house BESSs, EVs, large BESSs, and existing voltage control devices. This paper not only protect distribution system, but also attain distribution loss reduction and effectivity management of control devices. Therefore mentioned control objectives are formulated as an optimization problem that is solved by using the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. Modified scheduling method is proposed in order to improve convergence probability of scheduling scheme. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by case studies results and by using numerical simulations in MATLAB®.

The Military Theater Distribution Network Design Problem

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-26

The Military Theater Distribution Network Design Problem THESIS MARCH 2015 Robert R. Craig, MAJ, USA AFIT-ENS-MS-15-M-137 DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE...subject to copyright protection in the United States. AFIT-ENS-MS-15-M-137 THE MILITARY THEATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK DESIGN PROBLEM THESIS Presented...B.S., M.S. MAJ, USA MARCH 2015 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED. AFIT-ENS-MS-15-M-137 THE MILITARY THEATER

Tuning Monotonic Basin Hopping: Improving the Efficiency of Stochastic Search as Applied to Low-Thrust Trajectory Optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Englander, Jacob A.; Englander, Arnold C.

2014-01-01

Trajectory optimization methods using monotonic basin hopping (MBH) have become well developed during the past decade [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. An essential component of MBH is a controlled random search through the multi-dimensional space of possible solutions. Historically, the randomness has been generated by drawing random variable (RV)s from a uniform probability distribution. Here, we investigate the generating the randomness by drawing the RVs from Cauchy and Pareto distributions, chosen because of their characteristic long tails. We demonstrate that using Cauchy distributions (as first suggested by J. Englander [3, 6]) significantly improves monotonic basin hopping (MBH) performance, and that Pareto distributions provide even greater improvements. Improved performance is defined in terms of efficiency and robustness. Efficiency is finding better solutions in less time. Robustness is efficiency that is undiminished by (a) the boundary conditions and internal constraints of the optimization problem being solved, and (b) by variations in the parameters of the probability distribution. Robustness is important for achieving performance improvements that are not problem specific. In this work we show that the performance improvements are the result of how these long-tailed distributions enable MBH to search the solution space faster and more thoroughly. In developing this explanation, we use the concepts of sub-diffusive, normally-diffusive, and super-diffusive random walks (RWs) originally developed in the field of statistical physics.

Intelligent Planning and Scheduling for Controlled Life Support Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leon, V. Jorge

1996-01-01

Planning in Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) requires special look ahead capabilities due to the complex and long-term dynamic behavior of biological systems. This project characterizes the behavior of CELSS, identifies the requirements of intelligent planning systems for CELSS, proposes the decomposition of the planning task into short-term and long-term planning, and studies the crop scheduling problem as an initial approach to long-term planning. CELSS is studied in the realm of Chaos. The amount of biomass in the system is modeled using a bounded quadratic iterator. The results suggests that closed ecological systems can exhibit periodic behavior when imposed external or artificial control. The main characteristics of CELSS from the planning and scheduling perspective are discussed and requirements for planning systems are given. Crop scheduling problem is identified as an important component of the required long-term lookahead capabilities of a CELSS planner. The main characteristics of crop scheduling are described and a model is proposed to represent the problem. A surrogate measure of the probability of survival is developed. The measure reflects the absolute deviation of the vital reservoir levels from their nominal values. The solution space is generated using a probability distribution which captures both knowledge about the system and the current state of affairs at each decision epoch. This probability distribution is used in the context of an evolution paradigm. The concepts developed serve as the basis for the development of a simple crop scheduling tool which is used to demonstrate its usefulness in the design and operation of CELSS.

An intelligent emissions controller for fuel lean gas reburn in coal-fired power plants.

PubMed

Reifman, J; Feldman, E E; Wei, T Y; Glickert, R W

2000-02-01

The application of artificial intelligence techniques for performance optimization of the fuel lean gas reburn (FLGR) system is investigated. A multilayer, feedforward artificial neural network is applied to model static nonlinear relationships between the distribution of injected natural gas into the upper region of the furnace of a coal-fired boiler and the corresponding oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions exiting the furnace. Based on this model, optimal distributions of injected gas are determined such that the largest NOx reduction is achieved for each value of total injected gas. This optimization is accomplished through the development of a new optimization method based on neural networks. This new optimal control algorithm, which can be used as an alternative generic tool for solving multidimensional nonlinear constrained optimization problems, is described and its results are successfully validated against an off-the-shelf tool for solving mathematical programming problems. Encouraging results obtained using plant data from one of Commonwealth Edison's coal-fired electric power plants demonstrate the feasibility of the overall approach. Preliminary results show that the use of this intelligent controller will also enable the determination of the most cost-effective operating conditions of the FLGR system by considering, along with the optimal distribution of the injected gas, the cost differential between natural gas and coal and the open-market price of NOx emission credits. Further study, however, is necessary, including the construction of a more comprehensive database, needed to develop high-fidelity process models and to add carbon monoxide (CO) emissions to the model of the gas reburn system.

Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of Supersonic Aircraft Configurations via an Adjoint Formulation on Parallel Computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reuther, James; Alonso, Juan Jose; Rimlinger, Mark J.; Jameson, Antony

1996-01-01

This work describes the application of a control theory-based aerodynamic shape optimization method to the problem of supersonic aircraft design. The design process is greatly accelerated through the use of both control theory and a parallel implementation on distributed memory computers. Control theory is employed to derive the adjoint differential equations whose solution allows for the evaluation of design gradient information at a fraction of the computational cost required by previous design methods. The resulting problem is then implemented on parallel distributed memory architectures using a domain decomposition approach, an optimized communication schedule, and the MPI (Message Passing Interface) Standard for portability and efficiency. The final result achieves very rapid aerodynamic design based on higher order computational fluid dynamics methods (CFD). In our earlier studies, the serial implementation of this design method was shown to be effective for the optimization of airfoils, wings, wing-bodies, and complex aircraft configurations using both the potential equation and the Euler equations. In our most recent paper, the Euler method was extended to treat complete aircraft configurations via a new multiblock implementation. Furthermore, during the same conference, we also presented preliminary results demonstrating that this basic methodology could be ported to distributed memory parallel computing architectures. In this paper, our concern will be to demonstrate that the combined power of these new technologies can be used routinely in an industrial design environment by applying it to the case study of the design of typical supersonic transport configurations. A particular difficulty of this test case is posed by the propulsion/airframe integration.

Failure probability under parameter uncertainty.

PubMed

Gerrard, R; Tsanakas, A

2011-05-01

In many problems of risk analysis, failure is equivalent to the event of a random risk factor exceeding a given threshold. Failure probabilities can be controlled if a decisionmaker is able to set the threshold at an appropriate level. This abstract situation applies, for example, to environmental risks with infrastructure controls; to supply chain risks with inventory controls; and to insurance solvency risks with capital controls. However, uncertainty around the distribution of the risk factor implies that parameter error will be present and the measures taken to control failure probabilities may not be effective. We show that parameter uncertainty increases the probability (understood as expected frequency) of failures. For a large class of loss distributions, arising from increasing transformations of location-scale families (including the log-normal, Weibull, and Pareto distributions), the article shows that failure probabilities can be exactly calculated, as they are independent of the true (but unknown) parameters. Hence it is possible to obtain an explicit measure of the effect of parameter uncertainty on failure probability. Failure probability can be controlled in two different ways: (1) by reducing the nominal required failure probability, depending on the size of the available data set, and (2) by modifying of the distribution itself that is used to calculate the risk control. Approach (1) corresponds to a frequentist/regulatory view of probability, while approach (2) is consistent with a Bayesian/personalistic view. We furthermore show that the two approaches are consistent in achieving the required failure probability. Finally, we briefly discuss the effects of data pooling and its systemic risk implications. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

Investigation of Spatial Control Strategies for AHWR: A Comparative Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munje, R. K.; Patre, B. M.; Londhe, P. S.; Tiwari, A. P.; Shimjith, S. R.

2016-04-01

Large nuclear reactors such as the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), are susceptible to xenon-induced spatial oscillations in which, though the core average power remains constant, the power distribution may be nonuniform as well as it might experience unstable oscillations. Such oscillations influence the operation and control philosophy and could also drive safety issues. Therefore, large nuclear reactors are equipped with spatial controllers which maintain the core power distribution close to desired distribution during all the facets of operation and following disturbances. In this paper, the case of AHWR has been considered, for which a number of different types of spatial controllers have been designed during the last decade. Some of these designs are based on output feedback while the others are based on state feedback. Also, both the conventional and modern control concepts, such as linear quadratic regulator theory, sliding mode control, multirate output feedback control and fuzzy control have been investigated. The designs of these different controllers for the AHWR have been carried out using a 90th order model, which is highly stiff. Hence, direct application of design methods suffers with numerical ill-conditioning. Singular perturbation and time-scale methods have been applied whereby the design problem for the original higher order system is decoupled into two or three subproblems, each of which is solved separately. Nonlinear simulations have been carried out to obtain the transient responses of the system with different types of controllers and their performances have been compared.

Bounded and Unbounded Knowledge: Teaching and Learning in a Web 2 World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagy, Judy; Bigum, Chris

2007-01-01

In the recent past, the proliferation of digitally available content heralded the beginning of serious problems for the business models of publishers. The ease with which content can be accessed, copied and distributed disrupts the control of those whose role has been to manage and profit from the intellectual property rights of content producers.…

Thermostatic Radiator Valve Evaluation

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

Dentz, Jordan; Ansanelli, Eric

2015-01-01

A large stock of multifamily buildings in the Northeast and Midwest are heated by steam distribution systems. Losses from these systems are typically high and a significant number of apartments are overheated much of the time. Thermostatically controlled radiator valves (TRVs) are one potential strategy to combat this problem, but have not been widely accepted by the residential retrofit market.

Optimum target sizes for a sequential sawing process

Treesearch

H. Dean Claxton

1972-01-01

A method for solving a class of problems in random sequential processes is presented. Sawing cedar pencil blocks is used to illustrate the method. Equations are developed for the function representing loss from improper sizing of blocks. A weighted over-all distribution for sawing and drying operations is developed and graphed. Loss minimizing changes in the control...

A Matlab-based finite-difference solver for the Poisson problem with mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reimer, Ashton S.; Cheviakov, Alexei F.

2013-03-01

A Matlab-based finite-difference numerical solver for the Poisson equation for a rectangle and a disk in two dimensions, and a spherical domain in three dimensions, is presented. The solver is optimized for handling an arbitrary combination of Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, and allows for full user control of mesh refinement. The solver routines utilize effective and parallelized sparse vector and matrix operations. Computations exhibit high speeds, numerical stability with respect to mesh size and mesh refinement, and acceptable error values even on desktop computers. Catalogue identifier: AENQ_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AENQ_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU General Public License v3.0 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 102793 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 369378 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Matlab 2010a. Computer: PC, Macintosh. Operating system: Windows, OSX, Linux. RAM: 8 GB (8, 589, 934, 592 bytes) Classification: 4.3. Nature of problem: To solve the Poisson problem in a standard domain with “patchy surface”-type (strongly heterogeneous) Neumann/Dirichlet boundary conditions. Solution method: Finite difference with mesh refinement. Restrictions: Spherical domain in 3D; rectangular domain or a disk in 2D. Unusual features: Choice between mldivide/iterative solver for the solution of large system of linear algebraic equations that arise. Full user control of Neumann/Dirichlet boundary conditions and mesh refinement. Running time: Depending on the number of points taken and the geometry of the domain, the routine may take from less than a second to several hours to execute.

Development of an intelligent diagnostic system for reusable rocket engine control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anex, R. P.; Russell, J. R.; Guo, T.-H.

1991-01-01

A description of an intelligent diagnostic system for the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) is presented. This system is suitable for incorporation in an intelligent controller which implements accommodating closed-loop control to extend engine life and maximize available performance. The diagnostic system architecture is a modular, hierarchical, blackboard system which is particularly well suited for real-time implementation of a system which must be repeatedly updated and extended. The diagnostic problem is formulated as a hierarchical classification problem in which the failure hypotheses are represented in terms of predefined data patterns. The diagnostic expert system incorporates techniques for priority-based diagnostics, the combination of analytical and heuristic knowledge for diagnosis, integration of different AI systems, and the implementation of hierarchical distributed systems. A prototype reusable rocket engine diagnostic system (ReREDS) has been implemented. The prototype user interface and diagnostic performance using SSME test data are described.

Computationally efficient control allocation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Durham, Wayne (Inventor)

2001-01-01

A computationally efficient method for calculating near-optimal solutions to the three-objective, linear control allocation problem is disclosed. The control allocation problem is that of distributing the effort of redundant control effectors to achieve some desired set of objectives. The problem is deemed linear if control effectiveness is affine with respect to the individual control effectors. The optimal solution is that which exploits the collective maximum capability of the effectors within their individual physical limits. Computational efficiency is measured by the number of floating-point operations required for solution. The method presented returned optimal solutions in more than 90% of the cases examined; non-optimal solutions returned by the method were typically much less than 1% different from optimal and the errors tended to become smaller than 0.01% as the number of controls was increased. The magnitude of the errors returned by the present method was much smaller than those that resulted from either pseudo inverse or cascaded generalized inverse solutions. The computational complexity of the method presented varied linearly with increasing numbers of controls; the number of required floating point operations increased from 5.5 i, to seven times faster than did the minimum-norm solution (the pseudoinverse), and at about the same rate as did the cascaded generalized inverse solution. The computational requirements of the method presented were much better than that of previously described facet-searching methods which increase in proportion to the square of the number of controls.

Detecting defective electrical components in heterogeneous infra-red images by spatial control charts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamshidieini, Bahman; Fazaee, Reza

2016-05-01

Distribution network components connect machines and other loads to electrical sources. If resistance or current of any component is more than specified range, its temperature may exceed the operational limit which can cause major problems. Therefore, these defects should be found and eliminated according to their severity. Although infra-red cameras have been used for inspection of electrical components, maintenance prioritization of distribution cubicles is mostly based on personal perception and lack of training data prevents engineers from developing image processing methods. New research on the spatial control chart encouraged us to use statistical approaches instead of the pattern recognition for the image processing. In the present study, a new scanning pattern which can tolerate heavy autocorrelation among adjacent pixels within infra-red image was developed and for the first time combination of kernel smoothing, spatial control charts and local robust regression were used for finding defects within heterogeneous infra-red images of old distribution cubicles. This method does not need training data and this advantage is crucially important when the training data is not available.

Data-driven adaptive fractional order PI control for PMSM servo system with measurement noise and data dropouts.

PubMed

Xie, Yuanlong; Tang, Xiaoqi; Song, Bao; Zhou, Xiangdong; Guo, Yixuan

2018-04-01

In this paper, data-driven adaptive fractional order proportional integral (AFOPI) control is presented for permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) servo system perturbed by measurement noise and data dropouts. The proposed method directly exploits the closed-loop process data for the AFOPI controller design under unknown noise distribution and data missing probability. Firstly, the proposed method constructs the AFOPI controller tuning problem as a parameter identification problem using the modified l p norm virtual reference feedback tuning (VRFT). Then, iteratively reweighted least squares is integrated into the l p norm VRFT to give a consistent compensation solution for the AFOPI controller. The measurement noise and data dropouts are estimated and eliminated by feedback compensation periodically, so that the AFOPI controller is updated online to accommodate the time-varying operating conditions. Moreover, the convergence and stability are guaranteed by mathematical analysis. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated both on simulations and experiments implemented on a practical PMSM servo system. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A distributed finite-element modeling and control approach for large flexible structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, K. D.

1989-01-01

An unconventional framework is described for the design of decentralized controllers for large flexible structures. In contrast to conventional control system design practice which begins with a model of the open loop plant, the controlled plant is assembled from controlled components in which the modeling phase and the control design phase are integrated at the component level. The developed framework is called controlled component synthesis (CCS) to reflect that it is motivated by the well developed Component Mode Synthesis (CMS) methods which were demonstrated to be effective for solving large complex structural analysis problems for almost three decades. The design philosophy behind CCS is also closely related to that of the subsystem decomposition approach in decentralized control.

Active control of transmission loss with smart foams.

PubMed

Kundu, Abhishek; Berry, Alain

2011-02-01

Smart foams combine the complimentary advantages of passive foam material and spatially distributed piezoelectric actuator embedded in it for active noise control applications. In this paper, the problem of improving the transmission loss of smart foams using active control strategies has been investigated both numerically and experimentally inside a waveguide under the condition of plane wave propagation. The finite element simulation of a coupled noise control system has been undertaken with three different smart foam designs and their effectiveness in cancelling the transmitted wave downstream of the smart foam have been studied. The simulation results provide insight into the physical phenomenon of active noise cancellation and explain the impact of the smart foam designs on the optimal active control results. Experimental studies aimed at implementing the real-time control for transmission loss optimization have been performed using the classical single input/single output filtered-reference least mean squares algorithm. The active control results with broadband and single frequency primary source inputs demonstrate a good improvement in the transmission loss of the smart foams. The study gives a comparative description of the transmission and absorption control problems in light of the modification of the vibration response of the piezoelectric actuator under active control.

Research on allocation efficiency of the daisy chain allocation algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Jingping; Zhang, Weiguo

2013-03-01

With the improvement of the aircraft performance in reliability, maneuverability and survivability, the number of the control effectors increases a lot. How to distribute the three-axis moments into the control surfaces reasonably becomes an important problem. Daisy chain method is simple and easy to be carried out in the design of the allocation system. But it can not solve the allocation problem for entire attainable moment subset. For the lateral-directional allocation problem, the allocation efficiency of the daisy chain can be directly measured by the area of its subset of attainable moments. Because of the non-linear allocation characteristic, the subset of attainable moments of daisy-chain method is a complex non-convex polygon, and it is difficult to solve directly. By analyzing the two-dimensional allocation problems with a "micro-element" idea, a numerical calculation algorithm is proposed to compute the area of the non-convex polygon. In order to improve the allocation efficiency of the algorithm, a genetic algorithm with the allocation efficiency chosen as the fitness function is proposed to find the best pseudo-inverse matrix.

On Per-Phase Topology Control and Switching in Emerging Distribution Systems

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

Ding, Fei; Mousavi, Mirrasoul J.

This paper presents a new concept and approach for topology control and switching in distribution systems by extending the traditional circuit switching to laterals and single-phase loads. Voltage unbalance and other key performance indicators including voltage magnitudes, line loading, and energy losses are used to characterize and demonstrate the technical value of optimizing system topology on a per-phase basis in response to feeder conditions. The near-optimal per-phase topology control is defined as a series of hierarchical optimization problems. The proposed approach is respectively applied to IEEE 13-bus and 123-bus test systems for demonstration, which included the impact of integrating electricmore » vehicles (EVs) in the test circuit. It is concluded that the proposed approach can be effectively leveraged to improve voltage profiles with electric vehicles, the extent of which depends upon the performance of the base case without EVs.« less

Distributed Adaptive Neural Network Output Tracking of Leader-Following High-Order Stochastic Nonlinear Multiagent Systems With Unknown Dead-Zone Input.

PubMed

Hua, Changchun; Zhang, Liuliu; Guan, Xinping

2017-01-01

This paper studies the problem of distributed output tracking consensus control for a class of high-order stochastic nonlinear multiagent systems with unknown nonlinear dead-zone under a directed graph topology. The adaptive neural networks are used to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions and a new inequality is used to deal with the completely unknown dead-zone input. Then, we design the controllers based on backstepping method and the dynamic surface control technique. It is strictly proved that the resulting closed-loop system is stable in probability in the sense of semiglobally uniform ultimate boundedness and the tracking errors between the leader and the followers approach to a small residual set based on Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, two simulation examples are presented to show the effectiveness and the advantages of the proposed techniques.

Decentralized DC Microgrid Monitoring and Optimization via Primary Control Perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angjelichinoski, Marko; Scaglione, Anna; Popovski, Petar; Stefanovic, Cedomir

2018-06-01

We treat the emerging power systems with direct current (DC) MicroGrids, characterized with high penetration of power electronic converters. We rely on the power electronics to propose a decentralized solution for autonomous learning of and adaptation to the operating conditions of the DC Mirogrids; the goal is to eliminate the need to rely on an external communication system for such purpose. The solution works within the primary droop control loops and uses only local bus voltage measurements. Each controller is able to estimate (i) the generation capacities of power sources, (ii) the load demands, and (iii) the conductances of the distribution lines. To define a well-conditioned estimation problem, we employ decentralized strategy where the primary droop controllers temporarily switch between operating points in a coordinated manner, following amplitude-modulated training sequences. We study the use of the estimator in a decentralized solution of the Optimal Economic Dispatch problem. The evaluations confirm the usefulness of the proposed solution for autonomous MicroGrid operation.

Fast-Response electric drives of Mechanical Engineering objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doykina, L. A.; Bukhanov, S. S.; Gryzlov, A. A.

2018-03-01

The article gives a solution to the problem of increasing the speed in the electrical drives of machine-building enterprises due to the application of a structure with ISC control. In this case, it is possible to get rid of the speed sensors. It is noted that in this case no circulating pulsations are applied to the input of the control system, caused by a non-identical interface between the sensor and the shaft of the operating mechanism. For detailed modeling, a mathematical model of an electric drive with distributed parameters was proposed. The calculation of such system was carried out by the finite element method. Taking into account the distributed characteristic of the system parameters allowed one to take into account the discrete nature of the electric machine’s work. The simulation results showed that the response time in the control circuit is estimated at a time constant of 0.0015, which is about twice as fast as in traditional vector control schemes.

Fuzzy adaptive iterative learning coordination control of second-order multi-agent systems with imprecise communication topology structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jiaxi; Li, Junmin

2018-02-01

In this paper, we investigate the perfect consensus problem for second-order linearly parameterised multi-agent systems (MAS) with imprecise communication topology structure. Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy models are presented to describe the imprecise communication topology structure of leader-following MAS, and a distributed adaptive iterative learning control protocol is proposed with the dynamic of leader unknown to any of the agent. The proposed protocol guarantees that the follower agents can track the leader perfectly on [0,T] for the consensus problem. Under alignment condition, a sufficient condition of the consensus for closed-loop MAS is given based on Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, a numerical example and a multiple pendulum system are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

NASA B737 flight test results of the Total Energy Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bruce, K. R.; Kelly, J. R.; Person, L. H., Jr.

1986-01-01

The Total Energy Control System was developed and tested in September 1985 during five flights on the NASA Langley Transport System Research Vehicle, a modified Boeing B737. In the system, the total kinetic and potential energy of the aircraft is controlled by the throttles, and the energy distribution is controlled by the elevator. A common inner loop is used for each mode of the autopilot, and all the control functions of a conventional pitch autopilot and autothrottle are integrated into a single generalized control concept, providing decoupled flightpath and maneuver control, and a coordinated throttle response for all maneuvers. No instabilities or design problems requiring gain adjustment in flight were found, and comparison with simulation results showed excellent path tracking.

Summary of Airfoil Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abbott, Ira H; Von Doenhoff, Albert E; Stivers, Louis, Jr

1945-01-01

The historical development of NACA airfoils is briefly reviewed. New data are presented that permit the rapid calculation of the approximate pressure distributions for the older NACA four-digit and five-digit airfoils by the same methods used for the NACA 6-series airfoils. The general methods used to derive the basic thickness forms for NACA 6 and 7-series airfoils together with their corresponding pressure distributions are presented. Detail data necessary for the application of the airfoils to wing design are presented in supplementary figures placed at the end of the paper. The report includes an analysis of the lift, drag, pitching-moment, and critical-speed characteristics of the airfoils, together with a discussion of the effects of surface conditions. Available data on high-lift devices are presented. Problems associated with lateral-control devices, leading-edge air intakes, and interference are briefly discussed, together with aerodynamic problems of application. (author)

Nondestructive Integrity Evaluation of PC Pile Using Wigner-Ville Distribution Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ni, Sheng-Huoo; Lo, Kuo-Feng; Huang, Yan-Hong

Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques have been used for years to provide a quality control of the construction for both drilled shafts and driven concrete piles. This trace is typically made up of transient pulses reflected from structural features of the pile or changes in its surrounding environment. It is often analyzed in conjunction with the spectral response, mobility curve, arrival time, etc. The Wigner-Ville Distribution is a new numerical analysis tool for signal process technique in the time-frequency domain and it can offer assistance and enhance signal characteristics for better resolution both easily and quickly. In this study, five single pre-cast concrete piles have been tested and evaluated by both sonic echo method and Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD). Furthermore, two difficult problems in nondestructive evaluation problems are discussed and solved: the first one is with a pile with slight defect, whose necking area percentage is less than 10%, and the other is a pile with multiple defects. The results show that WVD can not only recognize the characteristics easily, but also locate the defects more clearly than the traditional pile integrity testing method.

Coordinated microgrid investment and planning process considering the system operator

DOE PAGES

Armendáriz, M.; Heleno, M.; Cardoso, G.; ...

2017-05-12

Nowadays, a significant number of distribution systems are facing problems to accommodate more photovoltaic (PV) capacity, namely due to the overvoltages during the daylight periods. This has an impact on the private investments in distributed energy resources (DER), since it occurs exactly when the PV prices are becoming attractive, and the opportunity to an energy transition based on solar technologies is being wasted. In particular, this limitation of the networks is a barrier for larger consumers, such as commercial and public buildings, aiming at investing in PV capacity and start operating as microgrids connected to the MV network. To addressmore » this challenge, this paper presents a coordinated approach to the microgrid investment and planning problem, where the system operator and the microgrid owner collaborate to improve the voltage control capabilities of the distribution network, increasing the PV potential. The results prove that this collaboration has the benefit of increasing the value of the microgrid investments while improving the quality of service of the system and it should be considered in the future regulatory framework.« less

Optimization of design and operating parameters of a space-based optical-electronic system with a distributed aperture.

PubMed

Tcherniavski, Iouri; Kahrizi, Mojtaba

2008-11-20

Using a gradient optimization method with objective functions formulated in terms of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) calculated at given values of the prescribed spatial ground resolution, optimization problems of geometrical parameters of a distributed optical system and a charge-coupled device of a space-based optical-electronic system are solved for samples of the optical systems consisting of two and three annular subapertures. The modulation transfer function (MTF) of the distributed aperture is expressed in terms of an average MTF taking residual image alignment (IA) and optical path difference (OPD) errors into account. The results show optimal solutions of the optimization problems depending on diverse variable parameters. The information on the magnitudes of the SNR can be used to determine the number of the subapertures and their sizes, while the information on the SNR decrease depending on the IA and OPD errors can be useful in design of a beam combination control system to produce the necessary requirements to its accuracy on the basis of the permissible deterioration in the image quality.

Coordinated microgrid investment and planning process considering the system operator

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

Armendáriz, M.; Heleno, M.; Cardoso, G.

Nowadays, a significant number of distribution systems are facing problems to accommodate more photovoltaic (PV) capacity, namely due to the overvoltages during the daylight periods. This has an impact on the private investments in distributed energy resources (DER), since it occurs exactly when the PV prices are becoming attractive, and the opportunity to an energy transition based on solar technologies is being wasted. In particular, this limitation of the networks is a barrier for larger consumers, such as commercial and public buildings, aiming at investing in PV capacity and start operating as microgrids connected to the MV network. To addressmore » this challenge, this paper presents a coordinated approach to the microgrid investment and planning problem, where the system operator and the microgrid owner collaborate to improve the voltage control capabilities of the distribution network, increasing the PV potential. The results prove that this collaboration has the benefit of increasing the value of the microgrid investments while improving the quality of service of the system and it should be considered in the future regulatory framework.« less

Connecting Core Percolation and Controllability of Complex Networks

PubMed Central

Jia, Tao; Pósfai, Márton

2014-01-01

Core percolation is a fundamental structural transition in complex networks related to a wide range of important problems. Recent advances have provided us an analytical framework of core percolation in uncorrelated random networks with arbitrary degree distributions. Here we apply the tools in analysis of network controllability. We confirm analytically that the emergence of the bifurcation in control coincides with the formation of the core and the structure of the core determines the control mode of the network. We also derive the analytical expression related to the controllability robustness by extending the deduction in core percolation. These findings help us better understand the interesting interplay between the structural and dynamical properties of complex networks. PMID:24946797

Filtered Push: Annotating Distributed Data for Quality Control and Fitness for Use Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morris, P. J.; Kelly, M. A.; Lowery, D. B.; Macklin, J. A.; Morris, R. A.; Tremonte, D.; Wang, Z.

2009-12-01

The single greatest problem with the federation of scientific data is the assessment of the quality and validity of the aggregated data in the context of particular research problems, that is, its fitness for use. There are three critical data quality issues in networks of distributed natural science collections data, as in all scientific data: identifying and correcting errors, maintaining currency, and assessing fitness for use. To this end, we have designed and implemented a prototype network in the domain of natural science collections. This prototype is built over the open source Map-Reduce platform Hadoop with a network client in the open source collections management system Specify 6. We call this network “Filtered Push” as, at its core, annotations are pushed from the network edges to relevant authoritative repositories, where humans and software filter the annotations before accepting them as changes to the authoritative data. The Filtered Push software is a domain-neutral framework for originating, distributing, and analyzing record-level annotations. Network participants can subscribe to notifications arising from ontology-based analyses of new annotations or of purpose-built queries against the network's global history of annotations. Quality and fitness for use of distributed natural science collections data can be addressed with Filtered Push software by implementing a network that allows data providers and consumers to define potential errors in data, develop metrics for those errors, specify workflows to analyze distributed data to detect potential errors, and to close the quality management cycle by providing a network architecture to pushing assertions about data quality such as corrections back to the curators of the participating data sets. Quality issues in distributed scientific data have several things in common: (1) Statements about data quality should be regarded as hypotheses about inconsistencies between perhaps several records, data sets, or practices of science. (2) Data quality problems often cannot be detected only from internal statistical correlations or logical analysis, but may need the application of defined workflows that signal illogical output. (3) Changes in scientific theory or practice over time can result in changes of what QC tests should be applied to legacy data. (4) The frequency of some classes of error in a data set may be identifiable without the ability to assert that a particular record is in error. To address these issues requires, as does science itself, framing QC hypotheses against data that may be anywhere and may arise at any time in the future. In short, QC for science data is a never ending process. It must provide for notice to an agent (human or software) that a given dataset supports a hypothesis of inconsistency with a current scientific resource or model, or with potential generalizations of the concepts in a metadata ontology. Like quality control in general, quality control of distributed data is a repeated cyclical process. In implementing a Filtered Push network for quality control, we have a model in which the cost of QC forever is not substantially greater than QC once.

Distributed digital signal processors for multi-body flexible structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Gordon K. F.

1992-01-01

Multi-body flexible structures, such as those currently under investigation in spacecraft design, are large scale (high-order) dimensional systems. Controlling and filtering such structures is a computationally complex problem. This is particularly important when many sensors and actuators are located along the structure and need to be processed in real time. This report summarizes research activity focused on solving the signal processing (that is, information processing) issues of multi-body structures. A distributed architecture is developed in which single loop processors are employed for local filtering and control. By implementing such a philosophy with an embedded controller configuration, a supervising controller may be used to process global data and make global decisions as the local devices are processing local information. A hardware testbed, a position controller system for a servo motor, is employed to illustrate the capabilities of the embedded controller structure. Several filtering and control structures which can be modeled as rational functions can be implemented on the system developed in this research effort. Thus the results of the study provide a support tool for many Control/Structure Interaction (CSI) NASA testbeds such as the Evolutionary model and the nine-bay truss structure.

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

Dall-Anese, Emiliano; Zhao, Changhong; Guggilam, Swaroop

Power networks have to withstand a variety of disturbances that affect system frequency, and the problem is compounded with the increasing integration of intermittent renewable generation. Following a large-signal generation or load disturbance, system frequency is arrested leveraging primary frequency control provided by governor action in synchronous generators. In this work, we propose a framework for distributed energy resources (DERs) deployed in distribution networks to provide (supplemental) primary frequency response. Particularly, we demonstrate how power-frequency droop slopes for individual DERs can be designed so that the distribution feeder presents a guaranteed frequency-regulation characteristic at the feeder head. Furthermore, the droopmore » slopes are engineered such that injections of individual DERs conform to a well-defined fairness objective that does not penalize them for their location on the distribution feeder. Time-domain simulations for an illustrative network composed of a combined transmission network and distribution network with frequency-responsive DERs are provided to validate the approach.« less

Chance-Constrained AC Optimal Power Flow for Distribution Systems With Renewables

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

DallAnese, Emiliano; Baker, Kyri; Summers, Tyler

This paper focuses on distribution systems featuring renewable energy sources (RESs) and energy storage systems, and presents an AC optimal power flow (OPF) approach to optimize system-level performance objectives while coping with uncertainty in both RES generation and loads. The proposed method hinges on a chance-constrained AC OPF formulation where probabilistic constraints are utilized to enforce voltage regulation with prescribed probability. A computationally more affordable convex reformulation is developed by resorting to suitable linear approximations of the AC power-flow equations as well as convex approximations of the chance constraints. The approximate chance constraints provide conservative bounds that hold for arbitrarymore » distributions of the forecasting errors. An adaptive strategy is then obtained by embedding the proposed AC OPF task into a model predictive control framework. Finally, a distributed solver is developed to strategically distribute the solution of the optimization problems across utility and customers.« less

Application of a Modal Approach in Solving the Static Stability Problem for Electric Power Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharov, J. V.

2017-12-01

Application of a modal approach in solving the static stability problem for power systems is examined. It is proposed to use the matrix exponent norm as a generalized transition function of the power system disturbed motion. Based on the concept of a stability radius and the pseudospectrum of Jacobian matrix, the necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of the static margins were determined. The capabilities and advantages of the modal approach in designing centralized or distributed control and the prospects for the analysis of nonlinear oscillations and rendering the dynamic stability are demonstrated.

The current status of occupational health in China

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xueyan; Li, Tao

2010-01-01

Objective This study aimed to summarize the major health problems among Chinese workers, the strategies and measures for occupational hazards control, the network and organizations of occupational health administration, and the achievements and current challenges of occupational health in China. Results The situation of occupational health was found to be still serious in China. Enterprises with occupational hazards were widely distributed, the exposed population and cases of occupational diseases were numerous, and occupational risks were being transferred from the city to the countryside and from developed areas to developing ones. New emerging problems coexisted with traditional occupational hazards. Besides, a lack of occupational health services for migrant workers could be a major problem for a long time. Conclusions It is necessary to improve the fields related to occupational health, such as the supervision and administration of small- and medium-scale enterprises, research into key techniques for the prevention and control of occupational hazards, systems for the diagnosis and reporting of occupational diseases, and the training of health professionals. PMID:21432554

Your money or your life: a new variation on the Heinz Dilemma.

PubMed

Thompson, Richard E

2004-01-01

Millions of Medicare-age Americans are drug dependent, not because of addiction but because of common chronic health problems such as diabetes, heart failure, high blood pressure, and arthritis. Seniors are up in arms because drug company control of distribution and pricing of pharmaceuticals is eating away hard-earned nest eggs. Who cares? Where's the justice?

Sleep Disturbances, Behavioural Problems and Adaptive Skills in Children with Down's Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelmanson, Igor A.

2017-01-01

The study was performed in St. Petersburg in 2015 and comprised 34 children with diagnosed Down's syndrome (DS) aged 9-15 (mean 11) years (17 boys, 17 girls) who attended special schools. Control group was made up of 34 clinically healthy normal intelligence schoolchildren matched for age, sex and geographical distribution. The mothers were…

Resolving the Problem of Aligning Communities of Interest, Data Format Differences, Orthogonal Sensor Views, Intermittency, and Security - DoD Homeland Security Command and Control Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-06-01

provisioning, maintaining and guaranteeing service levels for the shared services ? Although these shared, distributed services lie well within the... shared services that interact with a common object definition for transporting alerts. The system is built on top of a rapid SOA application

Self-Coexistence among IEEE 802.22 Networks: Distributed Allocation of Power and Channel

PubMed Central

Sakin, Sayef Azad; Alamri, Atif; Tran, Nguyen H.

2017-01-01

Ensuring self-coexistence among IEEE 802.22 networks is a challenging problem owing to opportunistic access of incumbent-free radio resources by users in co-located networks. In this study, we propose a fully-distributed non-cooperative approach to ensure self-coexistence in downlink channels of IEEE 802.22 networks. We formulate the self-coexistence problem as a mixed-integer non-linear optimization problem for maximizing the network data rate, which is an NP-hard one. This work explores a sub-optimal solution by dividing the optimization problem into downlink channel allocation and power assignment sub-problems. Considering fairness, quality of service and minimum interference for customer-premises-equipment, we also develop a greedy algorithm for channel allocation and a non-cooperative game-theoretic framework for near-optimal power allocation. The base stations of networks are treated as players in a game, where they try to increase spectrum utilization by controlling power and reaching a Nash equilibrium point. We further develop a utility function for the game to increase the data rate by minimizing the transmission power and, subsequently, the interference from neighboring networks. A theoretical proof of the uniqueness and existence of the Nash equilibrium has been presented. Performance improvements in terms of data-rate with a degree of fairness compared to a cooperative branch-and-bound-based algorithm and a non-cooperative greedy approach have been shown through simulation studies. PMID:29215591

Self-Coexistence among IEEE 802.22 Networks: Distributed Allocation of Power and Channel.

PubMed

Sakin, Sayef Azad; Razzaque, Md Abdur; Hassan, Mohammad Mehedi; Alamri, Atif; Tran, Nguyen H; Fortino, Giancarlo

2017-12-07

Ensuring self-coexistence among IEEE 802.22 networks is a challenging problem owing to opportunistic access of incumbent-free radio resources by users in co-located networks. In this study, we propose a fully-distributed non-cooperative approach to ensure self-coexistence in downlink channels of IEEE 802.22 networks. We formulate the self-coexistence problem as a mixed-integer non-linear optimization problem for maximizing the network data rate, which is an NP-hard one. This work explores a sub-optimal solution by dividing the optimization problem into downlink channel allocation and power assignment sub-problems. Considering fairness, quality of service and minimum interference for customer-premises-equipment, we also develop a greedy algorithm for channel allocation and a non-cooperative game-theoretic framework for near-optimal power allocation. The base stations of networks are treated as players in a game, where they try to increase spectrum utilization by controlling power and reaching a Nash equilibrium point. We further develop a utility function for the game to increase the data rate by minimizing the transmission power and, subsequently, the interference from neighboring networks. A theoretical proof of the uniqueness and existence of the Nash equilibrium has been presented. Performance improvements in terms of data-rate with a degree of fairness compared to a cooperative branch-and-bound-based algorithm and a non-cooperative greedy approach have been shown through simulation studies.

Modeling and control of a self-sensing polymer metal composite actuator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nam, Doan Ngoc Chi; Ahn, Kyoung Kwan

2014-02-01

An ion polymer metal composite (IPMC) is an electro-active polymer (EAP) that bends in response to a small applied electrical field as a result of mobility of cations in the polymer network and vice versa. One drawback in the use of an IPMC is the sensing problem for such a small size actuator. The aim of this paper is to develop a physical model for a self-sensing IPMC actuator and to verify its applicability for practical position control. Firstly, ion dynamics inside a polymer membrane is investigated with an asymmetric solution in the presence of distributed surface resistance. Based on this analysis, a modified equivalent circuit and a simple configuration to realize the self-sensing IPMC actuator are proposed. Mathematical modelling and experimental evaluation indicate that the bending curvature can be obtained accurately using several feedback voltage signals along with the IPMC length. Finally, the controllability of the developed self-sensing IPMC actuator is investigated using a robust position control. Experimental results prove that the self-sensing characteristics can be applied in engineering control problems to provide a more convenient sensing method for IPMC actuating systems.

Research into software executives for space operations support

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collier, Mark D.

1990-01-01

Research concepts pertaining to a software (workstation) executive which will support a distributed processing command and control system characterized by high-performance graphics workstations used as computing nodes are presented. Although a workstation-based distributed processing environment offers many advantages, it also introduces a number of new concerns. In order to solve these problems, allow the environment to function as an integrated system, and present a functional development environment to application programmers, it is necessary to develop an additional layer of software. This 'executive' software integrates the system, provides real-time capabilities, and provides the tools necessary to support the application requirements.

An ant colony optimization heuristic for an integrated production and distribution scheduling problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Yung-Chia; Li, Vincent C.; Chiang, Chia-Ju

2014-04-01

Make-to-order or direct-order business models that require close interaction between production and distribution activities have been adopted by many enterprises in order to be competitive in demanding markets. This article considers an integrated production and distribution scheduling problem in which jobs are first processed by one of the unrelated parallel machines and then distributed to corresponding customers by capacitated vehicles without intermediate inventory. The objective is to find a joint production and distribution schedule so that the weighted sum of total weighted job delivery time and the total distribution cost is minimized. This article presents a mathematical model for describing the problem and designs an algorithm using ant colony optimization. Computational experiments illustrate that the algorithm developed is capable of generating near-optimal solutions. The computational results also demonstrate the value of integrating production and distribution in the model for the studied problem.

Solving Capacitated Closed Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (CCVRPTW) using BRKGA with local search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasetyo, H.; Alfatsani, M. A.; Fauza, G.

2018-05-01

The main issue in vehicle routing problem (VRP) is finding the shortest route of product distribution from the depot to outlets to minimize total cost of distribution. Capacitated Closed Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (CCVRPTW) is one of the variants of VRP that accommodates vehicle capacity and distribution period. Since the main problem of CCVRPTW is considered a non-polynomial hard (NP-hard) problem, it requires an efficient and effective algorithm to solve the problem. This study was aimed to develop Biased Random Key Genetic Algorithm (BRKGA) that is combined with local search to solve the problem of CCVRPTW. The algorithm design was then coded by MATLAB. Using numerical test, optimum algorithm parameters were set and compared with the heuristic method and Standard BRKGA to solve a case study on soft drink distribution. Results showed that BRKGA combined with local search resulted in lower total distribution cost compared with the heuristic method. Moreover, the developed algorithm was found to be successful in increasing the performance of Standard BRKGA.

Media coverage of controlled substance diversion through theft or loss.

PubMed

Brushwood, David B; Kimberlin, Carole A

2004-01-01

To determine the frequency of media reports of controlled substance diversion. Quantitative search of news articles from LexisNexis Academic, using search strings related to four different types of controlled substance diversion. Not applicable. Not applicable. Number of media reports about diversion of controlled substances at the prescriber or dispenser levels, through pharmacy robberies or thefts, and through hijackings or robberies of shipments. Media reports of controlled substance diversion indicate that theft and loss are important problems and that inappropriate prescribing and dispensing are substantial problems as well. Leaks of controlled substances from the closed system of distribution seem to be increasing as rapidly through theft and loss as through inappropriate prescribing and dispensing. During the five biennia between 1993 and 2002, these percentage increases in media reports were observed for the different types of diversion: 200% for prescribers; 350% for dispensers; 133% for pharmacy robberies and thefts; and 1,800% for thefts from shipping channels. A balanced approach to the prevention of controlled substance diversion, aimed at reducing illicit acquisition of drugs from theft and loss as well as from prescribing and dispensing, may produce the greatest success without adversely affecting the quality of patient care.

Impact of particles on sediment accumulation in a drinking water distribution system.

PubMed

Vreeburg, J H G; Schippers, D; Verberk, J Q J C; van Dijk, J C

2008-10-01

Discolouration of drinking water is one of the main reasons customers complain to their water company. Though corrosion of cast iron is often seen as the main source for this problem, the particles originating from the treatment plant play an important and potentially dominant role in the generation of a discolouration risk in drinking water distribution systems. To investigate this thesis a study was performed in a drinking water distribution system. In two similar isolated network areas the effect of particles on discolouration risk was studied with particle counting, the Resuspension Potential Method (RPM) and assessment of the total accumulated sediment. In the 'Control Area', supplied with normal drinking water, the discolouration risk was regenerated within 1.5 year. In the 'Research Area', supplied with particle-free water, this will take 10-15 years. An obvious remedy for controlling the discolouration risk is to improve the treatment with respect to the short peaks that are caused by particle breakthrough.

Edge effect modeling of small tool polishing in planetary movement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Qi-xin; Ma, Zhen; Jiang, Bo; Yao, Yong-sheng

2018-03-01

As one of the most challenging problems in Computer Controlled Optical Surfacing (CCOS), the edge effect greatly affects the polishing accuracy and efficiency. CCOS rely on stable tool influence function (TIF), however, at the edge of the mirror surface,with the grinding head out of the mirror ,the contact area and pressure distribution changes, which resulting in a non-linear change of TIF, and leads to tilting or sagging at the edge of the mirror. In order reduce the adverse effects and improve the polishing accuracy and efficiency. In this paper, we used the finite element simulation to analyze the pressure distribution at the mirror edge and combined with the improved traditional method to establish a new model. The new method fully considered the non-uniformity of pressure distribution. After modeling the TIFs in different locations, the description and prediction of the edge effects are realized, which has a positive significance on the control and suppression of edge effects

Using Inspiration from Synaptic Plasticity Rules to Optimize Traffic Flow in Distributed Engineered Networks.

PubMed

Suen, Jonathan Y; Navlakha, Saket

2017-05-01

Controlling the flow and routing of data is a fundamental problem in many distributed networks, including transportation systems, integrated circuits, and the Internet. In the brain, synaptic plasticity rules have been discovered that regulate network activity in response to environmental inputs, which enable circuits to be stable yet flexible. Here, we develop a new neuro-inspired model for network flow control that depends only on modifying edge weights in an activity-dependent manner. We show how two fundamental plasticity rules, long-term potentiation and long-term depression, can be cast as a distributed gradient descent algorithm for regulating traffic flow in engineered networks. We then characterize, both by simulation and analytically, how different forms of edge-weight-update rules affect network routing efficiency and robustness. We find a close correspondence between certain classes of synaptic weight update rules derived experimentally in the brain and rules commonly used in engineering, suggesting common principles to both.

Distributed ESO based cooperative tracking control for high-order nonlinear multiagent systems with lumped disturbance and application in multi flight simulators systems.

PubMed

Cong, Zhang

2018-03-01

Based on extended state observer, a novel and practical design method is developed to solve the distributed cooperative tracking problem of higher-order nonlinear multiagent systems with lumped disturbance in a fixed communication topology directed graph. The proposed method is designed to guarantee all the follower nodes ultimately and uniformly converge to the leader node with bounded residual errors. The leader node, modeled as a higher-order non-autonomous nonlinear system, acts as a command generator giving commands only to a small portion of the networked follower nodes. Extended state observer is used to estimate the local states and lumped disturbance of each follower node. Moreover, each distributed controller can work independently only requiring the relative states and/or the estimated relative states information between itself and its neighbors. Finally an engineering application of multi flight simulators systems is demonstrated to test and verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research on Fault Characteristics and Line Protections Within a Large-scale Photovoltaic Power Plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chi; Zeng, Jie; Zhao, Wei; Zhong, Guobin; Xu, Qi; Luo, Pandian; Gu, Chenjie; Liu, Bohan

2017-05-01

Centralized photovoltaic (PV) systems have different fault characteristics from distributed PV systems due to the different system structures and controls. This makes the fault analysis and protection methods used in distribution networks with distributed PV not suitable for a centralized PV power plant. Therefore, a consolidated expression for the fault current within a PV power plant under different controls was calculated considering the fault response of the PV array. Then, supported by the fault current analysis and the on-site testing data, the overcurrent relay (OCR) performance was evaluated in the collection system of an 850 MW PV power plant. It reveals that the OCRs at downstream side on overhead lines may malfunction. In this case, a new relay scheme was proposed using directional distance elements. In the PSCAD/EMTDC, a detailed PV system model was built and verified using the on-site testing data. Simulation results indicate that the proposed relay scheme could effectively solve the problems under variant fault scenarios and PV plant output levels.

Distributed Cooperation Solution Method of Complex System Based on MAS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weijin, Jiang; Yuhui, Xu

To adapt the model in reconfiguring fault diagnosing to dynamic environment and the needs of solving the tasks of complex system fully, the paper introduced multi-Agent and related technology to the complicated fault diagnosis, an integrated intelligent control system is studied in this paper. Based on the thought of the structure of diagnostic decision and hierarchy in modeling, based on multi-layer decomposition strategy of diagnosis task, a multi-agent synchronous diagnosis federation integrated different knowledge expression modes and inference mechanisms are presented, the functions of management agent, diagnosis agent and decision agent are analyzed, the organization and evolution of agents in the system are proposed, and the corresponding conflict resolution algorithm in given, Layered structure of abstract agent with public attributes is build. System architecture is realized based on MAS distributed layered blackboard. The real world application shows that the proposed control structure successfully solves the fault diagnose problem of the complex plant, and the special advantage in the distributed domain.

Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity Analysis of Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome in China Using Geographically Weighted Regression Models

PubMed Central

Li, Shujuan; Ren, Hongyan; Hu, Wensheng; Lu, Liang; Xu, Xinliang; Zhuang, Dafang; Liu, Qiyong

2014-01-01

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is an important public health problem in China. The identification of the spatiotemporal pattern of HFRS will provide a foundation for the effective control of the disease. Based on the incidence of HFRS, as well as environmental factors, and social-economic factors of China from 2005–2012, this paper identified the spatiotemporal characteristics of HFRS distribution and the factors that impact this distribution. The results indicate that the spatial distribution of HFRS had a significant, positive spatial correlation. The spatiotemporal heterogeneity was affected by the temperature, precipitation, humidity, NDVI of January, NDVI of August for the previous year, land use, and elevation in 2005–2009. However, these factors did not explain the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of HFRS incidences in 2010–2012. Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of provincial HFRS incidences and its relation to environmental factors would provide valuable information for hygiene authorities to design and implement effective measures for the prevention and control of HFRS in China. PMID:25429681

Minimizing Uncertainties Impact in Decision Making with an Applicability Study for Economic Power Dispatch

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

Wang, Hong; Wang, Shaobu; Fan, Rui

This report summaries the work performed under the LDRD project on the preliminary study on knowledge automation, where specific focus has been made on the investigation of the impact of uncertainties of human decision making onto the optimization of the process operation. At first the statistics on signals from the Brain-Computing Interface (BCI) is analyzed so as to obtain the uncertainties characterization of human operators during the decision making phase using the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. This is then followed by the discussions of an architecture that reveals the equivalence between optimization and closed loop feedback control design, where it hasmore » been shown that all the optimization problems can be transferred into the control design problem for closed loop systems. This has led to a “closed loop” framework, where the structure of the decision making is shown to be subjected to both process disturbances and controller’s uncertainties. The latter can well represent the uncertainties or randomness occurred during human decision making phase. As a result, a stochastic optimization problem has been formulated and a novel solution has been proposed using probability density function (PDF) shaping for both the cost function and the constraints using stochastic distribution control concept. A sufficient condition has been derived that guarantees the convergence of the optimal solution and discussions have been made for both the total probabilistic solution and chanced constrained optimization which have been well-studied in optimal power flows (OPF) area. A simple case study has been carried out for the economic dispatch of powers for a grid system when there are distributed energy resources (DERs) in the system, and encouraging results have been obtained showing that a significant savings on the generation cost can be expected.« less

Optimum Suction Distribution for Transition Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Balakumar, P.; Hall, P.

1996-01-01

The optimum suction distribution which gives the longest laminar region for a given total suction is computed. The goal here is to provide the designer with a method to find the best suction distribution subject to some overall constraint applied to the suction. We formulate the problem using the Lagrangian multiplier method with constraints. The resulting non-linear system of equations is solved using the Newton-Raphson technique. The computations are performed for a Blasius boundary layer on a flat-plate and crossflow cases. For the Blasius boundary layer, the optimum suction distribution peaks upstream of the maximum growth rate region and remains flat in the middle before it decreases to zero at the end of the transition point. For the stationary and travelling crossflow instability, the optimum suction peaks upstream of the maximum growth rate region and decreases gradually to zero.

Relationship of social factors including trust, control over life decisions, problems with transport and safety, to psychological distress in the community.

PubMed

Taylor, Anne W; Chittleborough, Catherine; Gill, Tiffany K; Winefield, Helen; Baum, Fran; Hiller, Janet E; Goldney, Robert; Tucker, Graeme; Hugo, Graeme

2012-03-01

Psychological distress encompasses anxiety and depression with the previous studies showing that psychological distress is unequally distributed across population groups. This paper explores the mechanisms and processes which may affect the distribution of psychological distress, including a range of individual and community level socioeconomic determinants. Representative cross-sectional data was collected for respondents aged 16+ from July 2008 to June 2009, as a part of the South Australian Monitoring and Surveillance System (SAMSS) using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI). Univariate and multivariate analyses (n = 5,763) were conducted to investigate the variables that were associated with psychological distress. The overall prevalence of psychological distress was 8.9%. In the multivariate model, females, those aged 16-49, respondents single with children, unable to work or unemployed, with a poorer family financial situation, earning $20,000 or less, feeling safe in their home some or none of the time, feeling as though they have less then total control over life decisions and sometimes experiencing problems with transport, were significantly more likely to experience psychological distress. This paper has demonstrated the relationship between low-income, financial pressure, less than optimal safety and control, and high-psychological distress. It is important that the groups highlighted as vulnerable be targeted in policy, planning, and health promotion and prevention campaigns.

Multiple curved descending approaches and the air traffic control problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hart, S. G.; Mcpherson, D.; Kreifeldt, J.; Wemple, T. E.

1977-01-01

A terminal area air traffic control simulation was designed to study ways of accommodating increased air traffic density. The concepts that were investigated assumed the availability of the microwave landing system and data link and included: (1) multiple curved descending final approaches; (2) parallel runways certified for independent and simultaneous operation under IFR conditions; (3) closer spacing between successive aircraft; and (4) a distributed management system between the air and ground. Three groups each consisting of three pilots and two air traffic controllers flew a combined total of 350 approaches. Piloted simulators were supplied with computer generated traffic situation displays and flight instruments. The controllers were supplied with a terminal area map and digital status information. Pilots and controllers also reported that the distributed management procedure was somewhat more safe and orderly than the centralized management procedure. Flying precision increased as the amount of turn required to intersect the outer mark decreased. Pilots reported that they preferred the alternative of multiple curved descending approaches with wider spacing between aircraft to closer spacing on single, straight in finals while controllers preferred the latter option. Both pilots and controllers felt that parallel runways are an acceptable way to accommodate increased traffic density safely and expeditiously.

Consensus-based distributed cooperative learning from closed-loop neural control systems.

PubMed

Chen, Weisheng; Hua, Shaoyong; Zhang, Huaguang

2015-02-01

In this paper, the neural tracking problem is addressed for a group of uncertain nonlinear systems where the system structures are identical but the reference signals are different. This paper focuses on studying the learning capability of neural networks (NNs) during the control process. First, we propose a novel control scheme called distributed cooperative learning (DCL) control scheme, by establishing the communication topology among adaptive laws of NN weights to share their learned knowledge online. It is further proved that if the communication topology is undirected and connected, all estimated weights of NNs can converge to small neighborhoods around their optimal values over a domain consisting of the union of all state orbits. Second, as a corollary it is shown that the conclusion on the deterministic learning still holds in the decentralized adaptive neural control scheme where, however, the estimated weights of NNs just converge to small neighborhoods of the optimal values along their own state orbits. Thus, the learned controllers obtained by DCL scheme have the better generalization capability than ones obtained by decentralized learning method. A simulation example is provided to verify the effectiveness and advantages of the control schemes proposed in this paper.

Decision theory for computing variable and value ordering decisions for scheduling problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Linden, Theodore A.

1993-01-01

Heuristics that guide search are critical when solving large planning and scheduling problems, but most variable and value ordering heuristics are sensitive to only one feature of the search state. One wants to combine evidence from all features of the search state into a subjective probability that a value choice is best, but there has been no solid semantics for merging evidence when it is conceived in these terms. Instead, variable and value ordering decisions should be viewed as problems in decision theory. This led to two key insights: (1) The fundamental concept that allows heuristic evidence to be merged is the net incremental utility that will be achieved by assigning a value to a variable. Probability distributions about net incremental utility can merge evidence from the utility function, binary constraints, resource constraints, and other problem features. The subjective probability that a value is the best choice is then derived from probability distributions about net incremental utility. (2) The methods used for rumor control in Bayesian Networks are the primary way to prevent cycling in the computation of probable net incremental utility. These insights lead to semantically justifiable ways to compute heuristic variable and value ordering decisions that merge evidence from all available features of the search state.

Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of Supersonic Aircraft Configurations via an Adjoint Formulation on Parallel Computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reuther, James; Alonso, Juan Jose; Rimlinger, Mark J.; Jameson, Antony

1996-01-01

This work describes the application of a control theory-based aerodynamic shape optimization method to the problem of supersonic aircraft design. The design process is greatly accelerated through the use of both control theory and a parallel implementation on distributed memory computers. Control theory is employed to derive the adjoint differential equations whose solution allows for the evaluation of design gradient information at a fraction of the computational cost required by previous design methods (13, 12, 44, 38). The resulting problem is then implemented on parallel distributed memory architectures using a domain decomposition approach, an optimized communication schedule, and the MPI (Message Passing Interface) Standard for portability and efficiency. The final result achieves very rapid aerodynamic design based on higher order computational fluid dynamics methods (CFD). In our earlier studies, the serial implementation of this design method (19, 20, 21, 23, 39, 25, 40, 41, 42, 43, 9) was shown to be effective for the optimization of airfoils, wings, wing-bodies, and complex aircraft configurations using both the potential equation and the Euler equations (39, 25). In our most recent paper, the Euler method was extended to treat complete aircraft configurations via a new multiblock implementation. Furthermore, during the same conference, we also presented preliminary results demonstrating that the basic methodology could be ported to distributed memory parallel computing architectures [241. In this paper, our concem will be to demonstrate that the combined power of these new technologies can be used routinely in an industrial design environment by applying it to the case study of the design of typical supersonic transport configurations. A particular difficulty of this test case is posed by the propulsion/airframe integration.

Application of oil spill model to marine pollution and risk control problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aseev, Nikita; Agoshkov, Valery; Sheloput, Tatyana

2017-04-01

Oil transportation by sea induces challenging problems of environmental control. Millions of tonnes of oil are yearly released during routine ship operations, not to mention vast spills due to different accidents (e.g. tanker collisions, grounding, etc.). Oil pollution is dangerous to marine organisms such as plants, fish and mammals, leading to widespread damage to our planet. In turn, fishery and travel agencies can lose money and clients, and ship operators are obliged to pay huge penalties for environmental pollution. In this work we present the method of accessing oil pollution of marine environment using recently developed oil spill model. The model describes basic processes of the oil slick evolution: oil transport due to currents, drift under the action of wind, spreading on the surface, evaporation, emulsification and dispersion. Such parameters as slick location, mass, density of oil, water content, viscosity and density of "water-in-oil" emulsion can be calculated. We demonstrate how to apply the model to damage calculation problems using a concept of average damage to particular marine area. We also formulate the problem of oil spill risk control, when some accident parameters are not known, but their probability distribution is given. We propose a new algorithm to solve such problems and show results of our model simulations. The work can be interesting to broad environmental, physics and mathematics community. The work is supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant 16-31-00510.

A Hierarchical Modeling for Reactive Power Optimization With Joint Transmission and Distribution Networks by Curve Fitting

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

Ding, Tao; Li, Cheng; Huang, Can

Here, in order to solve the reactive power optimization with joint transmission and distribution networks, a hierarchical modeling method is proposed in this paper. It allows the reactive power optimization of transmission and distribution networks to be performed separately, leading to a master–slave structure and improves traditional centralized modeling methods by alleviating the big data problem in a control center. Specifically, the transmission-distribution-network coordination issue of the hierarchical modeling method is investigated. First, a curve-fitting approach is developed to provide a cost function of the slave model for the master model, which reflects the impacts of each slave model. Second,more » the transmission and distribution networks are decoupled at feeder buses, and all the distribution networks are coordinated by the master reactive power optimization model to achieve the global optimality. Finally, numerical results on two test systems verify the effectiveness of the proposed hierarchical modeling and curve-fitting methods.« less

A Hierarchical Modeling for Reactive Power Optimization With Joint Transmission and Distribution Networks by Curve Fitting

DOE PAGES

Ding, Tao; Li, Cheng; Huang, Can; ...

2017-01-09

Here, in order to solve the reactive power optimization with joint transmission and distribution networks, a hierarchical modeling method is proposed in this paper. It allows the reactive power optimization of transmission and distribution networks to be performed separately, leading to a master–slave structure and improves traditional centralized modeling methods by alleviating the big data problem in a control center. Specifically, the transmission-distribution-network coordination issue of the hierarchical modeling method is investigated. First, a curve-fitting approach is developed to provide a cost function of the slave model for the master model, which reflects the impacts of each slave model. Second,more » the transmission and distribution networks are decoupled at feeder buses, and all the distribution networks are coordinated by the master reactive power optimization model to achieve the global optimality. Finally, numerical results on two test systems verify the effectiveness of the proposed hierarchical modeling and curve-fitting methods.« less

Optimising multi-product multi-chance-constraint inventory control system with stochastic period lengths and total discount under fuzzy purchasing price and holding costs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allah Taleizadeh, Ata; Niaki, Seyed Taghi Akhavan; Aryanezhad, Mir-Bahador

2010-10-01

While the usual assumptions in multi-periodic inventory control problems are that the orders are placed at the beginning of each period (periodic review) or depending on the inventory level they can happen at any time (continuous review), in this article, we relax these assumptions and assume that the periods between two replenishments of the products are independent and identically distributed random variables. Furthermore, assuming that the purchasing price are triangular fuzzy variables, the quantities of the orders are of integer-type and that there are space and service level constraints, total discount are considered to purchase products and a combination of back-order and lost-sales are taken into account for the shortages. We show that the model of this problem is a fuzzy mixed-integer nonlinear programming type and in order to solve it, a hybrid meta-heuristic intelligent algorithm is proposed. At the end, a numerical example is given to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methodology and to compare its performance with one of the existing algorithms in real world inventory control problems.

The Effect of Distributed Practice in Undergraduate Statistics Homework Sets: A Randomized Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crissinger, Bryan R.

2015-01-01

Most homework sets in statistics courses are constructed so that students concentrate or "mass" their practice on a certain topic in one problem set. Distributed practice homework sets include review problems in each set so that practice on a topic is distributed across problem sets. There is a body of research that points to the…

Solutions to an advanced functional partial differential equation of the pantograph type

PubMed Central

Zaidi, Ali A.; Van Brunt, B.; Wake, G. C.

2015-01-01

A model for cells structured by size undergoing growth and division leads to an initial boundary value problem that involves a first-order linear partial differential equation with a functional term. Here, size can be interpreted as DNA content or mass. It has been observed experimentally and shown analytically that solutions for arbitrary initial cell distributions are asymptotic as time goes to infinity to a certain solution called the steady size distribution. The full solution to the problem for arbitrary initial distributions, however, is elusive owing to the presence of the functional term and the paucity of solution techniques for such problems. In this paper, we derive a solution to the problem for arbitrary initial cell distributions. The method employed exploits the hyperbolic character of the underlying differential operator, and the advanced nature of the functional argument to reduce the problem to a sequence of simple Cauchy problems. The existence of solutions for arbitrary initial distributions is established along with uniqueness. The asymptotic relationship with the steady size distribution is established, and because the solution is known explicitly, higher-order terms in the asymptotics can be readily obtained. PMID:26345391

Solutions to an advanced functional partial differential equation of the pantograph type.

PubMed

Zaidi, Ali A; Van Brunt, B; Wake, G C

2015-07-08

A model for cells structured by size undergoing growth and division leads to an initial boundary value problem that involves a first-order linear partial differential equation with a functional term. Here, size can be interpreted as DNA content or mass. It has been observed experimentally and shown analytically that solutions for arbitrary initial cell distributions are asymptotic as time goes to infinity to a certain solution called the steady size distribution. The full solution to the problem for arbitrary initial distributions, however, is elusive owing to the presence of the functional term and the paucity of solution techniques for such problems. In this paper, we derive a solution to the problem for arbitrary initial cell distributions. The method employed exploits the hyperbolic character of the underlying differential operator, and the advanced nature of the functional argument to reduce the problem to a sequence of simple Cauchy problems. The existence of solutions for arbitrary initial distributions is established along with uniqueness. The asymptotic relationship with the steady size distribution is established, and because the solution is known explicitly, higher-order terms in the asymptotics can be readily obtained.

Terminal Sliding Mode-Based Consensus Tracking Control for Networked Uncertain Mechanical Systems on Digraphs.

PubMed

Chen, Gang; Song, Yongduan; Guan, Yanfeng

2018-03-01

This brief investigates the finite-time consensus tracking control problem for networked uncertain mechanical systems on digraphs. A new terminal sliding-mode-based cooperative control scheme is developed to guarantee that the tracking errors converge to an arbitrarily small bound around zero in finite time. All the networked systems can have different dynamics and all the dynamics are unknown. A neural network is used at each node to approximate the local unknown dynamics. The control schemes are implemented in a fully distributed manner. The proposed control method eliminates some limitations in the existing terminal sliding-mode-based consensus control methods and extends the existing analysis methods to the case of directed graphs. Simulation results on networked robot manipulators are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithms.

Design of LPV fault-tolerant controller for pitch system of wind turbine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Dinghui; Zhang, Xiaolin

2017-07-01

To address failures of wind turbine pitch-angle sensors, traditional wind turbine linear parameter varying (LPV) model is transformed into a double-layer convex polyhedron LPV model. On the basis of this model, when the plurality of the sensor undergoes failure and details of the failure are inconvenient to obtain, each sub-controller is designed using distributed thought and gain scheduling method. The final controller is obtained using all of the sub-controllers by a convex combination. The design method corrects the errors of the linear model, improves the linear degree of the system, and solves the problem of multiple pitch angle faults to ensure stable operation of the wind turbine.

Optimal control of Formula One car energy recovery systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Limebeer, D. J. N.; Perantoni, G.; Rao, A. V.

2014-10-01

The utility of orthogonal collocation methods in the solution of optimal control problems relating to Formula One racing is demonstrated. These methods can be used to optimise driver controls such as the steering, braking and throttle usage, and to optimise vehicle parameters such as the aerodynamic down force and mass distributions. Of particular interest is the optimal usage of energy recovery systems (ERSs). Contemporary kinetic energy recovery systems are studied and compared with future hybrid kinetic and thermal/heat ERSs known as ERS-K and ERS-H, respectively. It is demonstrated that these systems, when properly controlled, can produce contemporary lap time using approximately two-thirds of the fuel required by earlier generation (2013 and prior) vehicles.

A novel control algorithm for interaction between surface waves and a permeable floating structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Pei-Wei; Alsaedi, A.; Hayat, T.; Chen, Cheng-Wu

2016-04-01

An analytical solution is undertaken to describe the wave-induced flow field and the surge motion of a permeable platform structure with fuzzy controllers in an oceanic environment. In the design procedure of the controller, a parallel distributed compensation (PDC) scheme is utilized to construct a global fuzzy logic controller by blending all local state feedback controllers. A stability analysis is carried out for a real structure system by using Lyapunov method. The corresponding boundary value problems are then incorporated into scattering and radiation problems. They are analytically solved, based on separation of variables, to obtain series solutions in terms of the harmonic incident wave motion and surge motion. The dependence of the wave-induced flow field and its resonant frequency on wave characteristics and structure properties including platform width, thickness and mass has been thus drawn with a parametric approach. From which mathematical models are applied for the wave-induced displacement of the surge motion. A nonlinearly inverted pendulum system is employed to demonstrate that the controller tuned by swarm intelligence method can not only stabilize the nonlinear system, but has the robustness against external disturbance.

Fully decentralized estimation and control for a modular wheeled mobile robot

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

Mutambara, A.G.O.; Durrant-Whyte, H.F.

2000-06-01

In this paper, the problem of fully decentralized data fusion and control for a modular wheeled mobile robot (WMR) is addressed. This is a vehicle system with nonlinear kinematics, distributed multiple sensors, and nonlinear sensor models. The problem is solved by applying fully decentralized estimation and control algorithms based on the extended information filter. This is achieved by deriving a modular, decentralized kinematic model by using plane motion kinematics to obtain the forward and inverse kinematics for a generalized simple wheeled vehicle. This model is then used in the decentralized estimation and control algorithms. WMR estimation and control is thusmore » obtained locally using reduced order models with reduced communication of information between nodes is carried out after every measurement (full rate communication), the estimates and control signals obtained at each node are equivalent to those obtained by a corresponding centralized system. Transputer architecture is used as the basis for hardware and software design as it supports the extensive communication and concurrency requirements that characterize modular and decentralized systems. The advantages of a modular WMR vehicle include scalability, application flexibility, low prototyping costs, and high reliability.« less

Incentive-Rewarding Mechanism for User-position Control in Mobile Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshino, Makoto; Sato, Kenichiro; Shinkuma, Ryoichi; Takahashi, Tatsuro

When the number of users in a service area increases in mobile multimedia services, no individual user can obtain satisfactory radio resources such as bandwidth and signal power because the resources are limited and shared. A solution for such a problem is user-position control. In the user-position control, the operator informs users of better communication areas (or spots) and navigates them to these positions. However, because of subjective costs caused by subjects moving from their original to a new position, they do not always attempt to move. To motivate users to contribute their resources in network services that require resource contributions for users, incentive-rewarding mechanisms have been proposed. However, there are no mechanisms that distribute rewards appropriately according to various subjective factors involving users. Furthermore, since the conventional mechanisms limit how rewards are paid, they are applicable only for the network service they targeted. In this paper, we propose a novel incentive-rewarding mechanism to solve these problems, using an external evaluator and interactive learning agents. We also investigated ways of appropriately controlling rewards based on user contributions and system service quality. We applied the proposed mechanism and reward control to the user-position control, and demonstrated its validity.

Problems and challenges in social marketing.

PubMed

Bloom, P N; Novelli, W D

1981-01-01

This article reviews the problems that arise when general marketing principles are applied to social programs. Social marketing is conceptualized as the design, implementation, and control of programs seeking to increase the acceptability of a social ideal or practice in a target group. These problems can occur in 8 basic decision-making areas: market analysis, market segmentation, product strategy development, pricing strategy development, channel strategy development, communications strategy development, organizational design and planning, and evaluation. Social marketers find that they have less good secondary data about their consumers, more problems obtaining valid and reliable measures of relevant variables, more difficulty sorting out the relative influence of determinants of consumer behavior, and more problems getting consumer research funded than marketers in the commercial sector. They tend to have less flexibility in shaping their products and more difficulty formulating product concepts. Problems associated with establishing, utilizing, and controlling distribution channels comprise another major difference between social and more conventional forms of marketing. Social marketers also find that their communications options are somewhat limited as a result of problems associated with use of paid advertisements, pressures not to use certain types of appeals in their messages, and the need to communicate large amounts of information in their messages. Moreover, social marketers must function in organizations where marketing activities are poorly understood, underappreciated, and inappropriately located. Finally, they face problems trying to define effectiveness measures or estimating the contribution their program has made toward the achievement of certain objectives. If all these problems are anticipated and handled creatively, social marketing efforts can succeed.

Educational Games Based on Distributed and Tangible User Interfaces to Stimulate Cognitive Abilities in Children with ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de la Guía, Elena; Lozano, María D.; Penichet, Víctor M. R.

2015-01-01

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience behavioural and learning problems at home and at school, as well as a lack of self-control in their lives. We can take advantage of the evolution of new technologies to develop applications with the aim of enhancing and stimulating the learning process of children with ADHD.…

On Coulomb collisions in the solar wind

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hellinger, P.; Travnicek, P. M.

2009-04-01

Collisional transport in anisotropic plasmas is investigated comparing theoretical predictions of the Fokker-Planck equation for bi-Maxwellian particle distribution functions (Kogan, 1961; Lehner, 1967) and results of the corresponding Langevin equation. References: Kogan, V. I., in Plasma Physics and the Problem of Controlled Thermonuclear Reactions, edited by M. A. Leontovich, Pergamon Press, New York, , vol. 1, 153, 1961. Lehner, G., Zeitschrift fur Physik, 206, 284, 1967.

Distributed Knowledge-Based Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-03-15

For example, patients with cerebral palsy , a disease affecting motor control, typically have several muscles that function improperly in different...phases of the gait cycle. The malfunctions in the case of cerebral palsy are improper contractions of the muscles - both in terms of the magnitude and...problem, if true, has serious implications for how knowledge acquisition should be done. Because some knowledge representation must be the target of

Imaging decision about whether to benefit self by harming others: Adolescents with conduct and substance problems, with or without callous-unemotionality, or developing typically.

PubMed

Sakai, Joseph T; Dalwani, Manish S; Mikulich-Gilbertson, Susan K; Raymond, Kristen; McWilliams, Shannon; Tanabe, Jody; Rojas, Don; Regner, Michael; Banich, Marie T; Crowley, Thomas J

2017-05-30

We sought to identify brain activation differences in conduct-problem youth with limited prosocial emotions (LPE) compared to conduct-problem youth without LPE and community adolescents, and to test associations between brain activation and severity of callous-unemotional traits. We utilized a novel task, which asks subjects to repeatedly decide whether to accept offers where they will benefit but a beneficent other will be harmed. Behavior on this task has been previously associated with levels of prosocial emotions and severity of callous-unemotional traits, and is related to empathic concern. During fMRI acquisition, 66 male adolescents (21 conduct-problem patients with LPE, 21 without, and 24 typically-developing controls) played this novel game. Within typically-developing controls, we identified a network engaged during decision involving bilateral insula, and inferior parietal and medial frontal cortices, among other regions. Group comparisons using non-parametric (distribution-free) permutation tests demonstrated LPE patients had lower activation estimates than typically-developing adolescents in right anterior insula. Additional significant group differences emerged with our a priori parametric cluster-wise inference threshold. These results suggest measurable functional brain activation differences in conduct-problem adolescents with LPE compared to typically-developing adolescents. Such differences may underscore differential treatment needs for conduct-problem males with and without LPE. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Two statistical mechanics aspects of complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thurner, Stefan; Biely, Christoly

2006-12-01

By adopting an ensemble interpretation of non-growing rewiring networks, network theory can be reduced to a counting problem of possible network states and an identification of their associated probabilities. We present two scenarios of how different rewirement schemes can be used to control the state probabilities of the system. In particular, we review how by generalizing the linking rules of random graphs, in combination with superstatistics and quantum mechanical concepts, one can establish an exact relation between the degree distribution of any given network and the nodes’ linking probability distributions. In a second approach, we control state probabilities by a network Hamiltonian, whose characteristics are motivated by biological and socio-economical statistical systems. We demonstrate that a thermodynamics of networks becomes a fully consistent concept, allowing to study e.g. ‘phase transitions’ and computing entropies through thermodynamic relations.

Distributed event-triggered consensus strategy for multi-agent systems under limited resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noorbakhsh, S. Mohammad; Ghaisari, Jafar

2016-01-01

The paper proposes a distributed structure to address an event-triggered consensus problem for multi-agent systems which aims at concurrent reduction in inter-agent communication, control input actuation and energy consumption. Following the proposed approach, asymptotic convergence of all agents to consensus requires that each agent broadcasts its sampled-state to the neighbours and updates its control input only at its own triggering instants, unlike the existing related works. Obviously, it decreases the network bandwidth usage, sensor energy consumption, computation resources usage and actuator wears. As a result, it facilitates the implementation of the proposed consensus protocol in the real-world applications with limited resources. The stability of the closed-loop system under an event-based protocol is proved analytically. Some numerical results are presented which confirm the analytical discussion on the effectiveness of the proposed design.

Problem solving as intelligent retrieval from distributed knowledge sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Zhengxin

1987-01-01

Distributed computing in intelligent systems is investigated from a different perspective. From the viewpoint that problem solving can be viewed as intelligent knowledge retrieval, the use of distributed knowledge sources in intelligent systems is proposed.

Robust attitude control design for spacecraft under assigned velocity and control constraints.

PubMed

Hu, Qinglei; Li, Bo; Zhang, Youmin

2013-07-01

A novel robust nonlinear control design under the constraints of assigned velocity and actuator torque is investigated for attitude stabilization of a rigid spacecraft. More specifically, a nonlinear feedback control is firstly developed by explicitly taking into account the constraints on individual angular velocity components as well as external disturbances. Considering further the actuator misalignments and magnitude deviation, a modified robust least-squares based control allocator is employed to deal with the problem of distributing the previously designed three-axis moments over the available actuators, in which the focus of this control allocation is to find the optimal control vector of actuators by minimizing the worst-case residual error using programming algorithms. The attitude control performance using the controller structure is evaluated through a numerical example. Copyright © 2013 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Combined design of structures and controllers for optimal maneuverability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ling, Jer; Kabamba, Pierre; Taylor, John

1990-01-01

Approaches to the combined design of structures and controllers for achieving optimal maneuverability are presented. A maneuverability index which directly reflects the minimum time required to perform a given set of maneuvers is introduced. By designing the flexible appendages, the maneuver time of the spacecraft is minimized under the constraints of structural properties, and post maneuver spillover is kept within a specified bound. The spillover reduction is achieved by making use of an appropriate reduced order model. The distributed parameter design problem is approached using assumed shape functions, and finite element analysis with dynamic reduction. Solution procedures have been investigated. Approximate design methods have been developed to overcome the computational difficulties. Some new constraints on the modal frequencies of the spacecraft are introduced in the original optimization problem to facilitate the solution process. It is shown that the global optimal design may be obtained by tuning the natural frequencies to satisfy specific constraints. Researchers quantify the difference between a lower bound to the solution for maneuver time associated with the original problem and the estimate obtained from the modified problem, for a specified application requirement. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the capability of this approach.

Research and Development of Fully Automatic Alien Smoke Stack and Packaging System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Xudong; Ge, Qingkuan; Peng, Tao; Zuo, Ping; Dong, Weifu

2017-12-01

The problem of low efficiency of manual sorting packaging for the current tobacco distribution center, which developed a set of safe efficient and automatic type of alien smoke stack and packaging system. The functions of fully automatic alien smoke stack and packaging system adopt PLC control technology, servo control technology, robot technology, image recognition technology and human-computer interaction technology. The characteristics, principles, control process and key technology of the system are discussed in detail. Through the installation and commissioning fully automatic alien smoke stack and packaging system has a good performance and has completed the requirements for shaped cigarette.

A Multiple Period Problem in Distributed Energy Management Systems Considering CO2 Emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muroda, Yuki; Miyamoto, Toshiyuki; Mori, Kazuyuki; Kitamura, Shoichi; Yamamoto, Takaya

Consider a special district (group) which is composed of multiple companies (agents), and where each agent responds to an energy demand and has a CO2 emission allowance imposed. A distributed energy management system (DEMS) optimizes energy consumption of a group through energy trading in the group. In this paper, we extended the energy distribution decision and optimal planning problem in DEMSs from a single period problem to a multiple periods one. The extension enabled us to consider more realistic constraints such as demand patterns, the start-up cost, and minimum running/outage times of equipment. At first, we extended the market-oriented programming (MOP) method for deciding energy distribution to the multiple periods problem. The bidding strategy of each agent is formulated by a 0-1 mixed non-linear programming problem. Secondly, we proposed decomposing the problem into a set of single period problems in order to solve it faster. In order to decompose the problem, we proposed a CO2 emission allowance distribution method, called an EP method. We confirmed that the proposed method was able to produce solutions whose group costs were close to lower-bound group costs by computational experiments. In addition, we verified that reduction in computational time was achieved without losing the quality of solutions by using the EP method.

Biological Stability of Drinking Water: Controlling Factors, Methods, and Challenges.

PubMed

Prest, Emmanuelle I; Hammes, Frederik; van Loosdrecht, Mark C M; Vrouwenvelder, Johannes S

2016-01-01

Biological stability of drinking water refers to the concept of providing consumers with drinking water of same microbial quality at the tap as produced at the water treatment facility. However, uncontrolled growth of bacteria can occur during distribution in water mains and premise plumbing, and can lead to hygienic (e.g., development of opportunistic pathogens), aesthetic (e.g., deterioration of taste, odor, color) or operational (e.g., fouling or biocorrosion of pipes) problems. Drinking water contains diverse microorganisms competing for limited available nutrients for growth. Bacterial growth and interactions are regulated by factors, such as (i) type and concentration of available organic and inorganic nutrients, (ii) type and concentration of residual disinfectant, (iii) presence of predators, such as protozoa and invertebrates, (iv) environmental conditions, such as water temperature, and (v) spatial location of microorganisms (bulk water, sediment, or biofilm). Water treatment and distribution conditions in water mains and premise plumbing affect each of these factors and shape bacterial community characteristics (abundance, composition, viability) in distribution systems. Improved understanding of bacterial interactions in distribution systems and of environmental conditions impact is needed for better control of bacterial communities during drinking water production and distribution. This article reviews (i) existing knowledge on biological stability controlling factors and (ii) how these factors are affected by drinking water production and distribution conditions. In addition, (iii) the concept of biological stability is discussed in light of experience with well-established and new analytical methods, enabling high throughput analysis and in-depth characterization of bacterial communities in drinking water. We discussed, how knowledge gained from novel techniques will improve design and monitoring of water treatment and distribution systems in order to maintain good drinking water microbial quality up to consumer's tap. A new definition and methodological approach for biological stability is proposed.

Biological Stability of Drinking Water: Controlling Factors, Methods, and Challenges

PubMed Central

Prest, Emmanuelle I.; Hammes, Frederik; van Loosdrecht, Mark C. M.; Vrouwenvelder, Johannes S.

2016-01-01

Biological stability of drinking water refers to the concept of providing consumers with drinking water of same microbial quality at the tap as produced at the water treatment facility. However, uncontrolled growth of bacteria can occur during distribution in water mains and premise plumbing, and can lead to hygienic (e.g., development of opportunistic pathogens), aesthetic (e.g., deterioration of taste, odor, color) or operational (e.g., fouling or biocorrosion of pipes) problems. Drinking water contains diverse microorganisms competing for limited available nutrients for growth. Bacterial growth and interactions are regulated by factors, such as (i) type and concentration of available organic and inorganic nutrients, (ii) type and concentration of residual disinfectant, (iii) presence of predators, such as protozoa and invertebrates, (iv) environmental conditions, such as water temperature, and (v) spatial location of microorganisms (bulk water, sediment, or biofilm). Water treatment and distribution conditions in water mains and premise plumbing affect each of these factors and shape bacterial community characteristics (abundance, composition, viability) in distribution systems. Improved understanding of bacterial interactions in distribution systems and of environmental conditions impact is needed for better control of bacterial communities during drinking water production and distribution. This article reviews (i) existing knowledge on biological stability controlling factors and (ii) how these factors are affected by drinking water production and distribution conditions. In addition, (iii) the concept of biological stability is discussed in light of experience with well-established and new analytical methods, enabling high throughput analysis and in-depth characterization of bacterial communities in drinking water. We discussed, how knowledge gained from novel techniques will improve design and monitoring of water treatment and distribution systems in order to maintain good drinking water microbial quality up to consumer’s tap. A new definition and methodological approach for biological stability is proposed. PMID:26870010

A Policy Representation Using Weighted Multiple Normal Distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kimura, Hajime; Aramaki, Takeshi; Kobayashi, Shigenobu

In this paper, we challenge to solve a reinforcement learning problem for a 5-linked ring robot within a real-time so that the real-robot can stand up to the trial and error. On this robot, incomplete perception problems are caused from noisy sensors and cheap position-control motor systems. This incomplete perception also causes varying optimum actions with the progress of the learning. To cope with this problem, we adopt an actor-critic method, and we propose a new hierarchical policy representation scheme, that consists of discrete action selection on the top level and continuous action selection on the low level of the hierarchy. The proposed hierarchical scheme accelerates learning on continuous action space, and it can pursue the optimum actions varying with the progress of learning on our robotics problem. This paper compares and discusses several learning algorithms through simulations, and demonstrates the proposed method showing application for the real robot.

From protection of privacy to control of data streams: a focus group study on biobanks in the information society.

PubMed

Snell, K; Starkbaum, J; Lauß, G; Vermeer, A; Helén, I

2012-01-01

Most people in Europe do not know what biobanks are. In this study, public perceptions of biobanks and collection of genetic and health data were analyzed in relation to other technologies and digital networks where personal information is compiled and distributed. In this setting, people contextualized biobanks in line with their daily experiences with other technologies and data streams. The analysis was based on 18 focus group discussions conducted in Austria, Finland and Germany. We examined the ways in which people frame and talk about problems and benefits of information distribution in digital networks and biobanks. People identify many challenges associated with collection of personal data in the information society. The study showed that instead of privacy - which has been the key term of bioethical debates on biobanks - the notions of control and controllability are most essential for people. From the viewpoint of biobanks, issues of controllability pose challenges. In the information society, people have become accustomed to controlling personal data, which is particularly difficult in relation to biobanks. They expressed strong concerns over the controllability of the goals and benefits of biobanks. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A Heuristic Approach to the Theater Distribution Problem

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-27

outstanding guidance on this thesis research as well as the introduction to joint mobility modeling in OPER 674 which sparked my interest in this area of...32 xi List of Acronyms Acronym Definition AMP Analysis of Mobility Platform DARP Dial-A-Ride problem...tabu SMM Strategic Mobility Modeling TDD time definite delivery TDM Theater Distribution Model TDP Theater Distribution Problem TPFDD Time Phased Force

Learning overcomplete representations from distributed data: a brief review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raja, Haroon; Bajwa, Waheed U.

2016-05-01

Most of the research on dictionary learning has focused on developing algorithms under the assumption that data is available at a centralized location. But often the data is not available at a centralized location due to practical constraints like data aggregation costs, privacy concerns, etc. Using centralized dictionary learning algorithms may not be the optimal choice in such settings. This motivates the design of dictionary learning algorithms that consider distributed nature of data as one of the problem variables. Just like centralized settings, distributed dictionary learning problem can be posed in more than one way depending on the problem setup. Most notable distinguishing features are the online versus batch nature of data and the representative versus discriminative nature of the dictionaries. In this paper, several distributed dictionary learning algorithms that are designed to tackle different problem setups are reviewed. One of these algorithms is cloud K-SVD, which solves the dictionary learning problem for batch data in distributed settings. One distinguishing feature of cloud K-SVD is that it has been shown to converge to its centralized counterpart, namely, the K-SVD solution. On the other hand, no such guarantees are provided for other distributed dictionary learning algorithms. Convergence of cloud K-SVD to the centralized K-SVD solution means problems that are solvable by K-SVD in centralized settings can now be solved in distributed settings with similar performance. Finally, cloud K-SVD is used as an example to show the advantages that are attainable by deploying distributed dictionary algorithms for real world distributed datasets.

Distributed Coordination of Heterogeneous Agents Using a Semantic Overlay Network and a Goal-Directed Graphplan Planner

PubMed Central

Lopes, António Luís; Botelho, Luís Miguel

2013-01-01

In this paper, we describe a distributed coordination system that allows agents to seamlessly cooperate in problem solving by partially contributing to a problem solution and delegating the subproblems for which they do not have the required skills or knowledge to appropriate agents. The coordination mechanism relies on a dynamically built semantic overlay network that allows the agents to efficiently locate, even in very large unstructured networks, the necessary skills for a specific problem. Each agent performs partial contributions to the problem solution using a new distributed goal-directed version of the Graphplan algorithm. This new goal-directed version of the original Graphplan algorithm provides an efficient solution to the problem of "distraction", which most forward-chaining algorithms suffer from. We also discuss a set of heuristics to be used in the backward-search process of the planning algorithm in order to distribute this process amongst idle agents in an attempt to find a solution in less time. The evaluation results show that our approach is effective in building a scalable and efficient agent society capable of solving complex distributable problems. PMID:23704885

Instructional Designers' Media Selection Practices for Distributed Problem-Based Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fells, Stephanie

2012-01-01

The design of online or distributed problem-based learning (dPBL) is a nascent, complex design problem. Instructional designers are challenged to effectively unite the constructivist principles of problem-based learning (PBL) with appropriate media in order to create quality dPBL environments. While computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools and…

Semi-quantum communication: protocols for key agreement, controlled secure direct communication and dialogue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shukla, Chitra; Thapliyal, Kishore; Pathak, Anirban

2017-12-01

Semi-quantum protocols that allow some of the users to remain classical are proposed for a large class of problems associated with secure communication and secure multiparty computation. Specifically, first-time semi-quantum protocols are proposed for key agreement, controlled deterministic secure communication and dialogue, and it is shown that the semi-quantum protocols for controlled deterministic secure communication and dialogue can be reduced to semi-quantum protocols for e-commerce and private comparison (socialist millionaire problem), respectively. Complementing with the earlier proposed semi-quantum schemes for key distribution, secret sharing and deterministic secure communication, set of schemes proposed here and subsequent discussions have established that almost every secure communication and computation tasks that can be performed using fully quantum protocols can also be performed in semi-quantum manner. Some of the proposed schemes are completely orthogonal-state-based, and thus, fundamentally different from the existing semi-quantum schemes that are conjugate coding-based. Security, efficiency and applicability of the proposed schemes have been discussed with appropriate importance.

Regulation of Dynamical Systems to Optimal Solutions of Semidefinite Programs: Algorithms and Applications to AC Optimal Power Flow

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

Dall'Anese, Emiliano; Dhople, Sairaj V.; Giannakis, Georgios B.

2015-07-01

This paper considers a collection of networked nonlinear dynamical systems, and addresses the synthesis of feedback controllers that seek optimal operating points corresponding to the solution of pertinent network-wide optimization problems. Particular emphasis is placed on the solution of semidefinite programs (SDPs). The design of the feedback controller is grounded on a dual e-subgradient approach, with the dual iterates utilized to dynamically update the dynamical-system reference signals. Global convergence is guaranteed for diminishing stepsize rules, even when the reference inputs are updated at a faster rate than the dynamical-system settling time. The application of the proposed framework to the controlmore » of power-electronic inverters in AC distribution systems is discussed. The objective is to bridge the time-scale separation between real-time inverter control and network-wide optimization. Optimization objectives assume the form of SDP relaxations of prototypical AC optimal power flow problems.« less

A novel resource sharing algorithm based on distributed construction for radiant enclosure problems

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

Finzell, Peter; Bryden, Kenneth M.

This study demonstrates a novel approach to solving inverse radiant enclosure problems based on distributed construction. Specifically, the problem of determining the temperature distribution needed on the heater surfaces to achieve a desired design surface temperature profile is recast as a distributed construction problem in which a shared resource, temperature, is distributed by computational agents moving blocks. The sharing of blocks between agents enables them to achieve their desired local state, which in turn achieves the desired global state. Each agent uses the current state of their local environment and a simple set of rules to determine when to exchangemore » blocks, each block representing a discrete unit of temperature change. This algorithm is demonstrated using the established two-dimensional inverse radiation enclosure problem. The temperature profile on the heater surfaces is adjusted to achieve a desired temperature profile on the design surfaces. The resource sharing algorithm was able to determine the needed temperatures on the heater surfaces to obtain the desired temperature distribution on the design surfaces in the nine cases examined.« less

A novel resource sharing algorithm based on distributed construction for radiant enclosure problems

DOE PAGES

Finzell, Peter; Bryden, Kenneth M.

2017-03-06

This study demonstrates a novel approach to solving inverse radiant enclosure problems based on distributed construction. Specifically, the problem of determining the temperature distribution needed on the heater surfaces to achieve a desired design surface temperature profile is recast as a distributed construction problem in which a shared resource, temperature, is distributed by computational agents moving blocks. The sharing of blocks between agents enables them to achieve their desired local state, which in turn achieves the desired global state. Each agent uses the current state of their local environment and a simple set of rules to determine when to exchangemore » blocks, each block representing a discrete unit of temperature change. This algorithm is demonstrated using the established two-dimensional inverse radiation enclosure problem. The temperature profile on the heater surfaces is adjusted to achieve a desired temperature profile on the design surfaces. The resource sharing algorithm was able to determine the needed temperatures on the heater surfaces to obtain the desired temperature distribution on the design surfaces in the nine cases examined.« less

The problem of predicting the size distribution of sediment supplied by hillslopes to rivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sklar, Leonard S.; Riebe, Clifford S.; Marshall, Jill A.; Genetti, Jennifer; Leclere, Shirin; Lukens, Claire L.; Merces, Viviane

2017-01-01

Sediments link hillslopes to river channels. The size of sediments entering channels is a key control on river morphodynamics across a range of scales, from channel response to human land use to landscape response to changes in tectonic and climatic forcing. However, very little is known about what controls the size distribution of particles eroded from bedrock on hillslopes, and how particle sizes evolve before sediments are delivered to channels. Here we take the first steps toward building a geomorphic transport law to predict the size distribution of particles produced on hillslopes and supplied to channels. We begin by identifying independent variables that can be used to quantify the influence of five key boundary conditions: lithology, climate, life, erosion rate, and topography, which together determine the suite of geomorphic processes that produce and transport sediments on hillslopes. We then consider the physical and chemical mechanisms that determine the initial size distribution of rock fragments supplied to the hillslope weathering system, and the duration and intensity of weathering experienced by particles on their journey from bedrock to the channel. We propose a simple modeling framework with two components. First, the initial rock fragment sizes are set by the distribution of spacing between fractures in unweathered rock, which is influenced by stresses encountered by rock during exhumation and by rock resistance to fracture propagation. That initial size distribution is then transformed by a weathering function that captures the influence of climate and mineralogy on chemical weathering potential, and the influence of erosion rate and soil depth on residence time and the extent of particle size reduction. Model applications illustrate how spatial variation in weathering regime can lead to bimodal size distributions and downstream fining of channel sediment by down-valley fining of hillslope sediment supply, two examples of hillslope control on river sediment size. Overall, this work highlights the rich opportunities for future research into the controls on the size of sediments produced on hillslopes and delivered to channels.

[Research on the Application of Lean Management in Medical Consumables Material Logistics Management].

PubMed

Yang, Chai; Zhang, Wei; Gu, Wei; Shen, Aizong

2016-11-01

Solve the problems of high cost, low utilization rate of resources, low medical care quality problem in medical consumables material logistics management for scientific of medical consumables management. Analysis of the problems existing in the domestic medical consumables material logistics management in hospital, based on lean management method, SPD(Supply, Processing, Distribution) for specific applications, combined HBOS(Hospital Business Operation System), HIS (Hospital Information System) system for medical consumables material management. Achieve the lean management in medical consumables material purchase, warehouse construction, push, clinical use and retrospect. Lean management in medical consumables material can effectively control the cost in logistics management, optimize the alocation of resources, liberate unnecessary time of medical staff, improve the quality of medical care. It is a scientific management method.

Prevalence of common canine digestive problems compared with other health problems in teaching veterinary hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt.

PubMed

Rakha, Gamal M H; Abdl-Haleem, Mounir M; Farghali, Haithem A M; Abdel-Saeed, Hitham

2015-03-01

The present study was conducted to ascertain the prevalence of common digestive problems compared to other health problems among dogs that were admitted to the teaching veterinary hospital, faculty of veterinary medicine, Cairo University, Egypt during 1 year period from January to December 2013. Also, study the effect of age, sex, breeds, and season on the distribution of digestive problems in dogs. A total of 3864 dogs included 1488 apparently healthy (included 816 males and 672 females) and 2376 diseased dogs (included 1542 males and 834 females) were registered for age, sex, breed, and the main complaint from their owners. A complete history and detailed clinical examination of each case were applied to the aids of radiographic, ultrasonographic, and endoscopic examination tools. Fecal examination was applied for each admitted case. Rapid tests for parvovirus and canine distemper virus detection were also performed. A five digestive problems were commonly recorded including vomiting, diarrhea, concurrent vomiting with diarrhea, anorexia, and constipation with a prevalence (%) of 13.6, 19.1, 10.1, 13.1, and 0.5 respectively while that of dermatological, respiratory, urinary, neurological, cardiovascular, auditory, and ocular problems was 27.9, 10.5, 3.3, 0.84, 0.4, 0.25, and 0.17 (%) respectively. This prevalence was obtained on the basis of the diseased cases. Age and breed had a significant effect on the distribution of digestive problems in dogs (p<0.001). Gender had an effect on the distribution of digestive problems with significant (p≤0.01) while season had a non-significant effect (p>0.05) on the distribution of such problems. Digestive problems were the highest recorded problems among dogs, and this was the first records for such problems among dogs in Egypt. Age, gender, and breeds had a significant effect on the distribution of the digestive problems in dogs while season had a non-significant effect on the distribution of such problems. The present data enable veterinarians in Egypt to ascertain their needs for diagnostic tools and medication that must be present at any pet clinic.

DNA bubble dynamics as a quantum Coulomb problem.

PubMed

Fogedby, Hans C; Metzler, Ralf

2007-02-16

We study the dynamics of denaturation bubbles in double-stranded DNA. Demonstrating that the associated Fokker-Planck equation is equivalent to a Coulomb problem, we derive expressions for the bubble survival distribution W(t). Below Tm, W(t) is associated with the continuum of scattering states of the repulsive Coulomb potential. At Tm, the Coulomb potential vanishes and W(t) assumes a power-law tail with nontrivial dynamic exponents: the critical exponent of the entropy loss factor may cause a finite mean lifetime. Above Tm (attractive potential), the long-time dynamics is controlled by the lowest bound state. Correlations and finite size effects are discussed.

Kullback-Leibler information function and the sequential selection of experiments to discriminate among several linear models. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sidik, S. M.

1972-01-01

A sequential adaptive experimental design procedure for a related problem is studied. It is assumed that a finite set of potential linear models relating certain controlled variables to an observed variable is postulated, and that exactly one of these models is correct. The problem is to sequentially design most informative experiments so that the correct model equation can be determined with as little experimentation as possible. Discussion includes: structure of the linear models; prerequisite distribution theory; entropy functions and the Kullback-Leibler information function; the sequential decision procedure; and computer simulation results. An example of application is given.

Distributed Sleep Scheduling in Wireless Sensor Networks via Fractional Domatic Partitioning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schumacher, André; Haanpää, Harri

We consider setting up sleep scheduling in sensor networks. We formulate the problem as an instance of the fractional domatic partition problem and obtain a distributed approximation algorithm by applying linear programming approximation techniques. Our algorithm is an application of the Garg-Könemann (GK) scheme that requires solving an instance of the minimum weight dominating set (MWDS) problem as a subroutine. Our two main contributions are a distributed implementation of the GK scheme for the sleep-scheduling problem and a novel asynchronous distributed algorithm for approximating MWDS based on a primal-dual analysis of Chvátal's set-cover algorithm. We evaluate our algorithm with ns2 simulations.