Magnetic field concentration using ferromagnetic material to propel a wireless power transfer based micro-robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Dongwook; Park, Bumjin; Park, Jaehyoung; Park, Hyun Ho; Ahn, Seungyoung

2018-05-01

In this paper, we propose a novel coil structure, using a ferromagnetic material which concentrates the magnetic field, as the propulsion system of a wireless power transfer (WPT) based micro-robot. This structure uses an incident magnetic field to induce current during wireless power transfer, to generate a Lorentz force. To prevent net cancelation of the Lorentz force in the load coil, ferrite films were applied to one side of the coil segment. The demonstrated simplicity and effectiveness of the proposed micro-robot showed its suitability for applications. Simulation and experimental results confirmed a velocity of 1.02 mm/s with 6 mW power transfer capacity for the 3 mm sized micro-robot.

A mobile robots experimental environment with event-based wireless communication.

PubMed

Guinaldo, María; Fábregas, Ernesto; Farias, Gonzalo; Dormido-Canto, Sebastián; Chaos, Dictino; Sánchez, José; Dormido, Sebastián

2013-07-22

An experimental platform to communicate between a set of mobile robots through a wireless network has been developed. The mobile robots get their position through a camera which performs as sensor. The video images are processed in a PC and a Waspmote card sends the corresponding position to each robot using the ZigBee standard. A distributed control algorithm based on event-triggered communications has been designed and implemented to bring the robots into the desired formation. Each robot communicates to its neighbors only at event times. Furthermore, a simulation tool has been developed to design and perform experiments with the system. An example of usage is presented.

A Mobile Robots Experimental Environment with Event-Based Wireless Communication

PubMed Central

Guinaldo, María; Fábregas, Ernesto; Farias, Gonzalo; Dormido-Canto, Sebastián; Chaos, Dictino; Sánchez, José; Dormido, Sebastián

2013-01-01

An experimental platform to communicate between a set of mobile robots through a wireless network has been developed. The mobile robots get their position through a camera which performs as sensor. The video images are processed in a PC and a Waspmote card sends the corresponding position to each robot using the ZigBee standard. A distributed control algorithm based on event-triggered communications has been designed and implemented to bring the robots into the desired formation. Each robot communicates to its neighbors only at event times. Furthermore, a simulation tool has been developed to design and perform experiments with the system. An example of usage is presented. PMID:23881139

Traffic Profiling in Wireless Sensor Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-01

components, that can be used for traffic profiling and monitoring of a wireless sensor network . The work demostrates how the IDS should capture and...observed and analyzed. Finally, initial indications from basic analysis of wireless sensor network traffic demonstrated a high degree of self-similarity.

Magnetic resonant wireless power transfer for propulsion of implantable micro-robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, D.; Kim, M.; Yoo, J.; Park, H.-H.; Ahn, S.

2015-05-01

Recently, various types of mobile micro-robots have been proposed for medical and industrial applications. Especially in medical applications, a motor system for propulsion cannot easily be used in a micro-robot due to their small size. Therefore, micro-robots are usually actuated by controlling the magnitude and direction of an external magnetic field. However, for micro-robots, these methods in general are only applicable for moving and drilling operations, but not for the undertaking of various missions. In this paper, we propose a new micro-robot concept, which uses wireless power transfer to deliver the propulsion force and electric power simultaneously. The mechanism of Lorentz force generation and the coil design methodologies are explained, and validation of the proposed propulsion system for a micro-robot is discussed thorough a simulation and with actual measurements with up-scaled test vehicles.

An Intention-Driven Semi-autonomous Intelligent Robotic System for Drinking.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhijun; Huang, Yongqian; Chen, Siyuan; Qu, Jun; Pan, Xin; Yu, Tianyou; Li, Yuanqing

2017-01-01

In this study, an intention-driven semi-autonomous intelligent robotic (ID-SIR) system is designed and developed to assist the severely disabled patients to live independently. The system mainly consists of a non-invasive brain-machine interface (BMI) subsystem, a robot manipulator and a visual detection and localization subsystem. Different from most of the existing systems remotely controlled by joystick, head- or eye tracking, the proposed ID-SIR system directly acquires the intention from users' brain. Compared with the state-of-art system only working for a specific object in a fixed place, the designed ID-SIR system can grasp any desired object in a random place chosen by a user and deliver it to his/her mouth automatically. As one of the main advantages of the ID-SIR system, the patient is only required to send one intention command for one drinking task and the autonomous robot would finish the rest of specific controlling tasks, which greatly eases the burden on patients. Eight healthy subjects attended our experiment, which contained 10 tasks for each subject. In each task, the proposed ID-SIR system delivered the desired beverage container to the mouth of the subject and then put it back to the original position. The mean accuracy of the eight subjects was 97.5%, which demonstrated the effectiveness of the ID-SIR system.

MIT CSAIL and Lincoln Laboratory Task Force Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

projects have been very diverse, spanning several areas of CSAIL concentration, including robotics, big data analytics , wireless communications...spanning several areas of CSAIL concentration, including robotics, big data analytics , wireless communications, computing architectures and...to machine learning systems and algorithms, such as recommender systems, and “Big Data ” analytics . Advanced computing architectures broadly refer to

Robots and therapeutic play: evaluation of a wireless interface device for interaction with a robot playmate.

PubMed

Roberts, Luke; Park, Hae Won; Howard, Ayanna M

2012-01-01

Rehabilitation robots in home environments has the potential to dramatically improve quality of life for individuals who experience disabling circumstances due to injury or chronic health conditions. Unfortunately, although classes of robotic systems for rehabilitation exist, these devices are typically not designed for children. And since over 150 million children in the world live with a disability, this causes a unique challenge for deploying such robotics for this target demographic. To overcome this barrier, we discuss a system that uses a wireless arm glove input device to enable interaction with a robotic playmate during various play scenarios. Results from testing the system with 20 human subjects shows that the system has potential, but certain aspects need to be improved before deployment with children.

Event-Based Control Strategy for Mobile Robots in Wireless Environments.

PubMed

Socas, Rafael; Dormido, Sebastián; Dormido, Raquel; Fabregas, Ernesto

2015-12-02

In this paper, a new event-based control strategy for mobile robots is presented. It has been designed to work in wireless environments where a centralized controller has to interchange information with the robots over an RF (radio frequency) interface. The event-based architectures have been developed for differential wheeled robots, although they can be applied to other kinds of robots in a simple way. The solution has been checked over classical navigation algorithms, like wall following and obstacle avoidance, using scenarios with a unique or multiple robots. A comparison between the proposed architectures and the classical discrete-time strategy is also carried out. The experimental results shows that the proposed solution has a higher efficiency in communication resource usage than the classical discrete-time strategy with the same accuracy.

Event-Based Control Strategy for Mobile Robots in Wireless Environments

PubMed Central

Socas, Rafael; Dormido, Sebastián; Dormido, Raquel; Fabregas, Ernesto

2015-01-01

In this paper, a new event-based control strategy for mobile robots is presented. It has been designed to work in wireless environments where a centralized controller has to interchange information with the robots over an RF (radio frequency) interface. The event-based architectures have been developed for differential wheeled robots, although they can be applied to other kinds of robots in a simple way. The solution has been checked over classical navigation algorithms, like wall following and obstacle avoidance, using scenarios with a unique or multiple robots. A comparison between the proposed architectures and the classical discrete-time strategy is also carried out. The experimental results shows that the proposed solution has a higher efficiency in communication resource usage than the classical discrete-time strategy with the same accuracy. PMID:26633412

Assistance System for Disabled People: A Robot Controlled by Blinking and Wireless Link

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Del Val, Lara; Jiménez, María I.; Alonso, Alonso; de La Rosa, Ramón; Izquierdo, Alberto; Carrera, Albano

Disabled people already profit from a lot of technical assistance that improves their quality of life. This article presents a system which will allow interaction between a physically disabled person and his environment. This system is controlled by voluntary muscular movements, particularly those of face muscles. These movements will be translated into machine-understandable instructions, and they will be sent by means of a wireless link to a mobile robot that will execute them. Robot includes a video camera, in order to show the user the environment of the route that the robot follows. This system gives a greater personal autonomy to people with reduced mobility.

Review of sensors for the in situ chemical characterization of the Hanford underground storage tanks

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

Kyle, K.R.; Mayes, E.L.

1994-07-29

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in the Technical Task Plan (TTP) SF-2112-03 subtask 2, is responsible for the conceptual design of a Raman probe for inclusion in the in-tank cone penetrometer. As part of this task, LLNL is assigned the further responsibility of generating a report describing a review of sensor technologies other than Raman that can be incorporated in the in-tank cone penetrometer for the chemical analysis of the tank environment. These sensors would complement the capabilities of the Raman probe, and would give information on gaseous, liquid, and solid state species that are insensitive to Raman interrogation. Thismore » work is part of a joint effort involving several DOE laboratories for the design and development of in-tank cone penetrometer deployable systems for direct UST waste characterization at Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Underground Storage Tank Integrated Demonstration (UST-ID).« less

A modular wireless in vivo surgical robot with multiple surgical applications.

PubMed

Hawks, Jeff A; Rentschler, Mark E; Farritor, Shane; Oleynikov, Dmitry; Platt, Stephen R

2009-01-01

The use of miniature in vivo robots that fit entirely inside the peritoneal cavity represents a novel approach to laparoscopic surgery. Previous work demonstrates that both mobile and fixed-based robots can successfully operate inside the abdominal cavity. A modular wireless mobile platform has also been developed to provide surgical vision and task assistance. This paper presents an overview of recent test results of several possible surgical applications that can be accommodated by this modular platform. Applications such as a biopsy grasper, stapler and clamp, video camera, and physiological sensors have been integrated into the wireless platform and tested in vivo in a porcine model. The modular platform facilitates rapid development and conversion from one type of surgical task assistance to another. These self-contained surgical devices are much more transportable and much lower in cost than current robotic surgical assistants. These devices could ultimately be carried and deployed by non-medical personnel at the site of an injury. A remotely located surgeon could use these robots to provide critical first response medical intervention.

Optimisation Issues of High Throughput Medical Data and Video Streaming Traffic in 3G Wireless Environments.

PubMed

Istepanian, R S H; Philip, N

2005-01-01

In this paper we describe some of the optimisation issues relevant to the requirements of high throughput of medical data and video streaming traffic in 3G wireless environments. In particular we present a challenging 3G mobile health care application that requires a demanding 3G medical data throughput. We also describe the 3G QoS requirement of mObile Tele-Echography ultra-Light rObot system (OTELO that is designed to provide seamless 3G connectivity for real-time ultrasound medical video streams and diagnosis from a remote site (robotic and patient station) manipulated by an expert side (specialists) that is controlling the robotic scanning operation and presenting a real-time feedback diagnosis using 3G wireless communication links.

Multilayer Statistical Intrusion Detection in Wireless Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamdi, Mohamed; Meddeb-Makhlouf, Amel; Boudriga, Noureddine

2008-12-01

The rapid proliferation of mobile applications and services has introduced new vulnerabilities that do not exist in fixed wired networks. Traditional security mechanisms, such as access control and encryption, turn out to be inefficient in modern wireless networks. Given the shortcomings of the protection mechanisms, an important research focuses in intrusion detection systems (IDSs). This paper proposes a multilayer statistical intrusion detection framework for wireless networks. The architecture is adequate to wireless networks because the underlying detection models rely on radio parameters and traffic models. Accurate correlation between radio and traffic anomalies allows enhancing the efficiency of the IDS. A radio signal fingerprinting technique based on the maximal overlap discrete wavelet transform (MODWT) is developed. Moreover, a geometric clustering algorithm is presented. Depending on the characteristics of the fingerprinting technique, the clustering algorithm permits to control the false positive and false negative rates. Finally, simulation experiments have been carried out to validate the proposed IDS.

Off the Shelf Cloud Robotics for the Smart Home: Empowering a Wireless Robot through Cloud Computing.

PubMed

Ramírez De La Pinta, Javier; Maestre Torreblanca, José María; Jurado, Isabel; Reyes De Cozar, Sergio

2017-03-06

In this paper, we explore the possibilities offered by the integration of home automation systems and service robots. In particular, we examine how advanced computationally expensive services can be provided by using a cloud computing approach to overcome the limitations of the hardware available at the user's home. To this end, we integrate two wireless low-cost, off-the-shelf systems in this work, namely, the service robot Rovio and the home automation system Z-wave. Cloud computing is used to enhance the capabilities of these systems so that advanced sensing and interaction services based on image processing and voice recognition can be offered.

Off the Shelf Cloud Robotics for the Smart Home: Empowering a Wireless Robot through Cloud Computing

PubMed Central

Ramírez De La Pinta, Javier; Maestre Torreblanca, José María; Jurado, Isabel; Reyes De Cozar, Sergio

2017-01-01

In this paper, we explore the possibilities offered by the integration of home automation systems and service robots. In particular, we examine how advanced computationally expensive services can be provided by using a cloud computing approach to overcome the limitations of the hardware available at the user’s home. To this end, we integrate two wireless low-cost, off-the-shelf systems in this work, namely, the service robot Rovio and the home automation system Z-wave. Cloud computing is used to enhance the capabilities of these systems so that advanced sensing and interaction services based on image processing and voice recognition can be offered. PMID:28272305

Wireless intraoral tongue control of an assistive robotic arm for individuals with tetraplegia.

PubMed

Andreasen Struijk, Lotte N S; Egsgaard, Line Lindhardt; Lontis, Romulus; Gaihede, Michael; Bentsen, Bo

2017-11-06

For an individual with tetraplegia assistive robotic arms provide a potentially invaluable opportunity for rehabilitation. However, there is a lack of available control methods to allow these individuals to fully control the assistive arms. Here we show that it is possible for an individual with tetraplegia to use the tongue to fully control all 14 movements of an assistive robotic arm in a three dimensional space using a wireless intraoral control system, thus allowing for numerous activities of daily living. We developed a tongue-based robotic control method incorporating a multi-sensor inductive tongue interface. One abled-bodied individual and one individual with tetraplegia performed a proof of concept study by controlling the robot with their tongue using direct actuator control and endpoint control, respectively. After 30 min of training, the able-bodied experimental participant tongue controlled the assistive robot to pick up a roll of tape in 80% of the attempts. Further, the individual with tetraplegia succeeded in fully tongue controlling the assistive robot to reach for and touch a roll of tape in 100% of the attempts and to pick up the roll in 50% of the attempts. Furthermore, she controlled the robot to grasp a bottle of water and pour its contents into a cup; her first functional action in 19 years. To our knowledge, this is the first time that an individual with tetraplegia has been able to fully control an assistive robotic arm using a wireless intraoral tongue interface. The tongue interface used to control the robot is currently available for control of computers and of powered wheelchairs, and the robot employed in this study is also commercially available. Therefore, the presented results may translate into available solutions within reasonable time.

A Tree Based Self-routing Scheme for Mobility Support in Wireless Sensor Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Young-Duk; Yang, Yeon-Mo; Kang, Won-Seok; Kim, Jin-Wook; An, Jinung

Recently, WSNs (Wireless Sensor Networks) with mobile robot is a growing technology that offer efficient communication services for anytime and anywhere applications. However, the tiny sensor node has very limited network resources due to its low battery power, low data rate, node mobility, and channel interference constraint between neighbors. Thus, in this paper, we proposed a tree based self-routing protocol for autonomous mobile robots based on beacon mode and implemented in real test-bed environments. The proposed scheme offers beacon based real-time scheduling for reliable association process between parent and child nodes. In addition, it supports smooth handover procedure by reducing flooding overhead of control packets. Throughout the performance evaluation by using a real test-bed system and simulation, we illustrate that our proposed scheme demonstrates promising performance for wireless sensor networks with mobile robots.

A multi-sensor RSS spatial sensing-based robust stochastic optimization algorithm for enhanced wireless tethering.

PubMed

Parasuraman, Ramviyas; Fabry, Thomas; Molinari, Luca; Kershaw, Keith; Di Castro, Mario; Masi, Alessandro; Ferre, Manuel

2014-12-12

The reliability of wireless communication in a network of mobile wireless robot nodes depends on the received radio signal strength (RSS). When the robot nodes are deployed in hostile environments with ionizing radiations (such as in some scientific facilities), there is a possibility that some electronic components may fail randomly (due to radiation effects), which causes problems in wireless connectivity. The objective of this paper is to maximize robot mission capabilities by maximizing the wireless network capacity and to reduce the risk of communication failure. Thus, in this paper, we consider a multi-node wireless tethering structure called the "server-relay-client" framework that uses (multiple) relay nodes in between a server and a client node. We propose a robust stochastic optimization (RSO) algorithm using a multi-sensor-based RSS sampling method at the relay nodes to efficiently improve and balance the RSS between the source and client nodes to improve the network capacity and to provide redundant networking abilities. We use pre-processing techniques, such as exponential moving averaging and spatial averaging filters on the RSS data for smoothing. We apply a receiver spatial diversity concept and employ a position controller on the relay node using a stochastic gradient ascent method for self-positioning the relay node to achieve the RSS balancing task. The effectiveness of the proposed solution is validated by extensive simulations and field experiments in CERN facilities. For the field trials, we used a youBot mobile robot platform as the relay node, and two stand-alone Raspberry Pi computers as the client and server nodes. The algorithm has been proven to be robust to noise in the radio signals and to work effectively even under non-line-of-sight conditions.

A Multi-Sensor RSS Spatial Sensing-Based Robust Stochastic Optimization Algorithm for Enhanced Wireless Tethering

PubMed Central

Parasuraman, Ramviyas; Fabry, Thomas; Molinari, Luca; Kershaw, Keith; Di Castro, Mario; Masi, Alessandro; Ferre, Manuel

2014-01-01

The reliability of wireless communication in a network of mobile wireless robot nodes depends on the received radio signal strength (RSS). When the robot nodes are deployed in hostile environments with ionizing radiations (such as in some scientific facilities), there is a possibility that some electronic components may fail randomly (due to radiation effects), which causes problems in wireless connectivity. The objective of this paper is to maximize robot mission capabilities by maximizing the wireless network capacity and to reduce the risk of communication failure. Thus, in this paper, we consider a multi-node wireless tethering structure called the “server-relay-client” framework that uses (multiple) relay nodes in between a server and a client node. We propose a robust stochastic optimization (RSO) algorithm using a multi-sensor-based RSS sampling method at the relay nodes to efficiently improve and balance the RSS between the source and client nodes to improve the network capacity and to provide redundant networking abilities. We use pre-processing techniques, such as exponential moving averaging and spatial averaging filters on the RSS data for smoothing. We apply a receiver spatial diversity concept and employ a position controller on the relay node using a stochastic gradient ascent method for self-positioning the relay node to achieve the RSS balancing task. The effectiveness of the proposed solution is validated by extensive simulations and field experiments in CERN facilities. For the field trials, we used a youBot mobile robot platform as the relay node, and two stand-alone Raspberry Pi computers as the client and server nodes. The algorithm has been proven to be robust to noise in the radio signals and to work effectively even under non-line-of-sight conditions. PMID:25615734

Analysis of time in establishing synchronization radio communication system with expanded spectrum conditions for communication with mobile robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Latinovic, T. S.; Kalabic, S. B.; Barz, C. R.; Petrica, P. Paul; Pop-Vădean, A.

2018-01-01

This paper analyzes the influence of the Doppler Effect on the length of time to establish synchronization pseudorandom sequences in radio communications systems with an expanded spectrum. Also, this paper explores the possibility of using secure wireless communication for modular robots. Wireless communication could be used for local and global communication. We analyzed a radio communication system integrator, including the two effects of the Doppler signal on the duration of establishing synchronization of the received and locally generated pseudorandom sequence. The effects of the impact of the variability of the phase were analyzed between the said sequences and correspondence of the phases of these signals with the interval of time of acquisition of received sequences. An analysis of these impacts is essential in the transmission of signal and protection of the transfer of information in the communication systems with an expanded range (telecommunications, mobile telephony, Global Navigation Satellite System GNSS, and wireless communication). Results show that wireless communication can provide a safety approach for communication with mobile robots.

Cardiac ultrasonography over 4G wireless networks using a tele-operated robot

PubMed Central

Panayides, Andreas S.; Jossif, Antonis P.; Christoforou, Eftychios G.; Vieyres, Pierre; Novales, Cyril; Voskarides, Sotos; Pattichis, Constantinos S.

2016-01-01

This Letter proposes an end-to-end mobile tele-echography platform using a portable robot for remote cardiac ultrasonography. Performance evaluation investigates the capacity of long-term evolution (LTE) wireless networks to facilitate responsive robot tele-manipulation and real-time ultrasound video streaming that qualifies for clinical practice. Within this context, a thorough video coding standards comparison for cardiac ultrasound applications is performed, using a data set of ten ultrasound videos. Both objective and subjective (clinical) video quality assessment demonstrate that H.264/AVC and high efficiency video coding standards can achieve diagnostically-lossless video quality at bitrates well within the LTE supported data rates. Most importantly, reduced latencies experienced throughout the live tele-echography sessions allow the medical expert to remotely operate the robot in a responsive manner, using the wirelessly communicated cardiac ultrasound video to reach a diagnosis. Based on preliminary results documented in this Letter, the proposed robotised tele-echography platform can provide for reliable, remote diagnosis, achieving comparable quality of experience levels with in-hospital ultrasound examinations. PMID:27733929

Hand Gesture Based Wireless Robotic Arm Control for Agricultural Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kannan Megalingam, Rajesh; Bandhyopadhyay, Shiva; Vamsy Vivek, Gedela; Juned Rahi, Muhammad

2017-08-01

One of the major challenges in agriculture is harvesting. It is very hard and sometimes even unsafe for workers to go to each plant and pluck fruits. Robotic systems are increasingly combined with new technologies to automate or semi automate labour intensive work, such as e.g. grape harvesting. In this work we propose a semi-automatic method for aid in harvesting fruits and hence increase productivity per man hour. A robotic arm fixed to a rover roams in the in orchard and the user can control it remotely using the hand glove fixed with various sensors. These sensors can position the robotic arm remotely to harvest the fruits. In this paper we discuss the design of hand glove fixed with various sensors, design of 4 DoF robotic arm and the wireless control interface. In addition the setup of the system and the testing and evaluation under lab conditions are also presented in this paper.

1200737

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-21

FINAL DEMONSTRATION OF A WIRELESS DATA TASK SUPPORTED BY SLS ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT USED TO DEMONSTRATE REAL-TIME VIDEO OVER WIRELESS CONNECTIONS ALONG WITH DATA AND COMMANDS AS DEMONSTRATED VIA THE ROBOTIC ARMS. THE ARMS AND VIDEO CAMERAS WERE MOUNTED ON FREE FLOATING AIR-BEARING VEHICLES TO SIMULATE CONDITIONS IN SPACE. THEY WERE USED TO SHOW HOW A CHASE VEHICLE COULD MOVE UP TO AND CAPTURE A SATELLITE, SUCH AS THE FASTSAT MOCKUP DEMONSTRITING HOW ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY AND SMALL SPACECRAFT COULD ASSIST WITH ORBITAL DEBRIS MITIGATION

1200739

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-21

FINAL DEMONSTRATION OF A WIRELESS DATA TASK SUPPORTED BY SLS ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT USED TO DEMONSTRATE REAL-TIME VIDEO OVER WIRELESS CONNECTIONS ALONG WITH DATA AND COMMANDS AS DEMONSTRATED VIA THE ROBOTIC ARMS. THE ARMS AND VIDEO CAMERAS WERE MOUNTED ON FREE FLOATING AIR-BEARING VEHICLES TO SIMULATE CONDITIONS IN SPACE. THEY WERE USED TO SHOW HOW A CHASE VEHICLE COULD MOVE UP TO AND CAPTURE A SATELLITE, SUCH AS THE FASTSAT MOCKUP DEMONSTRITING HOW ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY AND SMALL SPACECRAFT COULD ASSIST WITH ORBITAL DEBRIS MITIGATION

1200738

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-21

FINAL DEMONSTRATION OF A WIRELESS DATA TASK SUPPORTED BY SLS ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT USED TO DEMONSTRATE REAL-TIME VIDEO OVER WIRELESS CONNECTIONS ALONG WITH DATA AND COMMANDS AS DEMONSTRATED VIA THE ROBOTIC ARMS. THE ARMS AND VIDEO CAMERAS WERE MOUNTED ON FREE FLOATING AIR-BEARING VEHICLES TO SIMULATE CONDITIONS IN SPACE. THEY WERE USED TO SHOW HOW A CHASE VEHICLE COULD MOVE UP TO AND CAPTURE A SATELLITE, SUCH AS THE FASTSAT MOCKUP DEMONSTRITING HOW ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY AND SMALL SPACECRAFT COULD ASSIST WITH ORBITAL DEBRIS MITIGATION

The AMEDD Futures 2039 Project: Phase 2 Final Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-30

healthcare education. Tools such as virtual reality trainers, robotic trainers, simulations and artificial intelligence will cause self directed and...functions monitoring * robotic arm applies blood to lab-in-the-field chips * robotic self -sustaining energy sources *wireless transmission of...Biotechnology, and Robotics for Far Forward Diagnosis and Treatment of Casualties in Future Warfare – Dr. Cynthia Abbott

Design of multifunction anti-terrorism robotic system based on police dog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

You, Bo; Liu, Suju; Xu, Jun; Li, Dongjie

2007-11-01

Aimed at some typical constraints of police dogs and robots used in the areas of reconnaissance and counterterrorism currently, the multifunction anti-terrorism robotic system based on police dog has been introduced. The system is made up of two parts: portable commanding device and police dog robotic system. The portable commanding device consists of power supply module, microprocessor module, LCD display module, wireless data receiving and dispatching module and commanding module, which implements the remote control to the police dogs and takes real time monitor to the video and images. The police dog robotic system consists of microprocessor module, micro video module, wireless data transmission module, power supply module and offence weapon module, which real time collects and transmits video and image data of the counter-terrorism sites, and gives military attack based on commands. The system combines police dogs' biological intelligence with micro robot. Not only does it avoid the complexity of general anti-terrorism robots' mechanical structure and the control algorithm, but it also widens the working scope of police dog, which meets the requirements of anti-terrorism in the new era.

40 CFR 280.70 - Temporary closure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.70 Temporary closure. (a) When an UST system is... the UST system is empty. The UST system is empty when all materials have been removed using commonly... the total capacity of the UST system, remain in the system. (b) When an UST system is temporarily...

40 CFR 280.70 - Temporary closure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.70 Temporary closure. (a) When an UST system is... the UST system is empty. The UST system is empty when all materials have been removed using commonly... the total capacity of the UST system, remain in the system. (b) When an UST system is temporarily...

40 CFR 280.70 - Temporary closure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.70 Temporary closure. (a) When an UST system is... the UST system is empty. The UST system is empty when all materials have been removed using commonly... the total capacity of the UST system, remain in the system. (b) When an UST system is temporarily...

40 CFR 280.70 - Temporary closure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.70 Temporary closure. (a) When an UST system is... the UST system is empty. The UST system is empty when all materials have been removed using commonly... the total capacity of the UST system, remain in the system. (b) When an UST system is temporarily...

40 CFR 280.70 - Temporary closure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.70 Temporary closure. (a) When an UST system is... the UST system is empty. The UST system is empty when all materials have been removed using commonly... the total capacity of the UST system, remain in the system. (b) When an UST system is temporarily...

Underground storage tank management plan, Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

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

NONE

1997-09-01

The Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant was established to locate UST systems at the facility and to ensure that all operating UST systems are free of leaks. UST systems have been removed or upgraded in accordance with Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) regulations and guidance. With the closure of a significant portion of the USTs, the continuing mission of the UST Management Program is to manage the remaining active UST systems and continue corrective actions in a safe regulatory compliant manner. This Program outlines the compliance issues that must be addressed, reviewsmore » the current UST inventory and compliance approach, and presents the status and planned activities associated with each UST system. The UST Program provides guidance for implementing TDEC regulations and guidelines for petroleum UST systems. The plan is divided into three major sections: (1) regulatory requirements, (2) active UST sites, and (3) out-of-service UST sites. These sections describe in detail the applicable regulatory drivers, the UST sites addressed under the Program, and the procedures and guidance for compliance.« less

49 CFR Appendix A to Part 395 - Electronic On-Board Recorder Performance Specifications

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... (to home office or wireless service provider). External Sensor Issue NO_ECM no ECM data No sensory information received from vehicle's Engine Control Module (ECM). External Sensor Issue ECM_ID ECM ID number mismatch ECM identification/serial number mismatch (with preprogrammed information). 2. Communications...

Technical feasibility of patient-friendly screening and treatment of digestive disease by remote control robotic capsule endoscopes via the internet.

PubMed

Ohta, Hidetoshi; Kawashima, Makoto

2014-01-01

A few types of steerable capsule endoscopes have been proposed but disappointingly their systems were not applicable to common endoscopic treatment or pathological diagnosis. This study validates the possibility of treatment and biopsy by using an internet-linked (wireless control via the internet) robotic capsule endoscope (iRoboCap). iRoboCap consisted of three parts: an imaging unit, a movement control unit and a therapeutic tool unit. Two types of iRoboCaps were designed, one was a submarine type (iRoboCap-S) and the other was an amphibious type (iRoboCap-A). They were remotely and wirelessly steered by a portable tablet device using Bluetooth and via the internet. The success rates of biopsy or clipping were evaluated in a phantom. Although the two prototypes have various problems that need improving, we hope that our robotic and wireless innovations have opened the door to new endoscopic procedures and will pioneer various new applications in medicine.

Underground storage tank management plan

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

NONE

1994-09-01

The Underground Storage Tank (UST) Management Program at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant was established to locate UST systems in operation at the facility, to ensure that all operating UST systems are free of leaks, and to establish a program for the removal of unnecessary UST systems and upgrade of UST systems that continue to be needed. The program implements an integrated approach to the management of UST systems, with each system evaluated against the same requirements and regulations. A common approach is employed, in accordance with Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) regulations and guidance, when corrective actionmore » is mandated. This Management Plan outlines the compliance issues that must be addressed by the UST Management Program, reviews the current UST inventory and compliance approach, and presents the status and planned activities associated with each UST system. The UST Management Plan provides guidance for implementing TDEC regulations and guidelines for petroleum UST systems. (There are no underground radioactive waste UST systems located at Y-12.) The plan is divided into four major sections: (1) regulatory requirements, (2) implementation requirements, (3) Y-12 Plant UST Program inventory sites, and (4) UST waste management practices. These sections describe in detail the applicable regulatory drivers, the UST sites addressed under the Management Program, and the procedures and guidance used for compliance with applicable regulations.« less

40 CFR 280.210 - Participation in management.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... facility or property on which the UST or UST system is located received at any time after six months... management of an UST or UST system” means that, subsequent to the effective date of this subpart, December 6... UST or UST system, as defined herein. (a) Actions that are participation in management. (1...

ZigBee-based wireless intra-oral control system for quadriplegic patients.

PubMed

Peng, Qiyu; Budinger, Thomas F

2007-01-01

A human-to-computer system that includes a wireless intra-oral module, a wireless coordinator and distributed wireless controllers, is presented. The state-of-the-art ZigBee protocol is employed to achieve reliable, low-power and cost-efficient wireless communication between the tongue, computer and controllers. By manipulating five buttons on the wireless intra-oral module using the tongue, the subject can control cursors, computer menus, wheelchair, lights, TV, phone and robotic devices. The system is designed to improve the life quality of patients with stroke and patients with spinal cord injury.

Autonomous Experimentation of Carbon Nanotube Using Response Surface Methods

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-26

on the unique challenges of creating autonomous research robots . v Table of Contents Page Abstract...previous RSM results. 31 S AR Reset a l data les Disp ay Sta t Menu Adjust eas ble bounda es Ad ust acto evel size Dec de andom o speci ed n t...al sta t ni ial Sta t Gene ate andom sta t # o uns D splay O Block Menu C ea e O B ock des gn Disp ay ull O Design Menu C ea e O ull Design W

Interference Drop Scheme: Enhancing QoS Provision in Multi-Hop Ad Hoc Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Chang-Yi; Komuro, Nobuyoshi; Takahashi, Kiyoshi; Kasai, Hiroyuki; Ueda, Hiromi; Tsuboi, Toshinori

Ad hoc networking uses wireless technologies to construct networks with no physical infrastructure and so are expected to provide instant networking in areas such as disaster recovery sites and inter-vehicle communication. Unlike conventional wired networks services, services in ad hoc networks are easily disrupted by the frequent changes in traffic and topology. Therefore, solutions to assure the Quality of Services (QoS) in ad hoc networks are different from the conventional ones used in wired networks. In this paper, we propose a new queue management scheme, Interference Drop Scheme (IDS) for ad hoc networks. In the conventional queue management approaches such as FIFO (First-in First-out) and RED (Random Early Detection), a queue is usually managed by a queue length limit. FIFO discards packets according to the queue limit, and RED discards packets in an early and random fashion. IDS, on the other hand, manages the queue according to wireless interference time, which increases as the number of contentions in the MAC layer increases. When there are many MAC contentions, IDS discards TCP data packets. By observing the interference time and discarding TCP data packets, our simulation results show that IDS improves TCP performance and reduces QoS violations in UDP in ad hoc networks with chain, grid, and random topologies. Our simulation results also demonstrate that wireless interference time is a better metric than queue length limit for queue management in multi-hop ad hoc networks.

40 CFR 280.230 - Operating an underground storage tank or underground storage tank system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... underground storage tank or underground storage tank system. (a) Operating an UST or UST system prior to...) Operating an UST or UST system after foreclosure. The following provisions apply to a holder who, through..., the purchaser must decide whether to operate or close the UST or UST system in accordance with...

40 CFR 280.230 - Operating an underground storage tank or underground storage tank system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... underground storage tank or underground storage tank system. (a) Operating an UST or UST system prior to...) Operating an UST or UST system after foreclosure. The following provisions apply to a holder who, through..., the purchaser must decide whether to operate or close the UST or UST system in accordance with...

40 CFR 280.230 - Operating an underground storage tank or underground storage tank system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... underground storage tank or underground storage tank system. (a) Operating an UST or UST system prior to...) Operating an UST or UST system after foreclosure. The following provisions apply to a holder who, through..., the purchaser must decide whether to operate or close the UST or UST system in accordance with...

40 CFR 280.230 - Operating an underground storage tank or underground storage tank system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... underground storage tank or underground storage tank system. (a) Operating an UST or UST system prior to...) Operating an UST or UST system after foreclosure. The following provisions apply to a holder who, through..., the purchaser must decide whether to operate or close the UST or UST system in accordance with...

40 CFR 280.230 - Operating an underground storage tank or underground storage tank system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... underground storage tank or underground storage tank system. (a) Operating an UST or UST system prior to...) Operating an UST or UST system after foreclosure. The following provisions apply to a holder who, through..., the purchaser must decide whether to operate or close the UST or UST system in accordance with...

Manipulation of permanent magnetic polymer micro-robots: a new approach towards guided wireless capsule endoscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hilbich, D.; Rahbar, A.; Khosla, A.; Gray, B. L.

2012-10-01

We present the initial experimental results for manipulating micro-robots featuring permanent magnetic polymer magnets for guided wireless endoscopy applications. The magnetic polymers are fabricated by doping polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with permanent isotropic rare earth magnetic powder (MQFP 12-5) with an average particle size of 6 μm. The prepared magnetic nanocomposite polymer (M-NCP) is patterned in the desired shape against a plexiglass mold via soft lithography techniques. It is observed that the fabricated micro-robot magnets have a magnetic field strength of 50 mT and can easily be actuated by applying a field of 8.3 mT (field measured at the capsule's position) and moved at a rate of 5 inches/second.

Research on the inspection robot for cable tunnel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xin, Shihao

2017-03-01

Robot by mechanical obstacle, double end communication, remote control and monitoring software components. The mechanical obstacle part mainly uses the tracked mobile robot mechanism, in order to facilitate the design and installation of the robot, the other auxiliary swing arm; double side communication part used a combination of communication wire communication with wireless communication, great improve the communication range of the robot. When the robot is controlled by far detection range, using wired communication control, on the other hand, using wireless communication; remote control part mainly completes the inspection robot walking, navigation, positioning and identification of cloud platform control. In order to improve the reliability of its operation, the preliminary selection of IPC as the control core the movable body selection program hierarchical structure as a design basis; monitoring software part is the core part of the robot, which has a definite diagnosis Can be instead of manual simple fault judgment, instead the robot as a remote actuators, staff as long as the remote control can be, do not have to body at the scene. Four parts are independent of each other but are related to each other, the realization of the structure of independence and coherence, easy maintenance and coordination work. Robot with real-time positioning function and remote control function, greatly improves the IT operation. Robot remote monitor, to avoid the direct contact with the staff and line, thereby reducing the accident casualties, for the safety of the inspection work has far-reaching significance.

Hardware platform for multiple mobile robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parzhuber, Otto; Dolinsky, D.

2004-12-01

This work is concerned with software and communications architectures that might facilitate the operation of several mobile robots. The vehicles should be remotely piloted or tele-operated via a wireless link between the operator and the vehicles. The wireless link will carry control commands from the operator to the vehicle, telemetry data from the vehicle back to the operator and frequently also a real-time video stream from an on board camera. For autonomous driving the link will carry commands and data between the vehicles. For this purpose we have developed a hardware platform which consists of a powerful microprocessor, different sensors, stereo- camera and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) for communication. The adoption of IEEE802.11 standard for the physical and access layer protocols allow a straightforward integration with the internet protocols TCP/IP. For the inspection of the environment the robots are equipped with a wide variety of sensors like ultrasonic, infrared proximity sensors and a small inertial measurement unit. Stereo cameras give the feasibility of the detection of obstacles, measurement of distance and creation of a map of the room.

75 FR 63526 - In the Matter of: Camera Platforms International, Inc., Castleguard Energy, Inc., CD Warehouse...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-15

... Robotics International, Inc., Cell Wireless Corp., Cellcom Corporation (n/k/a Cellcom I Corp.), and Central... securities of Cell Robotics International, Inc. because it has not filed any periodic reports since the...

40 CFR 280.73 - Applicability to previously closed UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.73 Applicability to previously closed UST systems. When directed by the implementing agency, the owner and operator of an UST system... systems. 280.73 Section 280.73 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID...

40 CFR 280.73 - Applicability to previously closed UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.73 Applicability to previously closed UST systems. When directed by the implementing agency, the owner and operator of an UST system... systems. 280.73 Section 280.73 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID...

40 CFR 280.73 - Applicability to previously closed UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.73 Applicability to previously closed UST systems. When directed by the implementing agency, the owner and operator of an UST system... systems. 280.73 Section 280.73 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID...

40 CFR 280.73 - Applicability to previously closed UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.73 Applicability to previously closed UST systems. When directed by the implementing agency, the owner and operator of an UST system... systems. 280.73 Section 280.73 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID...

40 CFR 280.73 - Applicability to previously closed UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.73 Applicability to previously closed UST systems. When directed by the implementing agency, the owner and operator of an UST system... systems. 280.73 Section 280.73 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID...

40 CFR 280.41 - Requirements for petroleum UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Requirements for petroleum UST systems... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Release Detection § 280.41 Requirements for petroleum UST systems. Owners and operators of petroleum UST systems must provide release detection for tanks and piping as follows: (a) Tanks...

40 CFR 280.41 - Requirements for petroleum UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Requirements for petroleum UST systems... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Release Detection § 280.41 Requirements for petroleum UST systems. Owners and operators of petroleum UST systems must provide release detection for tanks and piping as follows: (a) Tanks...

Vehicle emission implications of drivers' smart advisory system for traffic operations in work zones.

PubMed

Li, Qing; Qiao, Fengxiang; Yu, Lei

2016-05-01

Wireless communication systems have been broadly applied in various complicated traffic operations to improve mobility and safety on roads, which may raise a concern about the implication of the new technology on vehicle emissions. This paper explores how the wireless communication systems improve drivers' driving behaviors and its contributions to the emission reduction, in terms of Operating Mode (OpMode) IDs distribution used in emission estimation. A simulated work zone with completed traffic operation was selected as a test bed. Sixty subjects were recruited for the tests, whose demographic distribution was based on the Census data in Houston, Texas. A scene of a pedestrian's crossing in the work zone was designed for the driving test. Meanwhile, a wireless communication system called Drivers Smart Advisory System (DSAS) was proposed and introduced in the driving simulation, which provided drivers with warning messages in the work zone. Two scenarios were designed for a leading vehicle as well as for a following vehicle driving through the work zone, which included a base test without any wireless communication systems, and a driving test with the trigger of the DSAS. Subjects' driving behaviors in the simulation were recorded to evaluate safety and estimate the vehicle emission using the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released emission model MOVES. The correlation between drivers' driving behavior and the distribution of the OpMode ID during each scenario was investigated. Results show that the DSAS was able to induce drivers to accelerate smoothly, keep longer headway distance and stop earlier for a hazardous situation in the work zone, which driving behaviors result in statistically significant reduction in vehicle emissions for almost all studied air pollutants (p-values range from 4.10E-51 to 2.18E-03). The emission reduction was achieved by the switching the distribution of the OpMode IDs from higher emission zones to lower emission zones. Transportation section is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Many studies demonstrate that the wireless communication system dedicated for safety and mobility issues may contribute to the induction in vehicle emissions through changing driving behaviors. An insight into the correlation between the driving behaviors and the distribution of Operating Mode (OpMode) IDs is essential to enhance the emission reduction. The result of this study shows that with a Drivers Smart Advisory System (DSAS) drivers accelerated smoothly and stopped earlier for a hazardous situation, which induce the switch of the OpMode IDs from high emission zones to lower emission zones.

Autonomous Legged Hill and Stairwell Ascent

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-11-01

environments with little burden to a human operator. Keywords: autonomous robot , hill climbing , stair climbing , sequential composition, hexapod, self...X-RHex robot on a set of stairs with laser scanner, IMU, wireless repeater, and handle payloads. making them useful for both climbing hills and...reconciliation into that more powerful (but restrictive) framework. 1) The Stair Climbing Behavior: RHex robots have been climbing single-flight stairs

UST System Compatibility with Petroleum-Biofuel Blends: A Brief Guide to the 2015 Federal UST Regulations for Owners and Operators of USTs Located on Tribal Lands

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Review information for UST owners and operators on tribal lands with compatibility requirements in the 2015 federal UST regulation when storing gasoline blends containing greater than 10 percent ethanol or diesel blends containing greater than 20 percent.

System of launchable mesoscale robots for distributed sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yesin, Kemal B.; Nelson, Bradley J.; Papanikolopoulos, Nikolaos P.; Voyles, Richard M.; Krantz, Donald G.

1999-08-01

A system of launchable miniature mobile robots with various sensors as payload is used for distributed sensing. The robots are projected to areas of interest either by a robot launcher or by a human operator using standard equipment. A wireless communication network is used to exchange information with the robots. Payloads such as a MEMS sensor for vibration detection, a microphone and an active video module are used mainly to detect humans. The video camera provides live images through a wireless video transmitter and a pan-tilt mechanism expands the effective field of view. There are strict restrictions on total volume and power consumption of the payloads due to the small size of the robot. Emerging technologies are used to address these restrictions. In this paper, we describe the use of microrobotic technologies to develop active vision modules for the mesoscale robot. A single chip CMOS video sensor is used along with a miniature lens that is approximately the size of a sugar cube. The device consumes 100 mW; about 5 times less than the power consumption of a comparable CCD camera. Miniature gearmotors 3 mm in diameter are used to drive the pan-tilt mechanism. A miniature video transmitter is used to transmit analog video signals from the camera.

Secure Data Aggregation in Wireless Sensor Network-Fujisaki Okamoto(FO) Authentication Scheme against Sybil Attack.

PubMed

Nirmal Raja, K; Maraline Beno, M

2017-07-01

In the wireless sensor network(WSN) security is a major issue. There are several network security schemes proposed in research. In the network, malicious nodes obstruct the performance of the network. The network can be vulnerable by Sybil attack. When a node illicitly assertions multiple identities or claims fake IDs, the WSN grieves from an attack named Sybil attack. This attack threatens wireless sensor network in data aggregation, synchronizing system, routing, fair resource allocation and misbehavior detection. Henceforth, the research is carried out to prevent the Sybil attack and increase the performance of the network. This paper presents the novel security mechanism and Fujisaki Okamoto algorithm and also application of the work. The Fujisaki-Okamoto (FO) algorithm is ID based cryptographic scheme and gives strong authentication against Sybil attack. By using Network simulator2 (NS2) the scheme is simulated. In this proposed scheme broadcasting key, time taken for different key sizes, energy consumption, Packet delivery ratio, Throughput were analyzed.

Implementation of a Multi-Robot Coverage Algorithm on a Two-Dimensional, Grid-Based Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

two planar laser range finders with a 180-degree field of view , color camera, vision beacons, and wireless communicator. In their system, the robots...Master’s thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE IMPLEMENTATION OF A MULTI -ROBOT COVERAGE ALGORITHM ON A TWO -DIMENSIONAL, GRID-BASED ENVIRONMENT 5. FUNDING NUMBERS...path planning coverage algorithm for a multi -robot system in a two -dimensional, grid-based environment. We assess the applicability of a topology

Externalising moods and psychological states in a cloud based system to enhance a pet-robot and child's interaction.

PubMed

Larriba, Ferran; Raya, Cristóbal; Angulo, Cecilio; Albo-Canals, Jordi; Díaz, Marta; Boldú, Roger

2016-07-15

This PATRICIA research project is about using pet robots to reduce pain and anxiety in hospitalized children. The study began 2 years ago and it is believed that the advances made in this project are significant. Patients, parents, nurses, psychologists, and engineers have adopted the Pleo robot, a baby dinosaur robotic pet, which works in different ways to assist children during hospitalization. Focus is spent on creating a wireless communication system with the Pleo in order to help the coordinator, who conducts therapy with the child, monitor, understand, and control Pleo's behavior at any moment. This article reports how this technological function is being developed and tested. Wireless communication between the Pleo and an Android device is achieved. The developed Android app allows the user to obtain any state of the robot without stopping its interaction with the patient. Moreover, information is sent to a cloud, so that robot moods, states and interactions can be shared among different robots. Pleo attachment was successful for more than 1 month, working with children in therapy, which makes the investment capable of positive therapeutic possibilities. This technical improvement in the Pleo addresses two key issues in social robotics: needing an enhanced response to maintain the attention and engagement of the child, and using the system as a platform to collect the states of the child's progress for clinical purposes.

Dynamically Reconfigurable Microphone Arrays

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-01

from a number of different positions. In the second tests, the 2 wireless microphones were combined with a rigid binaural array on top of the b21r...Static + 2 Wireless Using only a standard computer sound card, a robot is limited to binaural inputs. Even when using wireless microphones, the audio...34 in HRI, Arlington, VA, 2007, pp. 113-120. [6] M. Heckmann, T. Rodemann, F. Joublin, C. Goerick, and B. Scholling, "Auditory Inspired Binaural

Design and Implementation of Sound Searching Robots in Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Han, Lianfu; Shen, Zhengguang; Fu, Changfeng; Liu, Chao

2016-01-01

A sound target-searching robot system which includes a 4-channel microphone array for sound collection, magneto-resistive sensor for declination measurement, and a wireless sensor networks (WSN) for exchanging information is described. It has an embedded sound signal enhancement, recognition and location method, and a sound searching strategy based on a digital signal processor (DSP). As the wireless network nodes, three robots comprise the WSN a personal computer (PC) in order to search the three different sound targets in task-oriented collaboration. The improved spectral subtraction method is used for noise reduction. As the feature of audio signal, Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) is extracted. Based on the K-nearest neighbor classification method, we match the trained feature template to recognize sound signal type. This paper utilizes the improved generalized cross correlation method to estimate time delay of arrival (TDOA), and then employs spherical-interpolation for sound location according to the TDOA and the geometrical position of the microphone array. A new mapping has been proposed to direct the motor to search sound targets flexibly. As the sink node, the PC receives and displays the result processed in the WSN, and it also has the ultimate power to make decision on the received results in order to improve their accuracy. The experiment results show that the designed three-robot system implements sound target searching function without collisions and performs well. PMID:27657088

Design and Implementation of Sound Searching Robots in Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Han, Lianfu; Shen, Zhengguang; Fu, Changfeng; Liu, Chao

2016-09-21

A sound target-searching robot system which includes a 4-channel microphone array for sound collection, magneto-resistive sensor for declination measurement, and a wireless sensor networks (WSN) for exchanging information is described. It has an embedded sound signal enhancement, recognition and location method, and a sound searching strategy based on a digital signal processor (DSP). As the wireless network nodes, three robots comprise the WSN a personal computer (PC) in order to search the three different sound targets in task-oriented collaboration. The improved spectral subtraction method is used for noise reduction. As the feature of audio signal, Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) is extracted. Based on the K-nearest neighbor classification method, we match the trained feature template to recognize sound signal type. This paper utilizes the improved generalized cross correlation method to estimate time delay of arrival (TDOA), and then employs spherical-interpolation for sound location according to the TDOA and the geometrical position of the microphone array. A new mapping has been proposed to direct the motor to search sound targets flexibly. As the sink node, the PC receives and displays the result processed in the WSN, and it also has the ultimate power to make decision on the received results in order to improve their accuracy. The experiment results show that the designed three-robot system implements sound target searching function without collisions and performs well.

Communication architecture system for fiber positioning of DESI spectrograph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaci, Karim; Glez-de-Rivera, Guillermo; Lopez-Colino, Fernando; Martinez-Garcia, M. Sofia; Masa, Jose L.; Garrido, Javier; Sanchez, Justo; Prada, Francisco

2016-07-01

This paper presents a design proposal for controlling the five thousand fiber positioners within the focal plate of the DESI instrument. Each of these positioners is a robot which allows positioning its optic fiber with a resolution within the range of few microns. The high number and density of these robots poses a challenge for handling the communication from a central control device to each of these five thousand. Furthermore, an additional restriction applies as the required time to communicate to every robot of its position must be smaller than a second. Additionally. a low energy consumption profile is also desired. Both wireless and wired communication protocols have been evaluated, proposing single-technology-based architectures and hybrid ones (a combination of them). Among the wireless solutions, ZigBee and CyFi have been considered. Using simulation tools these wireless protocols have been discarded as they do not allow an efficient communication. The studied wired protocols comprise I2C, CAN and Ethernet. The best solution found is a hybrid multilayer architecture combining both Ethernet and I2C. A 100 Mbps Ethernet based network is used to communicate the central control unit with ten management boards. Each of these boards is a low-cost, low-power embedded device that manages a thirty six degrees sector of the sensing plate. Each of these boards receives the positioning data for five hundred robots and communicate with each one through a fast mode plus I2C bus. This proposal allows to communicate the positioning information for all five thousand robots in 350 ms total.

[Unipedal stance time and fall risk in the elderly].

PubMed

Domínguez-Carrillo, Luis Gerardo; Arellano-Aguilar, Gregorio; Leos-Zierold, Héctor

2007-01-01

We undertook this study to relate unipodal stance time (UST) as a falls indicator in the elderly and to corroborate with UST exercise increments. One hundred sixty eight elderly subjects (age >70 years) with two or more falls during the previous 12 months were compared with 150 similar subjects without falls. UST chronometry and quadriceps and triceps brachialis strength dynamometry were used. Equilibrium and antigravity muscle-strengthening exercise program with 20 work sessions were carried out. Results were analyzed with chi(2), Student's t-test, and Fisher tests. UST of the control group showed 28.84 +/- 4.73 sec (mean +/- SD). The UST sample showed 19.18 +/- 4.24 sec. The test was initially impossible to carry out in 42 cases (p = 0.05). The final evaluation showed 142 cases with 30 sec of UST (p = 0.00001), isometric force increased in 70% and 30%, respectively (p = 0.05). At 6-month follow-up, 53 falls were reported, 29 were in patients who could not accomplish UST measurement on initial evaluation. UST <30 sec is an indicator of falls in elderly people, and exercise programs increase UST.

UST/LUST Program Information

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This asset includes an inventory of programmatic information, including policies and guidance, training course materials and Leaking Underground Storage Tanks (LUST) Trust Fund information. This documentation is used by states, territories, tribes and private parties to implement the Underground Storage Tank (UST) program. It also includes analysis of the laws and regulations that govern USTs, and policies and guidance for implementing the UST program developed by EPA in consultation with state and territorial UST programs.

United States Department of Defense Research in Robotic Unmanned Systems for Combat Casualty Care

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

Focused Ultrasound ( HIFU ). TATRC has also sponsored research in robotic implementation of Raman and Laser Induced Spectrometry (LIBS) to detect and...assisting in the application of HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound ) for treating hemorrhage. The addition of bioinformatics, wireless data...Sanghvi NT, Dines KA, Wheeler J. Remotely operated robotic High Intensity Focused Ultrasound ( HIFU ) manipulator system for Critical Systems for Trauma and

Advances in Mental Health Care: Five N = 1 Studies on the Effects of the Robot Seal Paro in Adults with Severe Intellectual Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagemaker, Eline; Dekkers, Tycho J.; Agelink van Rentergem, Joost A.; Volkers, Karin M.; Huizenga, Hilde M.

2017-01-01

Background: The evidence base for psychological treatments for autism and mood disorders in people with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities (ID) is limited. Recent promising robot-based innovations in mental health care suggest that robot-based animal assisted therapy (AAT) could be useful to improve social skills and mood in people with…

A remote assessment system with a vision robot and wearable sensors.

PubMed

Zhang, Tong; Wang, Jue; Ren, Yumiao; Li, Jianjun

2004-01-01

This paper describes an ongoing researched remote rehabilitation assessment system that has a 6-freedom double-eyes vision robot to catch vision information, and a group of wearable sensors to acquire biomechanical signals. A server computer is fixed on the robot, to provide services to the robot's controller and all the sensors. The robot is connected to Internet by wireless channel, and so do the sensors to the robot. Rehabilitation professionals can semi-automatically practise an assessment program via Internet. The preliminary results show that the smart device, including the robot and the sensors, can improve the quality of remote assessment, and reduce the complexity of operation at a distance.

Use of Robotic Pets in Providing Stimulation for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia.

PubMed

Naganuma, M; Ohkubo, E; Kato, N

2015-01-01

Trial experiments utilized robotic pets to facilitate self-reliance in nursing home residents. A remote-control robot modeled clear and meaningful behaviors to elderly residents. Special attention was paid to its effects on mental and social domains. Employing the robot as a gaze target and center of attention created a cue to initiate a communication channel between residents who normally show no interest in each other. The Sony AIBO robot in this study uses commercially available wireless equipment, and all its components are easily accessible to any medical or welfare institution interested in additional practice of these activities.

Three-phase receiving coil of wireless power transmission system for gastrointestinal robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Z. W.; Jiang, T.; Liu, Y.

2017-11-01

Power shortage is the bottleneck for the wide application of gastrointestinal (GI) robot. Owing to the limited volume and free change of orientation of the receiving set in GI trace, the optimal of receiving set is the key point to promote the transmission efficiency of wireless power transmission system. A new type of receiving set, similar to the winding of three-phase asynchronous motor, is presented and compared with the original three-dimensional orthogonal coil. Considering the given volume and the space utilization ratio, the three-phase and the three-orthogonal ones are the parameters which are optimized and compared. Both the transmission efficiency and stability are analyzed and verified by in vitro experiments. Animal experiments show that the new one could provide at least 420 mW power in volume of Φ11 × 13mm with a uniformity of 78.3% for the GI robot.

40 CFR 280.21 - Upgrading of existing UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 28 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Upgrading of existing UST systems. 280.21 Section 280.21 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES... STORAGE TANKS (UST) UST Systems: Design, Construction, Installation and Notification § 280.21 Upgrading of...

40 CFR 280.21 - Upgrading of existing UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Upgrading of existing UST systems. 280.21 Section 280.21 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES... STORAGE TANKS (UST) UST Systems: Design, Construction, Installation and Notification § 280.21 Upgrading of...

40 CFR 280.21 - Upgrading of existing UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 28 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Upgrading of existing UST systems. 280.21 Section 280.21 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES... STORAGE TANKS (UST) UST Systems: Design, Construction, Installation and Notification § 280.21 Upgrading of...

Vision and Task Assistance using Modular Wireless In Vivo Surgical Robots

PubMed Central

Platt, Stephen R.; Hawks, Jeff A.; Rentschler, Mark E.

2009-01-01

Minimally invasive abdominal surgery (laparoscopy) results in superior patient outcomes compared to conventional open surgery. However, the difficulty of manipulating traditional laparoscopic tools from outside the body of the patient generally limits these benefits to patients undergoing relatively low complexity procedures. The use of tools that fit entirely inside the peritoneal cavity represents a novel approach to laparoscopic surgery. Our previous work demonstrated that miniature mobile and fixed-based in vivo robots using tethers for power and data transmission can successfully operate within the abdominal cavity. This paper describes the development of a modular wireless mobile platform for in vivo sensing and manipulation applications. Design details and results of ex vivo and in vivo tests of robots with biopsy grasper, staple/clamp, video, and physiological sensor payloads are presented. These types of self-contained surgical devices are significantly more transportable and lower in cost than current robotic surgical assistants. They could ultimately be carried and deployed by non-medical personnel at the site of an injury to allow a remotely located surgeon to provide critical first response medical intervention irrespective of the location of the patient. PMID:19237337

Fuzzy mobile-robot positioning in intelligent spaces using wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Herrero, David; Martínez, Humberto

2011-01-01

This work presents the development and experimental evaluation of a method based on fuzzy logic to locate mobile robots in an Intelligent Space using wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The problem consists of locating a mobile node using only inter-node range measurements, which are estimated by radio frequency signal strength attenuation. The sensor model of these measurements is very noisy and unreliable. The proposed method makes use of fuzzy logic for modeling and dealing with such uncertain information. Besides, the proposed approach is compared with a probabilistic technique showing that the fuzzy approach is able to handle highly uncertain situations that are difficult to manage by well-known localization methods.

Using speed of sound imaging to characterize breast density

PubMed Central

Sak, Mark; Duric, Neb; Littrup, Peter; Bey-Knight, Lisa; Ali, Haythem; Vallieres, Patricia; Sherman, Mark E.; Gierach, Gretchen L.

2017-01-01

A population of 165 women with negative mammographic screens also received an ultrasound tomography (UST) exam at the Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI) in Detroit, MI. Standard statistical techniques were employed to measure the associations between the various mammographic and UST related density measures and various participant characteristics such as age, weight and height. The Mammographic percent density (MPD) was found to have similar strength associations with UST mean sound speed (Spearman coefficient, rs = 0.722, p < 0.001) and UST median sound speed (rs = 0.737, p < 0.001). Both were stronger than the associations between MPD with two separate measures of UST percent density, a k-means (rs = 0.568, p < 0.001) or a threshold (rs = 0.715, p < 0.001) measure. Segmentation of the UST sound speed images into dense and non-dense volumes showed weak to moderate associations with the mammographically equivalent measures. Relationships were found to be inversely and weakly associated between age and the UST mean sound speed (rs = −0.239, p = 0.002), UST median sound speed (rs = −0.226, p= 0.004) and MPD (rs = −0.204, p= 0.008). Relationships were found to be inversely and moderately associated between BMI and the UST mean sound speed (rs = −0.429, p < 0.001), UST median sound speed (rs = −0.447, p < 0.001) and MPD (rs = −0.489, p < 0.001). The results confirm and strengthen findings presented in previous work indicating that UST sound speed imaging yields viable markers of breast density in a manner consistent with mammography, the current clinical standard. These results lay the groundwork for further studies to assess the role of sound speed imaging in risk prediction. PMID:27692872

40 CFR 281.36 - Out-of-service UST systems and closure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 28 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Out-of-service UST systems and closure... § 281.36 Out-of-service UST systems and closure. In order to be considered no less stringent than the... and corrective action requirements must be complied with. (c) All UST systems taken out of service...

40 CFR 281.36 - Out-of-service UST systems and closure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Out-of-service UST systems and closure... § 281.36 Out-of-service UST systems and closure. In order to be considered no less stringent than the... and corrective action requirements must be complied with. (c) All UST systems taken out of service...

40 CFR 281.36 - Out-of-service UST systems and closure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Out-of-service UST systems and closure... § 281.36 Out-of-service UST systems and closure. In order to be considered no less stringent than the... and corrective action requirements must be complied with. (c) All UST systems taken out of service...

40 CFR 281.36 - Out-of-service UST systems and closure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Out-of-service UST systems and closure... § 281.36 Out-of-service UST systems and closure. In order to be considered no less stringent than the... and corrective action requirements must be complied with. (c) All UST systems taken out of service...

40 CFR 281.36 - Out-of-service UST systems and closure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 28 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Out-of-service UST systems and closure... § 281.36 Out-of-service UST systems and closure. In order to be considered no less stringent than the... and corrective action requirements must be complied with. (c) All UST systems taken out of service...

Wireless Cortical Brain-Machine Interface for Whole-Body Navigation in Primates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajangam, Sankaranarayani; Tseng, Po-He; Yin, Allen; Lehew, Gary; Schwarz, David; Lebedev, Mikhail A.; Nicolelis, Miguel A. L.

2016-03-01

Several groups have developed brain-machine-interfaces (BMIs) that allow primates to use cortical activity to control artificial limbs. Yet, it remains unknown whether cortical ensembles could represent the kinematics of whole-body navigation and be used to operate a BMI that moves a wheelchair continuously in space. Here we show that rhesus monkeys can learn to navigate a robotic wheelchair, using their cortical activity as the main control signal. Two monkeys were chronically implanted with multichannel microelectrode arrays that allowed wireless recordings from ensembles of premotor and sensorimotor cortical neurons. Initially, while monkeys remained seated in the robotic wheelchair, passive navigation was employed to train a linear decoder to extract 2D wheelchair kinematics from cortical activity. Next, monkeys employed the wireless BMI to translate their cortical activity into the robotic wheelchair’s translational and rotational velocities. Over time, monkeys improved their ability to navigate the wheelchair toward the location of a grape reward. The navigation was enacted by populations of cortical neurons tuned to whole-body displacement. During practice with the apparatus, we also noticed the presence of a cortical representation of the distance to reward location. These results demonstrate that intracranial BMIs could restore whole-body mobility to severely paralyzed patients in the future.

IR wireless cluster synapses of HYDRA very large neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jannson, Tomasz; Forrester, Thomas

2008-04-01

RF/IR wireless (virtual) synapses are critical components of HYDRA (Hyper-Distributed Robotic Autonomy) neural networks, already discussed in two earlier papers. The HYDRA network has the potential to be very large, up to 10 11-neurons and 10 18-synapses, based on already established technologies (cellular RF telephony and IR-wireless LANs). It is organized into almost fully connected IR-wireless clusters. The HYDRA neurons and synapses are very flexible, simple, and low-cost. They can be modified into a broad variety of biologically-inspired brain-like computing capabilities. In this third paper, we focus on neural hardware in general, and on IR-wireless synapses in particular. Such synapses, based on LED/LD-connections, dominate the HYDRA neural cluster.

Ground Fluidization Promotes Rapid Running of a Lightweight Robot

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

SCMs ) (Wood et al., 2008) have enabled the development of small, lightweight robots (∼ 10 cm, ∼ 20 g) (Hoover et al., 2010; Birkmeyer et al., 2009) such...communicated to the controller through a Bluetooth wireless interface. 2.1.2. Model granular media We used 3.0±0.2 mm diam- eter glass particles (density

Stingray-inspired robot with simply actuated intermediate motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neely, Lincoln; Gaiennie, Jack; Noble, Nick; Erickson, Jonathan C.

2016-04-01

Batoids, or rays, utilize unique forms of locomotion that may offer more efficient techniques of motorized propulsion in various marine environments. We present a novel biomimetic engineering design and assembly of a stingray-inspired robot swimmer. The robots locomotion mimics the Dasyatis americana, or southern stingray, whose distinction among rays is its intermediate motion, characterized by sweeping strokes that propagate between 1/2-1 wavelength of the fin profile in the posterior direction. Though oscillatory (<1/2 wavelength) and undulatory (> wavelengths) ray-based robots have been created, this project demonstrates new engineering possibilities in what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first intermediately propelled batoid-based robot. The robots fins were made of silicone rubber, cast in a 3-D printed mold, with wingspan of 42 cm (1/2 - 1/5 scale for males and females, respectively, scale of model organism). Two anteriorly placed servomotors per fin were used, all controlled by one wirelessly enabled Arduino microcontroller. Each servomotor oscillated a flexible rod with cylindrical joint, whose frequency, speed, and front-back phase delay were user-programmed over wireless connection. During free-swimming tests, the fin profile developed about 0.8 wavelength, qualifying for successful mimicry of its biological inspiration. The robot satisfactorily maintained straight-line motion, reaching average peak velocity of 9.4+/-1.0 cm/s (0.27-0.03 body lengths/second) at its optimum flapping frequency of 1.4 Hz. This is in the same order of magnitude of speed normalized to body length achieved by others in two recent batoid-based projects. In summary, our robot performed intermediate stingray locomotion with relatively fewer components, which reveals robust potential for innovation of the simple intermediate batoid-based robot swimmer.

Environmental projects. Volume 2: Underground storage tanks compliance program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kushner, L.

1987-01-01

Six large parabolic dish antennas are located at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex north of Barstow, California. As a large-scale facility located in a remote, isolated desert region, the GDSCC operations require numerous on-site storage facilities for gasoline, diesel and hydraulic oil. These essential fluids are stored in underground storage tanks (USTs). Because USTs may develop leaks with the resultant seepage of their hazardous contents into the surrounding soil, local, State and Federal authorities have adopted stringent regulations for the testing and maintenance of USTs. Under the supervision of JPL's Office of Telecommunications and Data Acquisition, a year-long program has brought 27 USTs at the Goldstone Complex into compliance with Federal, State of California and County of San Bernadino regulations. Of these 27 USTs, 15 are operating today, 11 have been temporary closed down, and 1 abandoned in place. In 1989, the 15 USTs now operating at the Goldstone DSCC will be replaced either by modern, double-walled USTs equipped with automatic sensors for leak detection, or by above ground storage tanks. The 11 inactivated USTs are to be excavated, removed and disposed of according to regulation.

Vision robot with rotational camera for searching ID tags

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kimura, Nobutaka; Moriya, Toshio

2008-02-01

We propose a new concept, called "real world crawling", in which intelligent mobile sensors completely recognize environments by actively gathering information in those environments and integrating that information on the basis of location. First we locate objects by widely and roughly scanning the entire environment with these mobile sensors, and we check the objects in detail by moving the sensors to find out exactly what and where they are. We focused on the automation of inventory counting with barcodes as an application of our concept. We developed "a barcode reading robot" which autonomously moved in a warehouse. It located and read barcode ID tags using a camera and a barcode reader while moving. However, motion blurs caused by the robot's translational motion made it difficult to recognize the barcodes. Because of the high computational cost of image deblurring software, we used the pan rotation of the camera to reduce these blurs. We derived the appropriate pan rotation velocity from the robot's translational velocity and from the distance to the surfaces of barcoded boxes. We verified the effectiveness of our method in an experimental test.

Self-powered wireless disposable sensor for welfare application.

PubMed

Douseki, Takakuni; Tanaka, Ami

2013-01-01

A self-powered urinary incontinence sensor consisting of a flexible urine-activated battery and a wireless transmitter has been developed as an application for wireless biosensor networks. The flexible urine-activated battery is embedded in a disposal diaper and makes possible both the sensing of urine leakage and self-powered operation. An intermittent power-supply circuit that uses an electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) with a small internal resistance suppresses the supply voltage drop due to the large internal resistance of the battery. This circuit supplies the power to a wireless transmitter. A 315-MHz-band wireless transmitter performs low-power operation. To verify the effectiveness of the circuit scheme, we fabricated a prototype sensor system. When 80 cc of urine is poured onto the diaper, the battery outputs a voltage of 1 V; and the sensor can transmit an ID signal over a distance of 5 m.

Multi-Robot, Multi-Target Particle Swarm Optimization Search in Noisy Wireless Environments

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

Kurt Derr; Milos Manic

Multiple small robots (swarms) can work together using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to perform tasks that are difficult or impossible for a single robot to accomplish. The problem considered in this paper is exploration of an unknown environment with the goal of finding a target(s) at an unknown location(s) using multiple small mobile robots. This work demonstrates the use of a distributed PSO algorithm with a novel adaptive RSS weighting factor to guide robots for locating target(s) in high risk environments. The approach was developed and analyzed on multiple robot single and multiple target search. The approach was further enhancedmore » by the multi-robot-multi-target search in noisy environments. The experimental results demonstrated how the availability of radio frequency signal can significantly affect robot search time to reach a target.« less

Field testing of a remote controlled robotic tele-echo system in an ambulance using broadband mobile communication technology.

PubMed

Takeuchi, Ryohei; Harada, Hiroshi; Masuda, Kohji; Ota, Gen-ichiro; Yokoi, Masaki; Teramura, Nobuyasu; Saito, Tomoyuki

2008-06-01

We report the testing of a mobile Robotic Tele-echo system that was placed in an ambulance and successfully transmitted clear real time echo imaging of a patient's abdomen to the destination hospital from where this device was being remotely operated. Two-way communication between the paramedics in this vehicle and a doctor standing by at the hospital was undertaken. The robot was equipped with an ultrasound probe which was remotely controlled by the clinician at the hospital and ultrasound images of the patient were transmitted wirelessly. The quality of the ultrasound images that were transmitted over the public mobile telephone networks and those transmitted over the Multimedia Wireless Access Network (a private networks) were compared. The transmission rate over the public networks and the private networks was approximately 256 Kbps, 3 Mbps respectively. Our results indicate that ultrasound images of far higher definition could be obtained through the private networks.

Elastomeric Sensing of Pressure with Liquid Metal and Wireless Inductive Coupling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dick, Jacob; Zou, Xiyue; Hogan, Ben; Tumalle, Jonathan; Etikyala, Sowmith; Fung, Diego; Charles, Watley; Gu, Tianye; Hull, Patrick V.; Mazzeo, Aaron D.

2017-01-01

This project describes resistance-based soft sensors filled with liquid metal, which permit measurements of large strains (0 percent to 110 percent), associated with small forces of less than 30 Newtons. This work also demonstrates a methodology for wireless transfer of these strain measurements without connected electrodes. These sensors allow intermittent detection of pressure on soft membranes with low force. Adapting these sensors for passive wireless pressure sensing will eliminate the need for embedded batteries, and will allow the sensors to transmit pressure data through non-conductive materials including glass and acrylic. The absence of batteries allows us to embed these sensors into materials for long-term use because the sensors only use passive analog circuit elements. We found the oxidation of the liquid metal (eutectic gallium indium) plays a role in the repeatability of the soft sensors. We investigated how the oxidation layer affected the behavior of the sensor by encapsulating materials (silicone, fluorosilicone, and PVC) with varied permeabilities to oxygen. We measured the effects of mechanical loading on the oxidation layer and the effects of wireless inductive coupling on the oxidation layer. We concluded our research by investigating the effects of embedding self-resonant circuits into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Efforts to design engineered systems with soft materials are a growing field with progress in soft robotics, epidermal electronics, and wearable electronics. In the field of soft robotics, PDMS-based grippers are capable of picking up delicate objects because their form-fitting properties allow them to conform to the shape of objects more easily than conventional robotic grippers. Epidermal devices also use PDMS as a substrate to hold electronic components such as radios, sensors, and power supply circuits. Additionally, PDMS-based soft sensors can monitor human motion with liquid metal embedded within micro-channels. Passive wireless sensors have applications in structural health monitoring and medical health monitoring. Doctors can take wireless blood pressure measurements inside arteries to monitor the progression of heart disease. Glaucoma patients can use this technology to monitor the pressure in their eyes to track the progression of the disease.

Unipedal stance testing as an indicator of fall risk among older outpatients.

PubMed

Hurvitz, E A; Richardson, J K; Werner, R A; Ruhl, A M; Dixon, M R

2000-05-01

To test the hypothesis that a decreased unipedal stance time (UST) is associated with a history of falling among older persons. Fifty-three subjects underwent a standardized history and physical examination and three trials of timed unipedal stance. The electroneuromyography laboratories of tertiary care Veterans Administration and university hospitals. Ambulatory outpatients 50 years and older referred for electrodiagnostic studies. UST and fall histories during the previous year. Twenty subjects (38%) reported falling. Compared with the subjects who had not fallen, those who fell had a significantly shorter UST (9.6 [SD 11.6] vs 31.3 [SD 16.3] seconds, using the longest of the three trials, p < .00001). An abnormal UST (<30sec) was associated with an increased risk of having fallen on univariate analysis and in a regression model (odds ratio 108; 95% confidence interval 3.8, >100; p < .007). The sensitivity of an abnormal UST in the regression model was 91% and the specificity 75%. When UST was considered age was not a predictor of a history of falls. UST of <30sec in an older ambulatory outpatient population is associated with a history of falling, while a UST of > or = 30sec is associated with a low risk of falling.

2015 Marine Corps Security Environment Forecast: Futures 2030-2045

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

The technologies that make the iPhone “smart” were publically funded—the Internet, wireless networks, the global positioning system, microelectronics...Energy Revolution (63 percent);  Internet of Things (ubiquitous sensors embedded in interconnected computing devices) (50 percent);  “Sci-Fi...Neuroscience & artificial intelligence - Sensors /control systems -Power & energy -Human-robot interaction Robots/autonomous systems will become part of the

A prototype home robot with an ambient facial interface to improve drug compliance.

PubMed

Takacs, Barnabas; Hanak, David

2008-01-01

We have developed a prototype home robot to improve drug compliance. The robot is a small mobile device, capable of autonomous behaviour, as well as remotely controlled operation via a wireless datalink. The robot is capable of face detection and also has a display screen to provide facial feedback to help motivate patients and thus increase their level of compliance. An RFID reader can identify tags attached to different objects, such as bottles, for fluid intake monitoring. A tablet dispenser allows drug compliance monitoring. Despite some limitations, experience with the prototype suggests that simple and low-cost robots may soon become feasible for care of people living alone or in isolation.

Site-specific standard request for underground storage tanks 1219-U, 1222-U, 2082-U, and 2068-U at the rust garage facility buildings 9754-1 and 9720-15: Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Facility ID No. 0-010117

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

NONE

1994-12-01

This document represents a Site-specific Standard Request for underground storage tanks (USTs) 1219-U,1222-U and 2082-U previously located at former Building 9754-1, and tank 2086-U previously located at Building 9720-15, Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The tanks previously contained petroleum products. For the purposes of this report, the two building sites will be regarded as a single UST site and will be referred to as the Rust Garage Facility. The current land use associated with the Y-12 Plant is light industrial and the operational period of the plant is projected to be at least 30 years. Thus, potential futuremore » residential exposures are not expected to occur for at least 30 years. Based on the degradation coefficient for benzene (the only carcinogenic petroleum constituent detected in soils or groundwater at the Rust Garage Facility), it is expected that the benzene and other contaminants at the site will likely be reduced prior to expiration of the 30-year plant operational period. As the original sources of petroleum contamination have been removed, and the area of petroleum contamination is limited, a site-specific standard is therefore being requested for the Rust Garage Facility.« less

Detection test of wireless network signal strength and GPS positioning signal in underground pipeline

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Li; Zhang, Yunwei; Chen, Ling

2018-03-01

In order to solve the problem of selecting positioning technology for inspection robot in underground pipeline environment, the wireless network signal strength and GPS positioning signal testing are carried out in the actual underground pipeline environment. Firstly, the strength variation of the 3G wireless network signal and Wi-Fi wireless signal provided by China Telecom and China Unicom ground base stations are tested, and the attenuation law of these wireless signals along the pipeline is analyzed quantitatively and described. Then, the receiving data of the GPS satellite signal in the pipeline are tested, and the attenuation of GPS satellite signal under underground pipeline is analyzed. The testing results may be reference for other related research which need to consider positioning in pipeline.

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

Hagen Schempf; Daphne D'Zurko

Under funding from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Northeast Gas Association (NGA), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) developed an untethered, wireless remote controlled inspection robot dubbed Explorer. The project entailed the design and prototyping of a wireless self-powered video-inspection robot capable of accessing live 6- and 8-inch diameter cast-iron and steel mains, while traversing turns and Ts and elbows under real-time control with live video feedback to an operator. The design is that of a segmented actively articulated and wheel-leg powered robot design, with fisheye imaging capability and self-powered battery storage and wireless real-time communication link. The prototype wasmore » functionally tested in an above ground pipe-network, in order to debug all mechanical, electrical and software subsystems, and develop the necessary deployment and retrieval, as well as obstacle-handling scripts. A pressurized natural gas test-section was used to certify it for operation in natural gas at up to 60 psig. Two subsequent live-main field-trials in both cast-iron and steel pipe, demonstrated its ability to be safely launched, operated and retrieved under real-world conditions. The system's ability to safely and repeatably exidrecover from angled and vertical launchers, traverse multi-thousand foot long pipe-sections, make T and varied-angle elbow-turns while wirelessly sending live video and handling command and control messages, was clearly demonstrated. Video-inspection was clearly shown to be a viable tool to understand the state of this critical buried infrastructure, irrespective of low- (cast-iron) or high-pressure (steel) conditions. This report covers the different aspects of specifications, requirements, design, prototyping, integration and testing and field-trialing of the Explorer platform.« less

RCRA/UST, superfund, and EPCRA hotline training module. Introduction to: RCRA subtitle I. Underground storage tanks (40 cfr part 280). Updated as of July 1996

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

NONE

1996-07-01

This module explains the Underground Storage Tank Regulatory Program established in 1988, that includes technical requirements to prevent, protect, and clean up releases from Underground Storage Tanks (USTs), as well as financial responsibility requirements to guarantee that UST owners and operators have enough money set aside to clean up releases and compensate third parties. Describes the Universe of USTs and the technical and financial requirements that apply to them. Defines underground storage tank and provides criteria for determining which USTs are subject to regulation. Discusses deadlines for upgrading tanks and the closure and corrective action requirements.

Finding NEMO (novel electromaterial muscle oscillator): a polypyrrole powered robotic fish with real-time wireless speed and directional control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGovern, Scott; Alici, Gursel; Truong, Van-Tan; Spinks, Geoffrey

2009-09-01

This paper presents the development of an autonomously powered and controlled robotic fish that incorporates an active flexural joint tail fin, activated through conducting polymer actuators based on polypyrrole (PPy). The novel electromaterial muscle oscillator (NEMO) tail fin assembly on the fish could be controlled wirelessly in real time by varying the frequency and duty cycle of the voltage signal supplied to the PPy bending-type actuators. Directional control was achieved by altering the duty cycle of the voltage input to the NEMO tail fin, which shifted the axis of oscillation and enabled turning of the robotic fish. At low speeds, the robotic fish had a turning circle as small as 15 cm (or 1.1 body lengths) in radius. The highest speed of the fish robot was estimated to be approximately 33 mm s-1 (or 0.25 body lengths s-1) and was achieved with a flapping frequency of 0.6-0.8 Hz which also corresponded with the most hydrodynamically efficient mode for tail fin operation. This speed is approximately ten times faster than those for any previously reported artificial muscle based device that also offers real-time speed and directional control. This study contributes to previously published studies on bio-inspired functional devices, demonstrating that electroactive polymer actuators can be real alternatives to conventional means of actuation such as electric motors.

Ustekinumab therapy for Crohn's disease during pregnancy: a case report and review of the literature.

PubMed

Cortes, X; Borrás-Blasco, J; Antequera, B; Fernandez-Martinez, S; Casterá, E; Martin, S; Molés, J R

2017-04-01

The safety of continued ustekinumab (UST) therapy during pregnancy remains unclear in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). There are no meta-analysis reports of exposure to UST during pregnancy. The objective was to describe a case of a pregnant patient with CD who was successfully treated with UST maintenance therapy throughout the pregnancy and delivered a baby boy without any congenital malformations, neurological abnormalities or birth defects. A 37-year-old patient with CD treated with UST became pregnant. She had been receiving UST for 8 months at the time. After discussion with the patient and the obstetric team, the UST therapy was continued. The result of treatment was an uneventful pregnancy with delivery, at term, of a healthy boy and the maintenance of clinical, biological and endoscopic remission of CD during and after pregnancy. To our knowledge, this is the first reported use of continued UST therapy for CD throughout a pregnancy. The result of treatment was an uncomplicated pregnancy with the mother giving birth to a healthy boy at term and the maintenance of clinical biological and endoscopic remission of CD during and after pregnancy. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

New Applications for the Testing and Visualization of Wireless Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Griffin, Robert I.; Cauley, Michael A.; Pleva, Michael A.; Seibert, Marc A.; Lopez, Isaac

2005-01-01

Traditional techniques for examining wireless networks use physical link characteristics such as Signal-to-Noise (SNR) ratios to assess the performance of wireless networks. Such measurements may not be reliable indicators of available bandwidth. This work describes two new software applications developed at NASA Glenn Research Center for the investigation of wireless networks. GPSIPerf combines measurements of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) throughput with Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates to give users a map of wireless bandwidth for outdoor environments where a wireless infrastructure has been deployed. GPSIPerfView combines the data provided by GPSIPerf with high-resolution digital elevation maps (DEM) to help users visualize and assess the impact of elevation features on wireless networks in a given sample area. These applications were used to examine TCP throughput in several wireless network configurations at desert field sites near Hanksville, Utah during May of 2004. Use of GPSIPerf and GPSIPerfView provides a geographically referenced picture of the extent and deterioration of TCP throughput in tested wireless network configurations. GPSIPerf results from field-testing in Utah suggest that it can be useful in assessing other wireless network architectures, and may be useful to future human-robotic exploration missions.

Wireless Self-powered Visual and NDE Robotic Inspection System for Live Gas Distribution Mains

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

Susan Burkett; Hagen Schempf

2006-01-31

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) under contract from Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory (DoE/NETL) and co-funding from the Northeast Gas Association (NGA), has completed the overall system design of the next-generation Explorer-II (X-II) live gas main NDE and visual inspection robot platform. The design is based on the Explorer-I prototype which was built and field-tested under a prior (also DoE- and NGA co-funded) program, and served as the validation that self-powered robots under wireless control could access and navigate live natural gas distribution mains. The X-II system design ({approx}8 ft. and 66 lbs.) was heavily based on the X-I design,more » yet was substantially expanded to allow the addition of NDE sensor systems (while retaining its visual inspection capability), making it a modular system, and expanding its ability to operate at pressures up to 750 psig (high-pressure and unpiggable steel-pipe distribution mains). A new electronics architecture and on-board software kernel were added to again improve system performance. A locating sonde system was integrated to allow for absolute position-referencing during inspection (coupled with external differential GPS) and emergency-locating. The power system was upgraded to utilize lithium-based battery-cells for an increase in mission-time. The system architecture now relies on a dual set of end camera-modules to house the 32-bit processors (Single-Board Computer or SBC) as well as the imaging and wireless (off-board) and CAN-based (on-board) communication hardware and software systems (as well as the sonde-coil and -electronics). The drive-module (2 ea.) are still responsible for bracing (and centering) to drive in push/pull fashion the robot train into and through the pipes and obstacles. The steering modules and their arrangement, still allow the robot to configure itself to perform any-angle (up to 90 deg) turns in any orientation (incl. vertical), and enable the live launching and recovery of the system using custom fittings and a (to be developed) launch-chamber/-tube. The battery modules are used to power the system, by providing power to the robot's bus. The support modules perform the functions of centration for the rest of the train as well as odometry pickups using incremental encoding schemes. The electronics architecture is based on a distributed (8-bit) microprocessor architecture (at least 1 in ea. module) communicating to a (one of two) 32-bit SBC, which manages all video-processing, posture and motion control as well as CAN and wireless communications. The operator controls the entire system from an off-board (laptop) controller, which is in constant wireless communication with the robot train in the pipe. The sensor modules collect data and forward it to the robot operator computer (via the CAN-wireless communications chain), who then transfers it to a dedicated NDE data-storage and post-processing computer for further (real-time or off-line) analysis. CMU has fully designed every module in terms of the mechanical, electrical and software elements (architecture only). Substantial effort has gone into pre-prototyping to uncover mechanical, electrical and software issues for critical elements of the design. Design requirements for sensor-providers were also detailed and finalized and provided to them for inclusion in their designs. CMU is expecting to start 2006 with a detailed design effort for both mechanical and electrical components, followed by procurement and fabrication efforts in late winter/spring 2006. The assembly and integration efforts will occupy all of the spring and summer of 2006. Software development will also be a major effort in 2006, and will result in porting and debugging of code on the module- and train-levels in late summer and Fall of 2006. Final pipe mock-up testing is expected in late fall and early winter 2006 with an acceptance demonstration of the robot train (with a sensor-module mock-up) planned to DoE/NGA towards the end of 2006.« less

A Mobile Sensor Network System for Monitoring of Unfriendly Environments.

PubMed

Song, Guangming; Zhou, Yaoxin; Ding, Fei; Song, Aiguo

2008-11-14

Observing microclimate changes is one of the most popular applications of wireless sensor networks. However, some target environments are often too dangerous or inaccessible to humans or large robots and there are many challenges for deploying and maintaining wireless sensor networks in those unfriendly environments. This paper presents a mobile sensor network system for solving this problem. The system architecture, the mobile node design, the basic behaviors and advanced network capabilities have been investigated respectively. A wheel-based robotic node architecture is proposed here that can add controlled mobility to wireless sensor networks. A testbed including some prototype nodes has also been created for validating the basic functions of the proposed mobile sensor network system. Motion performance tests have been done to get the positioning errors and power consumption model of the mobile nodes. Results of the autonomous deployment experiment show that the mobile nodes can be distributed evenly into the previously unknown environments. It provides powerful support for network deployment and maintenance and can ensure that the sensor network will work properly in unfriendly environments.

EPA Uses Greener Cleanup Practices to Reduce Environmental Footprint at Telles Ranch UST Site, Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn about the work of EPA’s Pacific Southwest Underground Storage Tank (UST) program to reduce its environmental footprint by using greener cleanup practices at the Telles Ranch leaking UST site in Arizona.

40 CFR 281.37 - Financial responsibility for UST systems containing petroleum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... systems containing petroleum. 281.37 Section 281.37 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... for No-Less-Stringent § 281.37 Financial responsibility for UST systems containing petroleum. (a) In... UST systems containing petroleum, the state requirements for financial responsibility for petroleum...

Explorer-II: Wireless Self-Powered Visual and NDE Robotic Inspection System for Live Gas Distribution Mains

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

Carnegie Mellon University

2008-09-30

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) under contract from Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory (DoE/NETL) and co-funding from the Northeast Gas Association (NGA), has completed the overall system design, field-trial and Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) sensor evaluation program for the next-generation Explorer-II (X-II) live gas main Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE) and visual inspection robot platform. The design is based on the Explorer-I prototype which was built and field-tested under a prior (also DoE- and NGA co-funded) program, and served as the validation that self-powered robots under wireless control could access and navigate live natural gas distribution mains. The X-II system design ({approx}8more » ft. and 66 lbs.) was heavily based on the X-I design, yet was substantially expanded to allow the addition of NDE sensor systems (while retaining its visual inspection capability), making it a modular system, and expanding its ability to operate at pressures up to 750 psig (high-pressure and unpiggable steel-pipe distribution mains). A new electronics architecture and on-board software kernel were added to again improve system performance. A locating sonde system was integrated to allow for absolute position-referencing during inspection (coupled with external differential GPS) and emergency-locating. The power system was upgraded to utilize lithium-based battery-cells for an increase in mission-time. The resulting robot-train system with CAD renderings of the individual modules. The system architecture now relies on a dual set of end camera-modules to house the 32-bit processors (Single-Board Computer or SBC) as well as the imaging and wireless (off-board) and CAN-based (on-board) communication hardware and software systems (as well as the sonde-coil and -electronics). The drive-module (2 ea.) are still responsible for bracing (and centering) to drive in push/pull fashion the robot train into and through the pipes and obstacles. The steering modules and their arrangement, still allow the robot to configure itself to perform any-angle (up to 90 deg) turns in any orientation (incl. vertical), and enable the live launching and recovery of the system using custom fittings and a (to be developed) launch-chamber/-tube. The battery modules are used to power the system, by providing power to the robot's bus. The support modules perform the functions of centration for the rest of the train as well as odometry pickups using incremental encoding schemes. The electronics architecture is based on a distributed (8-bit) microprocessor architecture (at least 1 in ea. module) communicating to a (one of two) 32-bit SBC, which manages all video-processing, posture and motion control as well as CAN and wireless communications. The operator controls the entire system from an off-board (laptop) controller, which is in constant wireless communication with the robot train in the pipe. The sensor modules collect data and forward it to the robot operator computer (via the CAN-wireless communications chain), who then transfers it to a dedicated NDE data-storage and post-processing computer for further (real-time or off-line) analysis. The prototype robot system was built and tested indoors and outdoors, outfitted with a Remote-Field Eddy Current (RFEC) sensor integrated as its main NDE sensor modality. An angled launcher, allowing for live launching and retrieval, was also built to suit custom angled launch-fittings from TDW. The prototype vehicle and launcher systems are shown. The complete system, including the in-pipe robot train, launcher, integrated NDE-sensor and real-time video and control console and NDE-data collection and -processing and real-time display, were demonstrated to all sponsors prior to proceeding into final field-trials--the individual components and setting for said acceptance demonstration are shown. The launcher-tube was also used to verify that the vehicle system is capable of operating in high-pressure environments, and is safely deployable using proper evacuating/purging techniques for operation in the potentially explosive natural gas environment. The test-setting and environment for safety-certification of the X-II robot platform and the launch and recovery procedures, is shown. Field-trials were successfully carried out in a live steel pipeline in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The robot was launched and recovered multiple times, travelling thousands of feet and communicating in real time with video and command-and-control (C&C) data under remote operator control from a laptop, with NDE sensor-data streaming to a second computer for storage, display and post-processing. Representative images of the activities and systems used in the week-long field-trial are shown. CMU also evaluated the ability of the X-II design to be able to integrate an MFL sensor, by adding additional drive-/battery-/steering- and support-modules to extend the X-II train.« less

A novel interface for the telementoring of robotic surgery.

PubMed

Shin, Daniel H; Dalag, Leonard; Azhar, Raed A; Santomauro, Michael; Satkunasivam, Raj; Metcalfe, Charles; Dunn, Matthew; Berger, Andre; Djaladat, Hooman; Nguyen, Mike; Desai, Mihir M; Aron, Monish; Gill, Inderbir S; Hung, Andrew J

2015-08-01

To prospectively evaluate the feasibility and safety of a novel, second-generation telementoring interface (Connect(™) ; Intuitive Surgical Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA) for the da Vinci robot. Robotic surgery trainees were mentored during portions of robot-assisted prostatectomy and renal surgery cases. Cases were assigned as traditional in-room mentoring or remote mentoring using Connect. While viewing two-dimensional, real-time video of the surgical field, remote mentors delivered verbal and visual counsel, using two-way audio and telestration (drawing) capabilities. Perioperative and technical data were recorded. Trainee robotic performance was rated using a validated assessment tool by both mentors and trainees. The mentoring interface was rated using a multi-factorial Likert-based survey. The Mann-Whitney and t-tests were used to determine statistical differences. We enrolled 55 mentored surgical cases (29 in-room, 26 remote). Perioperative variables of operative time and blood loss were similar between in-room and remote mentored cases. Robotic skills assessment showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). Mentors preferred remote over in-room telestration (P = 0.05); otherwise no significant difference existed in evaluation of the interfaces. Remote cases using wired (vs wireless) connections had lower latency and better data transfer (P = 0.005). Three of 18 (17%) wireless sessions were disrupted; one was converted to wired, one continued after restarting Connect, and the third was aborted. A bipolar injury to the colon occurred during one (3%) in-room mentored case; no intraoperative injuries were reported during remote sessions. In a tightly controlled environment, the Connect interface allows trainee robotic surgeons to be telementored in a safe and effective manner while performing basic surgical techniques. Significant steps remain prior to widespread use of this technology. © 2014 The Authors BJU International © 2014 BJU International Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Application of robotics in gastrointestinal endoscopy: A review

PubMed Central

Yeung, Baldwin Po Man; Chiu, Philip Wai Yan

2016-01-01

Multiple robotic flexible endoscope platforms have been developed based on cross specialty collaboration between engineers and medical doctors. However, significant number of these platforms have been developed for the natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery paradigm. Increasing amount of evidence suggest the focus of development should be placed on advanced endolumenal procedures such as endoscopic submucosal dissection instead. A thorough literature analysis was performed to assess the current status of robotic flexible endoscopic platforms designed for advanced endolumenal procedures. Current efforts are mainly focused on robotic locomotion and robotic instrument control. In the future, advances in actuation and servoing technology, optical analysis, augmented reality and wireless power transmission technology will no doubt further advance the field of robotic endoscopy. Globally, health systems have become increasingly budget conscious; widespread acceptance of robotic endoscopy will depend on careful design to ensure its delivery of a cost effective service. PMID:26855540

Continued Development of the AF/SGR Tricorder Program for Homeland Security, Military, Public Health, and Medical Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-15

Method for Ubiquitous Robots Based on Wireless Sensor Networks , in 1st European Conference on Smart Sensing and Context2006, Springer: Enschede, The...SUBJECT TERMS Directed Energy, Lasers, Networking , Wireless , Threat, Remote, Sensors , Database, Targets, Security, Transmit, Mobile, Unmanned...the researchers explore the potential for a network that could transport any type of sensor data now or in the future. 29 3. Methods , Assumptions

40 CFR 280.11 - Interim prohibition for deferred UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...) Will prevent releases due to corrosion or structural failure for the operational life of the UST system; (2) Is cathodically protected against corrosion, constructed of noncorrodible material, steel clad... substance. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this section, an UST system without corrosion protection may...

40 CFR 280.11 - Interim prohibition for deferred UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) Will prevent releases due to corrosion or structural failure for the operational life of the UST system; (2) Is cathodically protected against corrosion, constructed of noncorrodible material, steel clad... substance. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this section, an UST system without corrosion protection may...

40 CFR 280.11 - Interim prohibition for deferred UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...) Will prevent releases due to corrosion or structural failure for the operational life of the UST system; (2) Is cathodically protected against corrosion, constructed of noncorrodible material, steel clad... substance. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this section, an UST system without corrosion protection may...

40 CFR 280.11 - Interim prohibition for deferred UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) Will prevent releases due to corrosion or structural failure for the operational life of the UST system; (2) Is cathodically protected against corrosion, constructed of noncorrodible material, steel clad... substance. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this section, an UST system without corrosion protection may...

40 CFR 280.11 - Interim prohibition for deferred UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...) Will prevent releases due to corrosion or structural failure for the operational life of the UST system; (2) Is cathodically protected against corrosion, constructed of noncorrodible material, steel clad... substance. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this section, an UST system without corrosion protection may...

Design And Control Of Agricultural Robot For Tomato Plants Treatment And Harvesting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sembiring, Arnes; Budiman, Arif; Lestari, Yuyun D.

2017-12-01

Although Indonesia is one of the biggest agricultural country in the world, implementation of robotic technology, otomation and efficiency enhancement in agriculture process hasn’t extensive yet. This research proposed a low cost agricultural robot architecture. The robot could help farmer to survey their farm area, treat the tomato plants and harvest the ripe tomatoes. Communication between farmer and robot was facilitated by wireless line using radio wave to reach wide area (120m radius). The radio wave was combinated with Bluetooth to simplify the communication between robot and farmer’s Android smartphone. The robot was equipped with a camera, so the farmers could survey the farm situation through 7 inch monitor display real time. The farmers controlled the robot and arm movement through an user interface in Android smartphone. The user interface contains control icons that allow farmers to control the robot movement (formard, reverse, turn right and turn left) and cut the spotty leaves or harvest the ripe tomatoes.

Biosleeve Human-Machine Interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Assad, Christopher (Inventor)

2016-01-01

Systems and methods for sensing human muscle action and gestures in order to control machines or robotic devices are disclosed. One exemplary system employs a tight fitting sleeve worn on a user arm and including a plurality of electromyography (EMG) sensors and at least one inertial measurement unit (IMU). Power, signal processing, and communications electronics may be built into the sleeve and control data may be transmitted wirelessly to the controlled machine or robotic device.

76 FR 71707 - Revising Underground Storage Tank Regulations-Revisions to Existing Requirements and New...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-18

... Equipment C. Addressing Deferrals 1. Emergency Power Generator UST Systems 2. Airport Hydrant Fuel.... Maintain Deferral for USTs Containing Radioactive Material and Emergency Generator UST Systems at Nuclear... (air, water, 481, 483-486, 48811. truck, transit, pipeline, and airport operations). Communications and...

ASSESSING UST CORRECTIVE ACTION TECHNOLOGIES: IN SITU SVE-BASED SYSTEMS FOR FREE PRODUCT RECOVERY AND RESIDUAL HYDROCARBON REMOVAL

EPA Science Inventory

The number of confirmed releases of petroleum products from underground storage tank (UST) systems has increased significantly since promulgation of the final UST regulations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December 1988. This increase has outpaced the resources of...

40 CFR 280.74 - Closure records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... following ways: (a) By the owners and operators who took the UST system out of service; (b) By the current... STANDARDS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUIREMENTS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.74 Closure records. Owners and operators must maintain...

40 CFR 280.74 - Closure records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... following ways: (a) By the owners and operators who took the UST system out of service; (b) By the current... STANDARDS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUIREMENTS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.74 Closure records. Owners and operators must maintain...

40 CFR 280.74 - Closure records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... following ways: (a) By the owners and operators who took the UST system out of service; (b) By the current... STANDARDS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUIREMENTS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.74 Closure records. Owners and operators must maintain...

40 CFR 280.74 - Closure records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... following ways: (a) By the owners and operators who took the UST system out of service; (b) By the current... STANDARDS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUIREMENTS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.74 Closure records. Owners and operators must maintain...

40 CFR 280.74 - Closure records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... following ways: (a) By the owners and operators who took the UST system out of service; (b) By the current... STANDARDS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUIREMENTS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.74 Closure records. Owners and operators must maintain...

40 CFR 281.37 - Financial responsibility for UST systems containing petroleum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Financial responsibility for UST... for No-Less-Stringent § 281.37 Financial responsibility for UST systems containing petroleum. (a) In order to be considered no less stringent than the federal requirements for financial responsibility for...

The RF-powered surface wave sensor oscillator--a successful alternative to passive wireless sensing.

PubMed

Avramov, Ivan D

2004-09-01

A novel, passive wireless surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor providing a highly coherent measurand proportional frequency, frequency modulated (FM) with identification (ID) data and immune to interference with multiple-path signals is described. The sensor is appropriate for bandwidth-limited applications requiring high-frequency accuracy. It comprises a low-power oscillator, stabilized with the sensing SAW resonator and powered by the rectified radio frequency (RF) power of the interrogating signal received by an antenna on the sensor part. A few hundred microwatts of direct current (DC) power are enough to power the sensor oscillator and ID modulation circuit and achieve stable operation at 1.0 and 2.49 GHz. Reliable sensor interrogation was achieved over a distance of 0.45 m from a SAW-based interrogation unit providing 50 mW of continuous RF power at 915 MHz. The -30 to -35 dBm of returned sensor power was enough to receive the sensor signal over a long distance and through several walls with a simple superheterodyne FM receiver converting the sensor signal to a low measurand proportional intermediate frequency and retrieving the ID data through FM detection. Different sensor implementations, including continuous and pulsed power versions and the possibility of transmitting data from several measurands with a single sensor, are discussed.

MIMO-OFDM System's Performance Using LDPC Codes for a Mobile Robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daoud, Omar; Alani, Omar

This work deals with the performance of a Sniffer Mobile Robot (SNFRbot)-based spatial multiplexed wireless Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) transmission technology. The use of Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO)-OFDM technology increases the wireless transmission rate without increasing transmission power or bandwidth. A generic multilayer architecture of the SNFRbot is proposed with low power and low cost. Some experimental results are presented and show the efficiency of sniffing deadly gazes, sensing high temperatures and sending live videos of the monitored situation. Moreover, simulation results show the achieved performance by tackling the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) problem of the used technology using Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes; and the effect of combating the PAPR on the bit error rate (BER) and the signal to noise ratio (SNR) over a Doppler spread channel.

An automated miniature robotic vehicle inspection system

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

Dobie, Gordon; Summan, Rahul; MacLeod, Charles

2014-02-18

A novel, autonomous reconfigurable robotic inspection system for quantitative NDE mapping is presented. The system consists of a fleet of wireless (802.11g) miniature robotic vehicles, each approximately 175 × 125 × 85 mm with magnetic wheels that enable them to inspect industrial structures such as storage tanks, chimneys and large diameter pipe work. The robots carry one of a number of payloads including a two channel MFL sensor, a 5 MHz dry coupled UT thickness wheel probe and a machine vision camera that images the surface. The system creates an NDE map of the structure overlaying results onto a 3Dmore » model in real time. The authors provide an overview of the robot design, data fusion algorithms (positioning and NDE) and visualization software.« less

40 CFR 280.91 - Compliance dates.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.91 Compliance dates. Owners of petroleum underground storage tanks... marketing firms owning 1,000 or more USTs and all other UST owners that report a tangible net worth of $20... compliance with § 280.94(b) is required by: July 24, 1989. (b) All petroleum marketing firms owning 100-999...

40 CFR 280.210 - Participation in management.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 28 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Participation in management. 280.210... STORAGE TANKS (UST) Lender Liability § 280.210 Participation in management. The term “participating in the management of an UST or UST system” means that, subsequent to the effective date of this subpart, December 6...

40 CFR 280.210 - Participation in management.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Participation in management. 280.210... STORAGE TANKS (UST) Lender Liability § 280.210 Participation in management. The term “participating in the management of an UST or UST system” means that, subsequent to the effective date of this subpart, December 6...

40 CFR 280.210 - Participation in management.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 28 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Participation in management. 280.210... STORAGE TANKS (UST) Lender Liability § 280.210 Participation in management. The term “participating in the management of an UST or UST system” means that, subsequent to the effective date of this subpart, December 6...

Breast imaging with ultrasound tomography: update on a comparative study with MR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ranger, Bryan; Littrup, Peter; Duric, Neb; Li, Cuiping; Schmidt, Steven; Rama, Olsi; Bey-Knight, Lisa

2011-03-01

The objective of this study is to present imaging parameters and display thresholds of an ultrasound tomography (UST) prototype in order to demonstrate analogous visualization of overall breast anatomy and lesions relative to magnetic resonance (MR). Thirty-six women were imaged with MR and our UST prototype. The UST scan generated sound speed, attenuation, and reflection images and were subjected to variable thresholds then fused together into a single UST image. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons of MR and UST images were utilized to identify anatomical similarities and mass characteristics. Overall, UST demonstrated the ability to visualize and characterize breast tissues in a manner comparable to MR without the use of IV contrast. For optimal visualization, fused images utilized thresholds of 1.46+/-0.1 km/s for sound speed to represent architectural features of the breast including parenchyma. An arithmetic combination of images using the logical .AND. and .OR. operators, along with thresholds of 1.52+/-0.03 km/s for sound speed and 0.16+/-0.04 dB/cm for attenuation, allowed for mass detection and characterization similar to MR.

Adding navigation, artificial audition and vital sign monitoring capabilities to a telepresence mobile robot for remote home care applications.

PubMed

Laniel, Sebastien; Letourneau, Dominic; Labbe, Mathieu; Grondin, Francois; Polgar, Janice; Michaud, Francois

2017-07-01

A telepresence mobile robot is a remote-controlled, wheeled device with wireless internet connectivity for bidirectional audio, video and data transmission. In health care, a telepresence robot could be used to have a clinician or a caregiver assist seniors in their homes without having to travel to these locations. Many mobile telepresence robotic platforms have recently been introduced on the market, bringing mobility to telecommunication and vital sign monitoring at reasonable costs. What is missing for making them effective remote telepresence systems for home care assistance are capabilities specifically needed to assist the remote operator in controlling the robot and perceiving the environment through the robot's sensors or, in other words, minimizing cognitive load and maximizing situation awareness. This paper describes our approach adding navigation, artificial audition and vital sign monitoring capabilities to a commercially available telepresence mobile robot. This requires the use of a robot control architecture to integrate the autonomous and teleoperation capabilities of the platform.

A Numerical Model for Wind-Wave Prediction in Deep Water.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

amounts of gage data are available. Additionally, if all steps are modeled correctly, factors such as direction and angular spreading, which are not...spherical orthogonal system if large oceanic areas are to be modeled. The wave model requires a rect- angular grid and wind input at each of the...RM22CNFREQ+1)u1. DO 70 Im1,NFREG 70 SINF(I)uTWOPI*690/(TWOPIIFF(l))3S5 C DO 17 ItJ𔃻,100 VST =O,4851.4$IU USTwVST 19 ZOaCl/UST+C2*UST$UST-C3 UST1= VST /ALOG

SMARBot: a modular miniature mobile robot platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Yan; Johnson, Kerry; Simms, Brian; Conforth, Matthew

2008-04-01

Miniature robots have many advantages over their larger counterparts, such as low cost, low power, and easy to build a large scale team for complex tasks. Heterogeneous multi miniature robots could provide powerful situation awareness capability due to different locomotion capabilities and sensor information. However, it would be expensive and time consuming to develop specific embedded system for different type of robots. In this paper, we propose a generic modular embedded system architecture called SMARbot (Stevens Modular Autonomous Robot), which consists of a set of hardware and software modules that can be configured to construct various types of robot systems. These modules include a high performance microprocessor, a reconfigurable hardware component, wireless communication, and diverse sensor and actuator interfaces. The design of all the modules in electrical subsystem, the selection criteria for module components, and the real-time operating system are described. Some proofs of concept experimental results are also presented.

40 CFR 280.71 - Permanent closure and changes-in-service.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.71 Permanent closure and changes... sludges. All tanks taken out of service permanently must also be either removed from the ground or filled with an inert solid material. (c) Continued use of an UST system to store a non-regulated substance is...

40 CFR 280.71 - Permanent closure and changes-in-service.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.71 Permanent closure and changes... sludges. All tanks taken out of service permanently must also be either removed from the ground or filled with an inert solid material. (c) Continued use of an UST system to store a non-regulated substance is...

40 CFR 280.71 - Permanent closure and changes-in-service.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.71 Permanent closure and changes... sludges. All tanks taken out of service permanently must also be either removed from the ground or filled with an inert solid material. (c) Continued use of an UST system to store a non-regulated substance is...

40 CFR 280.71 - Permanent closure and changes-in-service.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure § 280.71 Permanent closure and changes... sludges. All tanks taken out of service permanently must also be either removed from the ground or filled with an inert solid material. (c) Continued use of an UST system to store a non-regulated substance is...

JPRS Report, West Europe

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-03-24

EN QUE MEDIDA CONSIDERA USTED QUE LA POLITICA DE...TOTAL (%) 1.7 15.9 28.9 24.8 27.8 1.0 iCREE USTED QUE CAMBIARA LA POLITICA DEL GOBIERNO COMO CONSECUENCIA DE ESTE CONGRESO EN POLITICA ...NS/NCY?.<.(7^ L&X. LA POLITICA QUE DESARROLLA EL PSOE, 4EN QUE MEDIDA CREE USTED QUE BENEFICIA A LA MUJER ? Mucho .Mi)

40 CFR 281.30 - New UST system design, construction, installation, and notification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false New UST system design, construction, installation, and notification. 281.30 Section 281.30 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) APPROVAL OF STATE UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK PROGRAMS Criteria for No-Less-Stringent § 281.30 New UST...

40 CFR 281.30 - New UST system design, construction, installation, and notification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false New UST system design, construction, installation, and notification. 281.30 Section 281.30 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) APPROVAL OF STATE UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK PROGRAMS Criteria for No-Less-Stringent § 281.30 New UST...

40 CFR 281.39 - Lender liability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... management of the UST or UST system as defined under § 280.210 of this chapter, and who does not engage in petroleum production, refining, and marketing as defined under § 280.200(b) of this chapter is not: (A) An..., provided the holder is not in control of or does not have responsibility for the daily operation of the UST...

Wireless brain-machine interface using EEG and EOG: brain wave classification and robot control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Sechang; Kumar, Prashanth S.; Kwon, Hyeokjun; Varadan, Vijay K.

2012-04-01

A brain-machine interface (BMI) links a user's brain activity directly to an external device. It enables a person to control devices using only thought. Hence, it has gained significant interest in the design of assistive devices and systems for people with disabilities. In addition, BMI has also been proposed to replace humans with robots in the performance of dangerous tasks like explosives handling/diffusing, hazardous materials handling, fire fighting etc. There are mainly two types of BMI based on the measurement method of brain activity; invasive and non-invasive. Invasive BMI can provide pristine signals but it is expensive and surgery may lead to undesirable side effects. Recent advances in non-invasive BMI have opened the possibility of generating robust control signals from noisy brain activity signals like EEG and EOG. A practical implementation of a non-invasive BMI such as robot control requires: acquisition of brain signals with a robust wearable unit, noise filtering and signal processing, identification and extraction of relevant brain wave features and finally, an algorithm to determine control signals based on the wave features. In this work, we developed a wireless brain-machine interface with a small platform and established a BMI that can be used to control the movement of a robot by using the extracted features of the EEG and EOG signals. The system records and classifies EEG as alpha, beta, delta, and theta waves. The classified brain waves are then used to define the level of attention. The acceleration and deceleration or stopping of the robot is controlled based on the attention level of the wearer. In addition, the left and right movements of eye ball control the direction of the robot.

Progressively Communicating Rich Telemetry from Autonomous Underwater Vehicles via Relays

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

wireless sensor networks using an autonomous underwater vehicle. In Robotics and...communication over multiple kilometers. In addition to wireless com- munication methods , the recently developed Nereus[12] vehicle at WHOI spools out...A P T U R E M e ss a g e s P ro ce ss / T h re a d M a n a g e m e n t C o n fi g u ra ti o n P a rs in g Network Manager Frame Scheduling

Intrusion Detection for Defense at the MAC and Routing Layers of Wireless Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

Space DoS Denial of Service DSR Dynamic Source Routing IDS Intrusion Detection System LAR Location-Aided Routing MAC Media Access Control MACA Multiple...different mobility parameters. 10 They simulate interaction between three MAC protocols ( MACA , 802.11 and CSMA) and three routing protocols (AODV, DSR

BeBot: A Modular Mobile Miniature Robot Platform Supporting Hardware Reconfiguration and Multi-standard Communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herbrechtsmeier, Stefan; Witkowski, Ulf; Rückert, Ulrich

Mobile robots become more and more important in current research and education. Especially small ’on the table’ experiments attract interest, because they need no additional or special laboratory equipments. In this context platforms are desirable which are small, simple to access and relatively easy to program. An additional powerful information processing unit is advantageous to simplify the implementation of algorithm and the porting of software from desktop computers to the robot platform. In this paper we present a new versatile miniature robot that can be ideally used for research and education. The small size of the robot of about 9 cm edge length, its robust drive and its modular structure make the robot a general device for single and multi-robot experiments executed ’on the table’. For programming and evaluation the robot can be wirelessly connected via Bluetooth or WiFi. The operating system of the robot is based on the standard Linux kernel and the GNU C standard library. A player/stage model eases software development and testing.

An Ultralightweight and Living Legged Robot.

PubMed

Vo Doan, Tat Thang; Tan, Melvin Y W; Bui, Xuan Hien; Sato, Hirotaka

2018-02-01

In this study, we describe the most ultralightweight living legged robot to date that makes it a strong candidate for a search and rescue mission. The robot is a living beetle with a wireless electronic backpack stimulator mounted on its thorax. Inheriting from the living insect, the robot employs a compliant body made of soft actuators, rigid exoskeletons, and flexure hinges. Such structure would allow the robot to easily adapt to any complex terrain due to the benefit of soft interface, self-balance, and self-adaptation of the insect without any complex controller. The antenna stimulation enables the robot to perform not only left/right turning but also backward walking and even cessation of walking. We were also able to grade the turning and backward walking speeds by changing the stimulation frequency. The power required to drive the robot is low as the power consumption of the antenna stimulation is in the order of hundreds of microwatts. In contrast to the traditional legged robots, this robot is of low cost, easy to construct, simple to control, and has ultralow power consumption.

Environmental projects. Volume 13: Underground storage tanks, removal and replacement. Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bengelsdorf, Irv

1991-01-01

The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex (GDSCC), located in the Mojave Desert about 40 miles north of Barstow, California, and about 160 miles northeast of Pasadena, is part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Deep Space Network, one of the world's largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunications and radio navigation networks. Activities at the GDSCC are carried out in support of six large parabolic dish antennas. As a large-scale facility located in a remote, isolated desert region, the GDSCC operations require numerous on-site storage facilities for gasoline, diesel oil, hydraulic oil, and waste oil. These fluids are stored in underground storage tanks (USTs). This present volume describes what happened to the 26 USTs that remained at the GDSCC. Twenty-four of these USTs were constructed of carbon steel without any coating for corrosion protection, and without secondary containment or leak detection. Two remaining USTs were constructed of fiberglass-coated carbon steel but without secondary containment or leak protection. Of the 26 USTs that remained at the GDSCC, 23 were cleaned, removed from the ground, cut up, and hauled away from the GDSCC for environmentally acceptable disposal. Three USTs were permanently closed (abandoned in place).

A novel frequency tuned wireless actuator with snake-like motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Kewei; Zhu, Qianke; Chai, Yuesheng

2016-07-01

In this work, we propose a novel wireless actuator which is composed of magnetostrictive material/copper bi-layer film. The actuator can be controlled to move like a snake bi-directionally along a pipe by tuning the frequency of external magnetic field near its first order resonant frequency. The governing equation for the actuator is established and the vibration mode shape function is derived. Theoretical analysis shows that motion of the actuator is achieved by asymmetric vibration mode shape, specific vibration bending deformation, and effective net total impacting force. The simulation and experimental results well confirm the theoretical analysis. This work provides contribution to the development of wireless micro robots and autonomous magnetostrictive sensors.

Olfaction and Hearing Based Mobile Robot Navigation for Odor/Sound Source Search

PubMed Central

Song, Kai; Liu, Qi; Wang, Qi

2011-01-01

Bionic technology provides a new elicitation for mobile robot navigation since it explores the way to imitate biological senses. In the present study, the challenging problem was how to fuse different biological senses and guide distributed robots to cooperate with each other for target searching. This paper integrates smell, hearing and touch to design an odor/sound tracking multi-robot system. The olfactory robot tracks the chemical odor plume step by step through information fusion from gas sensors and airflow sensors, while two hearing robots localize the sound source by time delay estimation (TDE) and the geometrical position of microphone array. Furthermore, this paper presents a heading direction based mobile robot navigation algorithm, by which the robot can automatically and stably adjust its velocity and direction according to the deviation between the current heading direction measured by magnetoresistive sensor and the expected heading direction acquired through the odor/sound localization strategies. Simultaneously, one robot can communicate with the other robots via a wireless sensor network (WSN). Experimental results show that the olfactory robot can pinpoint the odor source within the distance of 2 m, while two hearing robots can quickly localize and track the olfactory robot in 2 min. The devised multi-robot system can achieve target search with a considerable success ratio and high stability. PMID:22319401

Robotic Inspection System for Non-Destructive Evaluation (nde) of Pipes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mackenzie, L. D.; Pierce, S. G.; Hayward, G.

2009-03-01

The demand for remote inspection of pipework in the processing cells of nuclear plant provides significant challenges of access, navigation, inspection technique and data communication. Such processing cells typically contain several kilometres of densely packed pipework whose actual physical layout may be poorly documented. Access to these pipes is typically afforded through the radiation shield via a small removable concrete plug which may be several meters from the actual inspection site, thus considerably complicating practical inspection. The current research focuses on the robotic deployment of multiple NDE payloads for weld inspection along non-ferritic steel pipework (thus precluding use of magnetic traction options). A fully wireless robotic inspection platform has been developed that is capable of travelling along the outside of a pipe at any orientation, while avoiding obstacles such as pipe hangers and delivering a variety of NDE payloads. An eddy current array system provides rapid imaging capabilities for surface breaking defects while an on-board camera, in addition to assisting with navigation tasks, also allows real time image processing to identify potential defects. All sensor data can be processed by the embedded microcontroller or transmitted wirelessly back to the point of access for post-processing analysis.

Frontal plane hip and ankle sensorimotor function, not age, predicts unipedal stance time

PubMed Central

Allet, Lara; Kim, Hogene; Ashton-Miller, James; De Mott, Trina; Richardson, James K.

2011-01-01

Introduction Changes occur in muscles and nerves with aging. This study aimed to explore the relationship between unipedal stance time (UST) and frontal plane hip and ankle sensorimotor function in subjects with diabetic neuropathy. Methods UST, quantitative measures of frontal plane ankle proprioceptive thresholds, and ankle and hip motor function were tested in forty-one persons with a spectrum of lower limb sensorimotor function, ranging from healthy to moderately severe diabetic neuropathy. Results Frontal plane hip and ankle sensorimotor function demonstrated significant relationships with UST. Multivariate analysis identified only composite hip strength, composite ankle proprioceptive threshold, and age to be significant predictors of UST (R2=0.73); they explained 46%, 24% and 3% of the variance, respectively. Discussion/Conclusions Frontal plane hip strength was the single best predictor of UST and appeared to compensate for less precise ankle proprioceptive thresholds. This finding is clinically relevant given the possibility of strengthening the hip, even in patients with significant PN. . PMID:22431092

Frontal plane hip and ankle sensorimotor function, not age, predicts unipedal stance time.

PubMed

Allet, Lara; Kim, Hogene; Ashton-Miller, James; De Mott, Trina; Richardson, James K

2012-04-01

Changes occur in muscles and nerves with aging. In this study we explore the relationship between unipedal stance time (UST) and frontal plane hip and ankle sensorimotor function in subjects with diabetic neuropathy. UST, quantitative measures of frontal plane ankle proprioceptive thresholds, and ankle and hip motor function were tested in 41 subjects with a spectrum of lower limb sensorimotor function ranging from healthy to moderately severe diabetic neuropathy. Frontal plane hip and ankle sensorimotor function demonstrated significant relationships with UST. Multivariate analysis identified only composite hip strength, ankle proprioceptive threshold, and age to be significant predictors of UST (R(2) = 0.73), explaining 46%, 24%, and 3% of the variance, respectively. Frontal plane hip strength was the single best predictor of UST and appeared to compensate for less precise ankle proprioceptive thresholds. This finding is clinically relevant given the possibility of strengthening the hip, even in patients with significant peripheral neuropathy. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Closing the Loop: Control and Robot Navigation in Wireless Sensor Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-05

University of California at Berkeley Technical Report No. UCB/EECS- 2006 -112 http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/ 2006 /EECS- 2006 -112.html September 5... 2006 Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1...DATE 05 SEP 2006 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00- 2006 to 00-00- 2006 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Closing the Loop: Control and Robot Navigation in

Compact photoacoustic tomography system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalva, Sandeep Kumar; Pramanik, Manojit

2017-03-01

Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is a non-ionizing biomedical imaging modality which finds applications in brain imaging, tumor angiogenesis, monitoring of vascularization, breast cancer imaging, monitoring of oxygen saturation levels etc. Typical PAT systems uses Q-switched Nd:YAG laser light illumination, single element large ultrasound transducer (UST) as detector. By holding the UST in horizontal plane and moving it in a circular motion around the sample in full 2π radians photoacoustic data is collected and images are reconstructed. The horizontal positioning of the UST make the scanning radius large, leading to larger water tank and also increases the load on the motor that rotates the UST. To overcome this limitation, we present a compact photoacoustic tomographic (ComPAT) system. In this ComPAT system, instead of holding the UST in horizontal plane, it is held in vertical plane and the photoacoustic waves generated at the sample are detected by the UST after it is reflected at 45° by an acoustic reflector attached to the transducer body. With this we can reduce the water tank size and load on the motor, thus overall PAT system size can be reduced. Here we show that with the ComPAT system nearly similar PA images (phantom and in vivo data) can be obtained as that of the existing PAT systems using both flat and cylindrically focused transducers.

Breast density measurements using ultrasound tomography for patients undergoing tamoxifen treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sak, Mark; Duric, Neb; Littrup, Peter; Li, Cuiping; Bey-Knight, Lisa; Sherman, Mark; Boyd, Norman; Gierach, Gretchen

2013-03-01

Women with high breast density have an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Women treated with the selective estrogen receptor modulator tamoxifen for estrogen receptor positive breast cancer experience a 50% reduction in risk of contralateral breast cancer and overall reduction of similar magnitude has been identified among high-risk women receiving the drug for prevention. Tamoxifen has been shown to reduce mammographic density, and in the IBIS-1 chemoprevention trial, risk reduction and decline in density were significantly associated. Ultrasound tomography (UST) is an imaging modality that can create tomographic sound speed images of the breast. These sound speed images are useful because breast density is proportional to sound speed. The aim of this work is to examine the relationship between USTmeasured breast density and the use of tamoxifen. So far, preliminary results for a small number of patients have been observed and are promising. Correlations between the UST-measured density and mammographic density are strong and positive, while relationships between UST density with some patient specific risk factors behave as expected. Initial results of UST examinations of tamoxifen treated patients show that approximately 45% of the patients have a decrease in density in the contralateral breast after only several months of treatment. The true effect of tamoxifen on UST-measured density cannot yet be fully determined until more data are collected. However, these promising results suggest that UST can be used to reliably assess quantitative changes in breast density over short intervals and therefore suggest that UST may enable rapid assessment of density changes associated with therapeutic and preventative interventions.

From passive tool holders to microsurgeons: safer, smaller, smarter surgical robots.

PubMed

Bergeles, Christos; Yang, Guang-Zhong

2014-05-01

Within only a few decades from its initial introduction, the field of surgical robotics has evolved into a dynamic and rapidly growing research area with increasing clinical uptake worldwide. Initially introduced for stereotaxic neurosurgery, surgical robots are now involved in an increasing number of procedures, demonstrating their practical clinical potential while propelling further advances in surgical innovations. Emerging platforms are also able to perform complex interventions through only a single-entry incision, and navigate through natural anatomical pathways in a tethered or wireless fashion. New devices facilitate superhuman dexterity and enable the performance of surgical steps that are otherwise impossible. They also allow seamless integration of microimaging techniques at the cellular level, significantly expanding the capabilities of surgeons. This paper provides an overview of the significant achievements in surgical robotics and identifies the current trends and future research directions of the field in making surgical robots safer, smaller, and smarter.

In vivo demonstration of surgical task assistance using miniature robots.

PubMed

Hawks, Jeff A; Kunowski, Jacob; Platt, Stephen R

2012-10-01

Laparoscopy is beneficial to patients as measured by less painful recovery and an earlier return to functional health compared to conventional open surgery. However, laparoscopy requires the manipulation of long, slender tools from outside the patient's body. As a result, laparoscopy generally benefits only patients undergoing relatively simple procedures. An innovative approach to laparoscopy uses miniature in vivo robots that fit entirely inside the abdominal cavity. Our previous work demonstrated that a mobile, wireless robot platform can be successfully operated inside the abdominal cavity with different payloads (biopsy, camera, and physiological sensors). We hope that these robots are a step toward reducing the invasiveness of laparoscopy. The current study presents design details and results of laboratory and in vivo demonstrations of several new payload designs (clamping, cautery, and liquid delivery). Laboratory and in vivo cooperation demonstrations between multiple robots are also presented.

Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program. 2008 Annual Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-01

place to another on the network. Without it, a computer could only talk to itself - no email, no web browsing, and no iTunes . Most of the Internet...Your SecurID Card ), Ken Renard Secure Wireless, Rob Scott and Stephen Bowman Securing Today’s Networks, Rich Whittney, Juniper Networks, Federal

Intrusion Detection and Forensics for Self-Defending Wireless Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-12-01

ICNP), Nov. 2007. 5. Yao Zhao, Yan Chen, Bo Li, and Qian Zhang, Hop ID: A Virtual Coordinate based Routing for Sparse Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, in...Liu, Hongbo Zhao, Kai Chen and Yan Chen, " DISCO : Memory Efficient and Accurate Flow Statistics for Network Measurement", in the Proc. of IEEE ICDCS

75 FR 65654 - In the Matter of: Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-26

... on claim construction (``ID'') issued by the presiding administrative law judge (``ALJ'') in the... anticipation or obviousness), unenforceability. Claim construction may be a necessary underpinning to the... or element. On its own, however, claim construction might not be viewed as constituting such an issue...

75 FR 44282 - In the Matter of Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-28

... review the June 22, 2010, initial determination on claim construction (``ID'') issued by the presiding... question of the legal authority for addressing the issue of claim construction as a matter for summary determination and treating the claim construction ruling as an initial determination under the Commission's...

Wind Advisory System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curto, Paul A. (Inventor); Brown, Gerald E. (Inventor); Zysko, Jan A. (Inventor)

2001-01-01

The present invention is a two-part wind advisory system comprising a ground station at an airfield and an airborne unit placed inside an aircraft. The ground station monitors wind conditions (wind speed, wind direction, and wind gust) at the airfield and transmits the wind conditions and an airfield ID to the airborne unit. The airborne unit identifies the airfield by comparing the received airfield ID with airfield IDs stored in a database. The airborne unit also calculates the headwind and crosswind for each runway in both directions at the airfield using the received wind conditions and runway information stored in the database. The airborne unit then determines a recommended runway for takeoff and landing operations of the aircraft based on th runway having the greatest headwind value and displays the airfield ID, wind conditions, and recommended runway to the pilot. Another embodiment of the present invention includes a wireless internet based airborne unit in which the airborne unit can receive the wind conditions from the ground station over the internet.

Toward a practical mobile robotic aid system for people with severe physical disabilities.

PubMed

Regalbuto, M A; Krouskop, T A; Cheatham, J B

1992-01-01

A simple, relatively inexpensive robotic system that can aid severely disabled persons by providing pick-and-place manipulative abilities to augment the functions of human or trained animal assistants is under development at Rice University and the Baylor College of Medicine. A stand-alone software application program runs on a Macintosh personal computer and provides the user with a selection of interactive windows for commanding the mobile robot via cursor action. A HERO 2000 robot has been modified such that its workspace extends from the floor to tabletop heights, and the robot is interfaced to a Macintosh SE via a wireless communications link for untethered operation. Integrated into the system are hardware and software which allow the user to control household appliances in addition to the robot. A separate Machine Control Interface device converts breath action and head or other three-dimensional motion inputs into cursor signals. Preliminary in-home and laboratory testing has demonstrated the utility of the system to perform useful navigational and manipulative tasks.

High Temperature, Wireless Seismometer Sensor for Venus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ponchak, George E.; Scardelletti, Maximilian C.; Taylor, Brandt; Beard, Steve; Meredith, Roger D.; Beheim, Glenn M.; Hunter Gary W.; Kiefer, Walter S.

2012-01-01

Space agency mission plans state the need to measure the seismic activity on Venus. Because of the high temperature on Venus (462? C average surface temperature) and the difficulty in placing and wiring multiple sensors using robots, a high temperature, wireless sensor using a wide bandgap semiconductor is an attractive option. This paper presents the description and proof of concept measurements of a high temperature, wireless seismometer sensor for Venus. A variation in inductance of a coil caused by the movement of an aluminum probe held in the coil and attached to a balanced leaf-spring seismometer causes a variation of 700 Hz in the transmitted signal from the oscillator/sensor system at 426? C. This result indicates that the concept may be used on Venus.

Effect of Ultrasonic Surface Treatment on the Transparency and Orientation of Fresnoite Surface Crystallization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endo, A.; Sakida, S.; Benino, Y.; Nanba, T.

2011-10-01

Surface crystallized glass ceramics with fresnoite (Ba2TiSi2O8) phase were prepared by conventional heat treatment of 30BaO-20TiO2-50SiO2 glass together with ultrasonic surface treatment (UST) technique. The precursor glass was fully crystallized in a bulk form without any cracks, and the optical transparency and crystallographic orientation of the crystalline layers were evaluated by UV-Vis spectroscopy and XRD diffraction analyses, respectively. These properties were both enhanced significantly by applying UST using fresnoite/water suspension before the crystallization process, which is advantage for nonlinear optical applications of bulk glass ceramics. The effects of UST on the crystallization behavior were investigated by applying UST with various conditions.

Performance analysis of medical video streaming over mobile WiMAX.

PubMed

Alinejad, Ali; Philip, N; Istepanian, R H

2010-01-01

Wireless medical ultrasound streaming is considered one of the emerging application within the broadband mobile healthcare domain. These applications are considered as bandwidth demanding services that required high data rates with acceptable diagnostic quality of the transmitted medical images. In this paper, we present the performance analysis of a medical ultrasound video streaming acquired via special robotic ultrasonography system over emulated WiMAX wireless network. The experimental set-up of this application is described together with the performance of the relevant medical quality of service (m-QoS) metrics.

Feasibility of utilising an infrared-thermographic technique for early detection of subclinical mastitis in dairy camels (Camelus dromedarius).

PubMed

Samara, Emad M; Ayadi, Moez; Aljumaah, Riyadh S

2014-02-01

Despite the proven ability of infrared thermography (IRT) technology for early detection of subclinical mastitis in dairy cows/sheep/goats, studies on its diagnostic feasibility in dairy camels are lacking. Sixty-five lactating camels in mid lactation, machine milked twice-daily and managed under intensive conditions were screened to evaluate the feasibility of utilising IRT compared with other routine indicators in detecting subclinical mastitis. Immediately before the morning milking, a portable infrared camera was used to obtain thermograms in duplicate for the front and rear left quarters to determine the udder surface temperature (UST). Thereafter, milk samples from quarters were collected, and processed for California mastitis test (CMT) score and somatic cell count (SCC). In the present study, CMT score was used to define subclinical mastitis and the feasibility of IRT to detect subclinical mastitis was compared with CMT and SCC. According to CMT score, subclinical mastitic udders had an average UST of 1·42 °C greater (P<0·0001) than healthy udders. The relationship between UST and CMT was found to be highly correlated (r=0·77; P<0·001), and UST was linearly increased as the CMT increased [UST (°C)=34·86+0·66×CMT score; R 2=0·65; P<0·001]. Additionally, high correlations were obtained between UST and SCC score (r=0·75; P<0·001) and the relationship between UST and SCC was fitted best to a logarithmic equation [UST, °C=33·39+0·88×Log (SCC, ×103 cells/ml), R 2=0·61, P<0·001]. The cut-off value, sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve for UST were 35·15 °C, 0·90, 0·98, and 0·95, respectively, when subclinical mastitis was defined according to CMT score, and were 35·70 °C, 0·89, 0·96 and 0·94, respectively, when categorised according to the obtained SCC threshold (SCC=432 000 cells/ml). In conclusion, IRT, as an indirect non-invasive screening method, was highly feasible for distinguishing subclinical mastitic udders in dairy camels, which is crucial to treat mastitis early and efficiently.

Process design and economic analysis of a biorefinery co-producing itaconic acid and electricity from sugarcane bagasse and trash lignocelluloses.

PubMed

Nieder-Heitmann, Mieke; Haigh, Kathleen F; Görgens, Johann F

2018-08-01

Itaconic acid has economic potential as a commodity biochemical for the sugar industry, but its production is limited due to high production costs. Using cheaper and alternative lignocellulosic feedstocks together with achieving higher product titres have been identified as potential strategies for viable IA production. Consequently the use of sugarcane bagasse and trash for the production of itaconic acid (IA) and electricity have been investigated for an integrated biorefinery, where the production facility is annexed to an existing sugar mill and new combined heat and power (CHP) plant. Three IA biorefinery scenarios were designed and simulated in Aspen Plus®. Subsequent economic analyses indicated that cheaper feedstocks reduced the IA production cost from 1565.5 US$/t for glucose to 616.5 US$/t, but coal supplementation was required to sufficiently lower the production cost to 604.3 US$/t for a competitive IA selling price of 1740 US$/t, compared to the market price of 1800 US$/t. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of breast density measurements made using ultrasound tomography and mammography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sak, Mark; Duric, Neb; Littrup, Peter; Bey-Knight, Lisa; Krycia, Mark; Sherman, Mark E.; Boyd, Norman; Gierach, Gretchen L.

2015-03-01

Women with elevated mammographic percent density, defined as the ratio of fibroglandular tissue area to total breast area on a mammogram are at an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Ultrasound tomography (UST) is an imaging modality that can create tomographic sound speed images of a patient's breast, which can then be used to measure breast density. These sound speed images are useful because physical tissue density is directly proportional to sound speed. The work presented here updates previous results that compared mammographic breast density measurements with UST breast density measurements within an ongoing study. The current analysis has been expanded to include 158 women with negative digital mammographic screens who then underwent a breast UST scan. Breast density was measured for both imaging modalities and preliminary analysis demonstrated strong and positive correlations (Spearman correlation coefficient rs = 0.703). Additional mammographic and UST related imaging characteristics were also analyzed and used to compare the behavior of both imaging modalities. Results suggest that UST can be used among women with negative mammographic screens as a quantitative marker of breast density that may avert shortcomings of mammography.

The Influence of Ultrasonic Cavitation on the Formation of Fe-Rich Intermetallics in A383 Alloy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xuan, Yang; Liu, Tao; Nastac, Laurentiu; Brewer, Luke; Levin, Ilya; Arvikar, Vish

2018-06-01

The effect of ultrasonic treatment (UST) on the formation of Fe-rich intermetallics (including sludge) in the A383 alloy is investigated for different processing temperatures in the present study. Differential scanning calorimetry is used to analyze the precipitation temperature of the sludge phase. The results revealed that the sludge will precipitate at a temperature above that of the Al matrix and the precipitation temperature decreases with an increasing cooling rate. UST cavitation applied at different temperatures (600 °C to 750 °C) during the solidification process breaks the sludge into small island-like pieces. However, the aggregation trend of the sludge is not changed. Sludge with small size and uniform distribution is obtained when UST is applied at 600 °C, which is lower than the precipitation temperature of the sludge. At the highest temperature (850 °C), the application of UST has no effect on the formation of either sludge or α-Fe intermetallics. At 750 °C, UST promotes the formation of the sludge when applied at 750 °C.

Automated Guided Vehicle For Phsically Handicapped People - A Cost Effective Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, G. Arun, Dr.; Sivasubramaniam, Mr. A.

2017-12-01

Automated Guided vehicle (AGV) is like a robot that can deliver the materials from the supply area to the technician automatically. This is faster and more efficient. The robot can be accessed wirelessly. A technician can directly control the robot to deliver the components rather than control it via a human operator (over phone, computer etc. who has to program the robot or ask a delivery person to make the delivery). The vehicle is automatically guided through its ways. To avoid collisions a proximity sensor is attached to the system. The sensor senses the signals of the obstacles and can stop the vehicle in the presence of obstacles. Thus vehicle can avoid accidents that can be very useful to the present industrial trend and material handling and equipment handling will be automated and easy time saving methodology.

Aperiodic linear networked control considering variable channel delays: application to robots coordination.

PubMed

Santos, Carlos; Espinosa, Felipe; Santiso, Enrique; Mazo, Manuel

2015-05-27

One of the main challenges in wireless cyber-physical systems is to reduce the load of the communication channel while preserving the control performance. In this way, communication resources are liberated for other applications sharing the channel bandwidth. The main contribution of this work is the design of a remote control solution based on an aperiodic and adaptive triggering mechanism considering the current network delay of multiple robotics units. Working with the actual network delay instead of the maximum one leads to abandoning this conservative assumption, since the triggering condition is fixed depending on the current state of the network. This way, the controller manages the usage of the wireless channel in order to reduce the channel delay and to improve the availability of the communication resources. The communication standard under study is the widespread IEEE 802.11g, whose channel delay is clearly uncertain. First, the adaptive self-triggered control is validated through the TrueTime simulation tool configured for the mentioned WiFi standard. Implementation results applying the aperiodic linear control laws on four P3-DX robots are also included. Both of them demonstrate the advantage of this solution in terms of network accessing and control performance with respect to periodic and non-adaptive self-triggered alternatives.

Formalization, implementation, and modeling of institutional controllers for distributed robotic systems.

PubMed

Pereira, José N; Silva, Porfírio; Lima, Pedro U; Martinoli, Alcherio

2014-01-01

The work described is part of a long term program of introducing institutional robotics, a novel framework for the coordination of robot teams that stems from institutional economics concepts. Under the framework, institutions are cumulative sets of persistent artificial modifications made to the environment or to the internal mechanisms of a subset of agents, thought to be functional for the collective order. In this article we introduce a formal model of institutional controllers based on Petri nets. We define executable Petri nets-an extension of Petri nets that takes into account robot actions and sensing-to design, program, and execute institutional controllers. We use a generalized stochastic Petri net view of the robot team controlled by the institutional controllers to model and analyze the stochastic performance of the resulting distributed robotic system. The ability of our formalism to replicate results obtained using other approaches is assessed through realistic simulations of up to 40 e-puck robots. In particular, we model a robot swarm and its institutional controller with the goal of maintaining wireless connectivity, and successfully compare our model predictions and simulation results with previously reported results, obtained by using finite state automaton models and controllers.

Tag ID Subdivision Scheme for Efficient Authentication and Security-Enhancement of RFID System in USN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Kijeong; Park, Byungjoo; Park, Gil-Cheol

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a generic term that is used to describe a system that transmits the identity (in the form of a unique serial number) of an object or person wirelessly, using radio waves. However, there are security threats in the RFID system related to its technical components. For example, illegal RFID tag readers can read tag ID and recognize most RFID Readers, a security threat that needs in-depth attention. Previous studies show some ideas on how to minimize these security threats like studying the security protocols between tag, reader and Back-end DB. In this research, the team proposes an RFID Tag ID Subdivision Scheme to authenticate the permitted tag only in USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network). Using the proposed scheme, the Back-end DB authenticates selected tags only to minimize security threats like eavesdropping and decreasing traffic in Back-end DB.

40 CFR 280.10 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... operational purposes such as hydraulic lift tanks and electrical equipment tanks. (4) Any UST system whose... are regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 and following); (3) Any UST system...

40 CFR 280.10 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... operational purposes such as hydraulic lift tanks and electrical equipment tanks. (4) Any UST system whose... are regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 and following); (3) Any UST system...

40 CFR 280.10 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... operational purposes such as hydraulic lift tanks and electrical equipment tanks. (4) Any UST system whose... are regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 and following); (3) Any UST system...

40 CFR 280.10 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... operational purposes such as hydraulic lift tanks and electrical equipment tanks. (4) Any UST system whose... are regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 and following); (3) Any UST system...

40 CFR 280.10 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... operational purposes such as hydraulic lift tanks and electrical equipment tanks. (4) Any UST system whose... are regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 and following); (3) Any UST system...

Combining psychological and engineering approaches to utilizing social robots with children with autism.

PubMed

Dickstein-Fischer, Laurie; Fischer, Gregory S

2014-01-01

It is estimated that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects 1 in 68 children. Early identification of an ASD is exceedingly important to the introduction of an intervention. We are developing a robot-assisted approach that will serve as an improved diagnostic and early intervention tool for children with autism. The robot, named PABI® (Penguin for Autism Behavioral Interventions), is a compact humanoid robot taking on an expressive cartoon-like embodiment. The robot is affordable, durable, and portable so that it can be used in various settings including schools, clinics, and the home. Thus enabling significantly enhanced and more readily available diagnosis and continuation of care. Through facial expressions, body motion, verbal cues, stereo vision-based tracking, and a tablet computer, the robot is capable of interacting meaningfully with an autistic child. Initial implementations of the robot, as part of a comprehensive treatment model (CTM), include Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy where the child interacts with a tablet computer wirelessly interfaced with the robot. At the same time, the robot makes meaningful expressions and utterances and uses stereo cameras in eyes to track the child, maintain eye contact, and collect data such as affect and gaze direction for charting of progress. In this paper we present the clinical justification, anticipated usage with corresponding requirements, prototype development of the robotic system, and demonstration of a sample application for robot-assisted ABA therapy.

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

PubMed

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

2013-01-24

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

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

PubMed Central

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

2013-01-01

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

Class A and Class B UST Operator Exams

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn about exams developed by EPA to help underground storage tank system owners and operators in Indian country meet the 2015 federal UST regulation requirement that designated operators demonstrate knowledge and pass an exam.

Adaptive Control Parameters for Dispersal of Multi-Agent Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) Swarms

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

Kurt Derr; Milos Manic

A mobile ad hoc network is a collection of independent nodes that communicate wirelessly with one another. This paper investigates nodes that are swarm robots with communications and sensing capabilities. Each robot in the swarm may operate in a distributed and decentralized manner to achieve some goal. This paper presents a novel approach to dynamically adapting control parameters to achieve mesh configuration stability. The presented approach to robot interaction is based on spring force laws (attraction and repulsion laws) to create near-optimal mesh like configurations. In prior work, we presented the extended virtual spring mesh (EVSM) algorithm for the dispersionmore » of robot swarms. This paper extends the EVSM framework by providing the first known study on the effects of adaptive versus static control parameters on robot swarm stability. The EVSM algorithm provides the following novelties: 1) improved performance with adaptive control parameters and 2) accelerated convergence with high formation effectiveness. Simulation results show that 120 robots reach convergence using adaptive control parameters more than twice as fast as with static control parameters in a multiple obstacle environment.« less

Privacy Preserved and Secured Reliable Routing Protocol for Wireless Mesh Networks.

PubMed

Meganathan, Navamani Thandava; Palanichamy, Yogesh

2015-01-01

Privacy preservation and security provision against internal attacks in wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are more demanding than in wired networks due to the open nature and mobility of certain nodes in the network. Several schemes have been proposed to preserve privacy and provide security in WMNs. To provide complete privacy protection in WMNs, the properties of unobservability, unlinkability, and anonymity are to be ensured during route discovery. These properties can be achieved by implementing group signature and ID-based encryption schemes during route discovery. Due to the characteristics of WMNs, it is more vulnerable to many network layer attacks. Hence, a strong protection is needed to avoid these attacks and this can be achieved by introducing a new Cross-Layer and Subject Logic based Dynamic Reputation (CLSL-DR) mechanism during route discovery. In this paper, we propose a new Privacy preserved and Secured Reliable Routing (PSRR) protocol for WMNs. This protocol incorporates group signature, ID-based encryption schemes, and CLSL-DR mechanism to ensure strong privacy, security, and reliability in WMNs. Simulation results prove this by showing better performance in terms of most of the chosen parameters than the existing protocols.

Joint Transmit Power Allocation and Splitting for SWIPT Aided OFDM-IDMA in Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Li, Shanshan; Zhou, Xiaotian; Wang, Cheng-Xiang; Yuan, Dongfeng; Zhang, Wensheng

2017-01-01

In this paper, we propose to combine Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing-Interleave Division Multiple Access (OFDM-IDMA) with Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT), resulting in SWIPT aided OFDM-IDMA scheme for power-limited sensor networks. In the proposed system, the Receive Node (RN) applies Power Splitting (PS) to coordinate the Energy Harvesting (EH) and Information Decoding (ID) process, where the harvested energy is utilized to guarantee the iterative Multi-User Detection (MUD) of IDMA to work under sufficient number of iterations. Our objective is to minimize the total transmit power of Source Node (SN), while satisfying the requirements of both minimum harvested energy and Bit Error Rate (BER) performance from individual receive nodes. We formulate such a problem as a joint power allocation and splitting one, where the iteration number of MUD is also taken into consideration as the key parameter to affect both EH and ID constraints. To solve it, a sub-optimal algorithm is proposed to determine the power profile, PS ratio and iteration number of MUD in an iterative manner. Simulation results verify that the proposed algorithm can provide significant performance improvement. PMID:28677636

Joint Transmit Power Allocation and Splitting for SWIPT Aided OFDM-IDMA in Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Li, Shanshan; Zhou, Xiaotian; Wang, Cheng-Xiang; Yuan, Dongfeng; Zhang, Wensheng

2017-07-04

In this paper, we propose to combine Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing-Interleave Division Multiple Access (OFDM-IDMA) with Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT), resulting in SWIPT aided OFDM-IDMA scheme for power-limited sensor networks. In the proposed system, the Receive Node (RN) applies Power Splitting (PS) to coordinate the Energy Harvesting (EH) and Information Decoding (ID) process, where the harvested energy is utilized to guarantee the iterative Multi-User Detection (MUD) of IDMA to work under sufficient number of iterations. Our objective is to minimize the total transmit power of Source Node (SN), while satisfying the requirements of both minimum harvested energy and Bit Error Rate (BER) performance from individual receive nodes. We formulate such a problem as a joint power allocation and splitting one, where the iteration number of MUD is also taken into consideration as the key parameter to affect both EH and ID constraints. To solve it, a sub-optimal algorithm is proposed to determine the power profile, PS ratio and iteration number of MUD in an iterative manner. Simulation results verify that the proposed algorithm can provide significant performance improvement.

Advanced mobility handover for mobile IPv6 based wireless networks.

PubMed

Safa Sadiq, Ali; Fisal, Norsheila Binti; Ghafoor, Kayhan Zrar; Lloret, Jaime

2014-01-01

We propose an Advanced Mobility Handover scheme (AMH) in this paper for seamless mobility in MIPv6-based wireless networks. In the proposed scheme, the mobile node utilizes a unique home IPv6 address developed to maintain communication with other corresponding nodes without a care-of-address during the roaming process. The IPv6 address for each MN during the first round of AMH process is uniquely identified by HA using the developed MN-ID field as a global permanent, which is identifying uniquely the IPv6 address of MN. Moreover, a temporary MN-ID is generated by access point each time an MN is associated with a particular AP and temporarily saved in a developed table inside the AP. When employing the AMH scheme, the handover process in the network layer is performed prior to its default time. That is, the mobility handover process in the network layer is tackled by a trigger developed AMH message to the next access point. Thus, a mobile node keeps communicating with the current access point while the network layer handover is executed by the next access point. The mathematical analyses and simulation results show that the proposed scheme performs better as compared with the existing approaches.

UAVs Being Used for Environmental Surveying

ScienceCinema

Chung, Sandra

2017-12-09

UAVs, are much more sophisticated than your typical remote-controlled plane. INL robotics and remote sensing experts have added state-of-the-art imaging and wireless technology to the UAVs to create intelligent remote surveillance craft that can rapidly survey a wide area for damage and track down security threats.

The Extension of Wireless Mesh Networks Via Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

development. When connected to Crossbow’s Stargate Processor Board (SPB400) (See Figure 19), via the standard 51-pin connector, the MNAV100CA combines with...also be connected and processed by the Stargate to support intelligent robotics applications.22 22 UAV

Impact of Ocean Wave Climate on Double-Frequency Microseisms and Evaluation of Seismic Site Effect in Northern Mississippi, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Z.; Aydin, A.; Xue, M.

2017-12-01

This research presents the power spectral density (PSD) of double-frequency (DF) microseisms in both vertical (V) and resultant horizontal (H) directions and horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios (HVSR) of 13 continuous single point long-term ambient noise recordings (LTR) at 5 inland and 2 coastal locations selected in Mississippi Embayment, and frequency value and PSD at DF peak (PSD@DF), predominant frequency (f0) and HVSR value at f0 (HVSR@f0) at 234 single point short-term ambient noise recordings (STR) over a large range of unconsolidated sediment thickness (UST) in Northern Mississippi. By correlating PSD of LTRs with the simultaneous ocean wave climate data of Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, DF microseisms observed in Northern Mississippi were shown to be shaped by a combined impact of wave climates of both Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Polarization analysis conducted separately for LTRs and STRs strengthen this conclusion. The LTRs show stable estimates of f0, on the other hand, time-dependent variations on HVSR@f0 value. The plots of DFH-UST, rather than DFV-UST, coincide well with plots of f0-UST within area where UST is larger than 300 m, which indicates that the shear wave resonance in thick sediments modifies the DF microseisms more obviously in horizontal direction than in vertical direction. Transfer functions between HVSR@f0 and ocean data indicates that the variation of HVSR@f0 is caused by variations of source location and energy level of DF microseisms, i.e. ocean wave activities in Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, 3D microseism spectra of each LTR and those of all STRs within each 100 m-UST group are converted into spatial spectral vectors and projected on stereographic nets. Patterns of the clusters formed by these projections show that the HVSR@f0 values are related to both UST and vibration source location and energy level.

Photosynthetic, morphological, and reproductive variations in Cypripedium tibeticum in relation to different light regimes in a subalpine forest.

PubMed

Zheng, Bao-Qiang; Zou, Long-Hai; Li, Kui; Wan, Xiao; Wang, Yan

2017-01-01

Cypripedium tibeticum, a subalpine orchid species, inhabits various habitats of subalpine forests, mainly including the forest edge (FE), forest gap (FG), and understory (UST), which have significantly different light intensities (FE > FG > UST). However, the ecological and physiological influences caused by different light regimes in this species are still poorly understood. In the present study, photosynthetic, morphological, and reproductive characteristics were comprehensively studied in plants of C. tibeticum grown in three types of habitats. The photosynthetic capacities, such as the net photosynthetic rate, light-saturated photosynthesis (Pmax), and dry mass per unit leaf area (LMA), were higher in FE and FG than in UST according to light availability. Compared with FG, the populations in FE and UST suffer from excessively strong and inadequate radiation, respectively, which was further corroborated by the low Fv/Fm in FE and high apparent quantum yield (AQY) in FG. The leaves of the orchids had various proportions of constituents, such as the leaf area, thickness and (or) epidermal hair, to reduce damage from high radiation (including ultraviolet-b radiation) in FE and capture more light in FG and UST. Although the flower rate (FR) was positively correlated to both Pmax and the daily mean PAR, fruit-set only occurred in the populations in FG. The failures in FE and UST might be ascribed to changes in the floral functional structure and low biomass accumulation, respectively. Moreover, analysis of the demographic statistics showed that FG was an advantageous habitat for the orchid. Thus, C. tibeticum reacted to photosynthetic and morphological changes to adapt to different subalpine forest habitats, and neither full (under FE) nor low (UST) illumination was favorable for population expansion. These findings could serve as a guide for the protection and reintroduction of C. tibeticum and emphasize the importance of specific habitats for Cypripedium spp.

Telerobotic Excavator Designed to Compete in NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nash, Rodney; Santin, Cara; Yousef, Ahmed; Nguyen, Thien; Helferty, John; Pillapakkam, Shriram

2011-01-01

The second annual NASA Lunabotics Mining competition is to be held in May 23-28, 2011. The goal of the competition is for teams of university level students to design, build, test and compete with a fully integrated lunar excavator on a simulated lunar surface. Our team, named Lunar Solutions I, will be representing Temple University's College of Engineering in the competition. The team's main goal was to build a robot which is able to compete with other teams, and ultimately win the competition. The main challenge of the competition was to build a wireless robot that can excavate and collect a minimum of 10 kilograms of the regolith material within 15 minutes. The robot must also be designed to operate in conditions similar to those found on the lunar surface. The design of the lunar excavator is constrained by a set of requirements determined by NASA and detailed in the competition's rulebook. The excavator must have the ability to communicate with the "main base" wirelessly, and over a Wi-Fi network. Human operators are located at a remote site approximately 60 meters away from the simulated lunar surface upon which the robot must excavate the lunar regolith surface. During the competition, the robot will operate in a separate area from the control room in an area referred to as the "Lunarena." From the control room, the operators will have to control the robot using visual feedback from cameras placed both within the arena and on the robot. Using this visual feedback the human operators control the robots movement using both keyboard and joystick commands. In order to place in the competition, a minimum of 10 kg of regolith material has to be excavated, collected, and dumped into a specific location. For that reason, the robot must be provided with an effective and powerful excavation system. Our excavator uses tracks for the drive system. After performing extensive research and trade studies, we concluded that tracks would be the most effective method for transporting the excavator. When designing the excavation system, we analyzed several design options from the previous year's competition. We decided to use a front loader to collect the material, rather than a conveyer belt system or auger. Many of the designs from last year's competition used a conveyer belt mechanism to mine regolith and dump it into a temporary storage bin place on the robot. Using the front end loader approach allowed us to combine the scooping system and storage unit, which meant that the excavation system required less space.

Heterogeneous Wireless Mesh Network Technology Evaluation for Space Proximity and Surface Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeCristofaro, Michael A.; Lansdowne, Chatwin A.; Schlesinger, Adam M.

2014-01-01

NASA has identified standardized wireless mesh networking as a key technology for future human and robotic space exploration. Wireless mesh networks enable rapid deployment, provide coverage in undeveloped regions. Mesh networks are also self-healing, resilient, and extensible, qualities not found in traditional infrastructure-based networks. Mesh networks can offer lower size, weight, and power (SWaP) than overlapped infrastructure-perapplication. To better understand the maturity, characteristics and capability of the technology, we developed an 802.11 mesh network consisting of a combination of heterogeneous commercial off-the-shelf devices and opensource firmware and software packages. Various streaming applications were operated over the mesh network, including voice and video, and performance measurements were made under different operating scenarios. During the testing several issues with the currently implemented mesh network technology were identified and outlined for future work.

CHEMICALS STORED IN USTS: CHARACTERISTICS AND LEAK DETECTION

EPA Science Inventory

The regulations Issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) In 1988 require, with several exceptions, that the Integrity of underground storage tank (UST) systems containing petroleum fuels and hazardous chemicals be routinely tested. The regulatory standards for ...

LCMV beamforming for a novel wireless local positioning system: a stationarity analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tong, Hui; Zekavat, Seyed A.

2005-05-01

In this paper, we discuss the implementation of Linear Constrained Minimum Variance (LCMV) beamforming (BF) for a novel Wireless Local Position System (WLPS). WLPS main components are: (a) a dynamic base station (DBS), and (b) a transponder (TRX), both mounted on mobiles. WLPS might be considered as a node in a Mobile Adhoc NETwork (MANET). Each TRX is assigned an identification (ID) code. DBS transmits periodic short bursts of energy which contains an ID request (IDR) signal. The TRX transmits back its ID code (a signal with a limited duration) to the DBS as soon as it detects the IDR signal. Hence, the DBS receives non-continuous signals transmitted by TRX. In this work, we assume asynchronous Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) transmission from the TRX with antenna array/LCMV BF mounted at the DBS, and we discuss the implementation of the observed signal covariance matrix for LCMV BF. In LCMV BF, the observed covariance matrix should be estimated. Usually sample covariance matrix (SCM) is used to estimate this covariance matrix assuming a stationary model for the observed data which is the case in many communication systems. However, due to the non-stationary behavior of the received signal in WLPS systems, SCM does not lead to a high WLPS performance compared to even a conventional beamformer. A modified covariance matrix estimation method which utilizes the cyclostationarity property of WLPS system is introduced as a solution to this problem. It is shown that this method leads to a significant improvement in the WLPS performance.

The magic glove: a gesture-based remote controller for intelligent mobile robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Chaomin; Chen, Yue; Krishnan, Mohan; Paulik, Mark

2012-01-01

This paper describes the design of a gesture-based Human Robot Interface (HRI) for an autonomous mobile robot entered in the 2010 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC). While the robot is meant to operate autonomously in the various Challenges of the competition, an HRI is useful in moving the robot to the starting position and after run termination. In this paper, a user-friendly gesture-based embedded system called the Magic Glove is developed for remote control of a robot. The system consists of a microcontroller and sensors that is worn by the operator as a glove and is capable of recognizing hand signals. These are then transmitted through wireless communication to the robot. The design of the Magic Glove included contributions on two fronts: hardware configuration and algorithm development. A triple axis accelerometer used to detect hand orientation passes the information to a microcontroller, which interprets the corresponding vehicle control command. A Bluetooth device interfaced to the microcontroller then transmits the information to the vehicle, which acts accordingly. The user-friendly Magic Glove was successfully demonstrated first in a Player/Stage simulation environment. The gesture-based functionality was then also successfully verified on an actual robot and demonstrated to judges at the 2010 IGVC.

76 FR 45617 - Notice of Lodging of the Consent Decree Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-29

... underground storage tank (UST) facilities; failure to perform annual tests of automatic line leak detectors... detectors for piping on the UST systems. CHEVRON also agrees under the Consent Decree to install dispenser...

40 CFR 280.22 - Notification requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Section 280.22 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES... STORAGE TANKS (UST) UST Systems: Design, Construction, Installation and Notification § 280.22 Notification... to notify the designated state or local agency in accordance with the Hazardous and Solid Waste...

40 CFR 280.22 - Notification requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Section 280.22 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES... STORAGE TANKS (UST) UST Systems: Design, Construction, Installation and Notification § 280.22 Notification... to notify the designated state or local agency in accordance with the Hazardous and Solid Waste...

40 CFR 280.22 - Notification requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Section 280.22 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES... STORAGE TANKS (UST) UST Systems: Design, Construction, Installation and Notification § 280.22 Notification... to notify the designated state or local agency in accordance with the Hazardous and Solid Waste...

40 CFR 280.22 - Notification requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Section 280.22 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES... STORAGE TANKS (UST) UST Systems: Design, Construction, Installation and Notification § 280.22 Notification... to notify the designated state or local agency in accordance with the Hazardous and Solid Waste...

40 CFR 280.22 - Notification requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Section 280.22 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES... STORAGE TANKS (UST) UST Systems: Design, Construction, Installation and Notification § 280.22 Notification... to notify the designated state or local agency in accordance with the Hazardous and Solid Waste...

Think Tank.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Governick, Heather; Wellington, Thom

1998-01-01

Examines the options for upgrading, replacing, and removal or closure of underground storage tanks (UST). Reveals the diverse regulatory control involving USTs, the Environmental Protection Agency's interest in pursuing violators, and stresses the need for administrators to be knowledgeable about state and local agency definitions of regulated…

Explosive response model evaluation using the explosive H6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutherland, Gerrit T.; Burns, Joseph

2000-04-01

Reactive rate model parameters for a two term Lee Tarver [simplified ignition and growth (SIG)] model were obtained for the explosive H6 from modified gap test data. These model was used to perform simulations of the underwater sensitivity test (UST) using the CTH hydrocode. Reaction was predicted in the simulations for the same water gaps that reaction was observed in the UST. The expansions observed for the UST samples were not simulated correctly, and this is attributed to the density equilibrium conditions imposed between unreacted and reacted components in CTH for the Lee-Tarver model.

EPIRUS-NET: A Wireless Health Telematics Network in Greece

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-10-25

has also to be made. The system is represented of three basic layers: the database layer, the middleware and the Hospital Daily Progress Anamnesis ... Anamnesis . The Encounter entry is uniquely identified by the incremental ID, IID, attribute. Each encounter entry is associated with a clinical...the main entities of the system (Hospital, Patient, Anamnesis , Encounter, Clinical Examination, Daily Progress, Examination, Release Ticket), along

Navigation of robotic system using cricket motes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patil, Yogendra J.; Baine, Nicholas A.; Rattan, Kuldip S.

2011-06-01

This paper presents a novel algorithm for self-mapping of the cricket motes that can be used for indoor navigation of autonomous robotic systems. The cricket system is a wireless sensor network that can provide indoor localization service to its user via acoustic ranging techniques. The behavior of the ultrasonic transducer on the cricket mote is studied and the regions where satisfactorily distance measurements can be obtained are recorded. Placing the motes in these regions results fine-grain mapping of the cricket motes. Trilateration is used to obtain a rigid coordinate system, but is insufficient if the network is to be used for navigation. A modified SLAM algorithm is applied to overcome the shortcomings of trilateration. Finally, the self-mapped cricket motes can be used for navigation of autonomous robotic systems in an indoor location.

Mobile robotic sensors for perimeter detection and tracking.

PubMed

Clark, Justin; Fierro, Rafael

2007-02-01

Mobile robot/sensor networks have emerged as tools for environmental monitoring, search and rescue, exploration and mapping, evaluation of civil infrastructure, and military operations. These networks consist of many sensors each equipped with embedded processors, wireless communication, and motion capabilities. This paper describes a cooperative mobile robot network capable of detecting and tracking a perimeter defined by a certain substance (e.g., a chemical spill) in the environment. Specifically, the contributions of this paper are twofold: (i) a library of simple reactive motion control algorithms and (ii) a coordination mechanism for effectively carrying out perimeter-sensing missions. The decentralized nature of the methodology implemented could potentially allow the network to scale to many sensors and to reconfigure when adding/deleting sensors. Extensive simulation results and experiments verify the validity of the proposed cooperative control scheme.

Modeling and Implementation of PID Control for Autonomous Robots

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

2 Figure 2. Bigfoot ...guidance, 802.11 wireless communications, and a motion triggered camera to monitor an area for IED placement. LT John Herkamp’s Bigfoot (Figure 2) is...designed to disable IED’s. Bigfoot includes the same obstacle avoidance software and sensors, but has a controllable arm to carry a counter charge

Report to Congress on a Compliance Plan for the Underground Storage Tank Program

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn about identification of USTs that are not in compliance with Subtitle I of the Solid Waste Disposal Act or are in temporary closure, and determine the ownership of USTs not in compliance or in temporary closure

Guidance on Compatibility of UST Systems with Ethanol Blends Greater Than 10 Percent and Biodiesel Blends Greater Than 20 Percent

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA guidance on complying with the federal compatibility requirement for underground storage tank (UST) systems storing gasoline containing greater than 10 percent ethanol or diesel containing greater than 20 percent biodiesel.

Obstacle negotiation control for a mobile robot suspended on overhead ground wires by optoelectronic sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Li; Yi, Ruan

2009-11-01

Power line inspection and maintenance already benefit from developments in mobile robotics. This paper presents mobile robots capable of crossing obstacles on overhead ground wires. A teleoperated robot realizes inspection and maintenance tasks on power transmission line equipment. The inspection robot is driven by 11 motor with two arms, two wheels and two claws. The inspection robot is designed to realize the function of observation, grasp, walk, rolling, turn, rise, and decline. This paper is oriented toward 100% reliable obstacle detection and identification, and sensor fusion to increase the autonomy level. An embedded computer based on PC/104 bus is chosen as the core of control system. Visible light camera and thermal infrared Camera are both installed in a programmable pan-and-tilt camera (PPTC) unit. High-quality visual feedback rapidly becomes crucial for human-in-the-loop control and effective teleoperation. The communication system between the robot and the ground station is based on Mesh wireless networks by 700 MHz bands. An expert system programmed with Visual C++ is developed to implement the automatic control. Optoelectronic laser sensors and laser range scanner were installed in robot for obstacle-navigation control to grasp the overhead ground wires. A novel prototype with careful considerations on mobility was designed to inspect the 500KV power transmission lines. Results of experiments demonstrate that the robot can be applied to execute the navigation and inspection tasks.

A small, cheap, and portable reconnaissance robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kenyon, Samuel H.; Creary, D.; Thi, Dan; Maynard, Jeffrey

2005-05-01

While there is much interest in human-carriable mobile robots for defense/security applications, existing examples are still too large/heavy, and there are not many successful small human-deployable mobile ground robots, especially ones that can survive being thrown/dropped. We have developed a prototype small short-range teleoperated indoor reconnaissance/surveillance robot that is semi-autonomous. It is self-powered, self-propelled, spherical, and meant to be carried and thrown by humans into indoor, yet relatively unstructured, dynamic environments. The robot uses multiple channels for wireless control and feedback, with the potential for inter-robot communication, swarm behavior, or distributed sensor network capabilities. The primary reconnaissance sensor for this prototype is visible-spectrum video. This paper focuses more on the software issues, both the onboard intelligent real time control system and the remote user interface. The communications, sensor fusion, intelligent real time controller, etc. are implemented with onboard microcontrollers. We based the autonomous and teleoperation controls on a simple finite state machine scripting layer. Minimal localization and autonomous routines were designed to best assist the operator, execute whatever mission the robot may have, and promote its own survival. We also discuss the advantages and pitfalls of an inexpensive, rapidly-developed semi-autonomous robotic system, especially one that is spherical, and the importance of human-robot interaction as considered for the human-deployment and remote user interface.

Determinants of the reliability of ultrasound tomography sound speed estimates as a surrogate for volumetric breast density

PubMed Central

Khodr, Zeina G.; Sak, Mark A.; Pfeiffer, Ruth M.; Duric, Nebojsa; Littrup, Peter; Bey-Knight, Lisa; Ali, Haythem; Vallieres, Patricia; Sherman, Mark E.; Gierach, Gretchen L.

2015-01-01

Purpose: High breast density, as measured by mammography, is associated with increased breast cancer risk, but standard methods of assessment have limitations including 2D representation of breast tissue, distortion due to breast compression, and use of ionizing radiation. Ultrasound tomography (UST) is a novel imaging method that averts these limitations and uses sound speed measures rather than x-ray imaging to estimate breast density. The authors evaluated the reproducibility of measures of speed of sound and changes in this parameter using UST. Methods: One experienced and five newly trained raters measured sound speed in serial UST scans for 22 women (two scans per person) to assess inter-rater reliability. Intrarater reliability was assessed for four raters. A random effects model was used to calculate the percent variation in sound speed and change in sound speed attributable to subject, scan, rater, and repeat reads. The authors estimated the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for these measures based on data from the authors’ experienced rater. Results: Median (range) time between baseline and follow-up UST scans was five (1–13) months. Contributions of factors to sound speed variance were differences between subjects (86.0%), baseline versus follow-up scans (7.5%), inter-rater evaluations (1.1%), and intrarater reproducibility (∼0%). When evaluating change in sound speed between scans, 2.7% and ∼0% of variation were attributed to inter- and intrarater variation, respectively. For the experienced rater’s repeat reads, agreement for sound speed was excellent (ICC = 93.4%) and for change in sound speed substantial (ICC = 70.4%), indicating very good reproducibility of these measures. Conclusions: UST provided highly reproducible sound speed measurements, which reflect breast density, suggesting that UST has utility in sensitively assessing change in density. PMID:26429241

Determinants of the reliability of ultrasound tomography sound speed estimates as a surrogate for volumetric breast density

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

Khodr, Zeina G.; Pfeiffer, Ruth M.; Gierach, Gretchen L., E-mail: GierachG@mail.nih.gov

Purpose: High breast density, as measured by mammography, is associated with increased breast cancer risk, but standard methods of assessment have limitations including 2D representation of breast tissue, distortion due to breast compression, and use of ionizing radiation. Ultrasound tomography (UST) is a novel imaging method that averts these limitations and uses sound speed measures rather than x-ray imaging to estimate breast density. The authors evaluated the reproducibility of measures of speed of sound and changes in this parameter using UST. Methods: One experienced and five newly trained raters measured sound speed in serial UST scans for 22 women (twomore » scans per person) to assess inter-rater reliability. Intrarater reliability was assessed for four raters. A random effects model was used to calculate the percent variation in sound speed and change in sound speed attributable to subject, scan, rater, and repeat reads. The authors estimated the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for these measures based on data from the authors’ experienced rater. Results: Median (range) time between baseline and follow-up UST scans was five (1–13) months. Contributions of factors to sound speed variance were differences between subjects (86.0%), baseline versus follow-up scans (7.5%), inter-rater evaluations (1.1%), and intrarater reproducibility (∼0%). When evaluating change in sound speed between scans, 2.7% and ∼0% of variation were attributed to inter- and intrarater variation, respectively. For the experienced rater’s repeat reads, agreement for sound speed was excellent (ICC = 93.4%) and for change in sound speed substantial (ICC = 70.4%), indicating very good reproducibility of these measures. Conclusions: UST provided highly reproducible sound speed measurements, which reflect breast density, suggesting that UST has utility in sensitively assessing change in density.« less

Vertical Profiling of Soil Vapor Concentrations Using a New Passive Diffusion Sampler at a UST Site

EPA Science Inventory

Understanding the transport of volatile contaminants in soil gas, particularly those associated with underground storage tanks (USTs), requires a detailed knowledge about the depth-dependent distribution of chemical species in the subsurface. Traditional monitoring wells generall...

The Dual Function of "usted:" Forms of Address in Bogota, Colombia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uber, Diane Ringer

1985-01-01

Shows that "usted" has two functions: showing lack of solidarity and showing extreme solidarity, with "tu" falling somewhere in between on the continuum. Discusses the increasing use of "tu," especially among younger people, and presents some possible reasons for this. (SED)

76 FR 46798 - Compatibility of Underground Storage Tank Systems With Biofuel Blends; Correction

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-03

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [EPA-HQ-UST-2010-0651; FRL-9447-3] Compatibility of Underground Storage Tank Systems With Biofuel Blends; Correction AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION... of underground storage tanks (USTs) can demonstrate compliance with the Federal compatibility...

Magnetite-apatite-dolomitic rocks of Ust-Chulman (Aldan shield, Russia): Seligdar-type carbonatites?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prokopyev, Ilya R.; Doroshkevich, Anna G.; Redina, Anna A.; Obukhov, Andrey V.

2018-04-01

The Ust-Chulman apatite ore body is situated within the Nimnyrskaya apatite zone at the Aldan shield in Russia. The latest data confirm the carbonatitic origin of the Seligdar apatite deposit (Prokopyev et al. in Ore Geol Rev 81:296-308, 2017). The results of our investigations demonstrate that the magnetite-apatite-dolomitic rocks of the Ust-Chulman are highly similar to Seligdar-type dolomitic carbonatites in terms of the mineralogy and the fluid regime of formation. The ilmenite and spinel mineral phases occur as solid solutions with magnetite, and support the magmatic origin of the Ust-Chulman ores. The chemical composition of REE- and SO3-bearing apatite crystals and, specifically, monazite-(Ce) mineralisation and the formation of Nb-rutile, late hydrothermal sulphate minerals (barite, anhydrite) and haematite are typical for carbonatite complexes. The fluid inclusions study revealed similarities to the evolutionary trend of the Seligdar carbonatites that included changes of the hydrothermal solutions from highly concentrated chloride to medium-low concentrated chloride-sulphate and oxidized carbonate-ferrous.

Ultrasound tomography imaging with waveform sound speed: parenchymal changes in women undergoing tamoxifen therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sak, Mark; Duric, Neb; Littrup, Peter; Sherman, Mark; Gierach, Gretchen

2017-03-01

Ultrasound tomography (UST) is an emerging modality that can offer quantitative measurements of breast density. Recent breakthroughs in UST image reconstruction involve the use of a waveform reconstruction as opposed to a raybased reconstruction. The sound speed (SS) images that are created using the waveform reconstruction have a much higher image quality. These waveform images offer improved resolution and contrasts between regions of dense and fatty tissues. As part of a study that was designed to assess breast density changes using UST sound speed imaging among women undergoing tamoxifen therapy, UST waveform sound speed images were then reconstructed for a subset of participants. These initial results show that changes to the parenchymal tissue can more clearly be visualized when using the waveform sound speed images. Additional quantitative testing of the waveform images was also started to test the hypothesis that waveform sound speed images are a more robust measure of breast density than ray-based reconstructions. Further analysis is still needed to better understand how tamoxifen affects breast tissue.

RoCoMAR: robots' controllable mobility aided routing and relay architecture for mobile sensor networks.

PubMed

Le, Duc Van; Oh, Hoon; Yoon, Seokhoon

2013-07-05

In a practical deployment, mobile sensor network (MSN) suffers from a low performance due to high node mobility, time-varying wireless channel properties, and obstacles between communicating nodes. In order to tackle the problem of low network performance and provide a desired end-to-end data transfer quality, in this paper we propose a novel ad hoc routing and relaying architecture, namely RoCoMAR (Robots' Controllable Mobility Aided Routing) that uses robotic nodes' controllable mobility. RoCoMAR repeatedly performs link reinforcement process with the objective of maximizing the network throughput, in which the link with the lowest quality on the path is identified and replaced with high quality links by placing a robotic node as a relay at an optimal position. The robotic node resigns as a relay if the objective is achieved or no more gain can be obtained with a new relay. Once placed as a relay, the robotic node performs adaptive link maintenance by adjusting its position according to the movements of regular nodes. The simulation results show that RoCoMAR outperforms existing ad hoc routing protocols for MSN in terms of network throughput and end-to-end delay.

RoCoMAR: Robots' Controllable Mobility Aided Routing and Relay Architecture for Mobile Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Van Le, Duc; Oh, Hoon; Yoon, Seokhoon

2013-01-01

In a practical deployment, mobile sensor network (MSN) suffers from a low performance due to high node mobility, time-varying wireless channel properties, and obstacles between communicating nodes. In order to tackle the problem of low network performance and provide a desired end-to-end data transfer quality, in this paper we propose a novel ad hoc routing and relaying architecture, namely RoCoMAR (Robots' Controllable Mobility Aided Routing) that uses robotic nodes' controllable mobility. RoCoMAR repeatedly performs link reinforcement process with the objective of maximizing the network throughput, in which the link with the lowest quality on the path is identified and replaced with high quality links by placing a robotic node as a relay at an optimal position. The robotic node resigns as a relay if the objective is achieved or no more gain can be obtained with a new relay. Once placed as a relay, the robotic node performs adaptive link maintenance by adjusting its position according to the movements of regular nodes. The simulation results show that RoCoMAR outperforms existing ad hoc routing protocols for MSN in terms of network throughput and end-to-end delay. PMID:23881134

From biological and social network metaphors to coupled bio-social wireless networks

PubMed Central

Barrett, Christopher L.; Eubank, Stephen; Anil Kumar, V.S.; Marathe, Madhav V.

2010-01-01

Biological and social analogies have been long applied to complex systems. Inspiration has been drawn from biological solutions to solve problems in engineering products and systems, ranging from Velcro to camouflage to robotics to adaptive and learning computing methods. In this paper, we present an overview of recent advances in understanding biological systems as networks and use this understanding to design and analyse wireless communication networks. We expand on two applications, namely cognitive sensing and control and wireless epidemiology. We discuss how our work in these two applications is motivated by biological metaphors. We believe that recent advances in computing and communications coupled with advances in health and social sciences raise the possibility of studying coupled bio-social communication networks. We argue that we can better utilise the advances in our understanding of one class of networks to better our understanding of the other. PMID:21643462

A robotic home telehealth platform system for treatment adherence, social assistance and companionship - an overview.

PubMed

Oddsson, Lars I E; Radomski, Mary V; White, Matthew; Nilsson, Daniel

2009-01-01

Well-known difficulties of making patients adhere to assigned treatments have made engineers and clinicians look towards technology for possible solutions. Recent studies have found that cell phone-based text messaging can help drive positive changes in patients' disease management and preventive health behavior. Furthermore, work in the area of assistive robotics indicates benefits for patients although robotic solutions tend to become expensive. However, continued improvement in sensor, computer and wireless technologies combined with decreases in cost is paving the way for development of affordable robotic systems that can help improve patient care and potentially add value to the healthcare system. This paper provides a high-level design overview of SKOTEE, the Sister Kenny hOme ThErapy systEm, an inexpensive robotic platform system designed to provide adherence support for home exercise programs, taking medication, appointment reminders and clinician communication. SKOTEE will also offer companionship as well as entertainment and social networking opportunities to the patient in their home. A video of the system is presented at the conference.

Design and development of biomimetic quadruped robot for behavior studies of rats and mice.

PubMed

Ishii, Hiroyuki; Masuda, Yuichi; Miyagishima, Syunsuke; Fumino, Shogo; Takanishi, Atsuo; Laschi, Cecilia; Mazzolai, Barbara; Mattoli, Virgilio; Dario, Paolo

2009-01-01

This paper presents the design and development of a novel biomimetic quadruped robot for behavior studies of rats and mice. Many studies have been performed using these animals for the purpose of understanding human mind in psychology, pharmacology and brain science. In these fields, several experiments on social interactions have been performed using rats as basic studies of mental disorders or social learning. However, some researchers mention that the experiments on social interactions using animals are poorly-reproducible. Therefore, we consider that reproducibility of these experiments can be improved by using a robotic agent that interacts with an animal subject. Thus, we developed a small quadruped robot WR-2 (Waseda Rat No. 2) that behaves like a real rat. Proportion and DOF arrangement of WR-2 are designed based on those of a mature rat. This robot has four 3-DOF legs, a 2-DOF waist and a 1-DOF neck. A microcontroller and a wireless communication module are implemented on it. A battery is also implemented. Thus, it can walk, rear by limbs and groom its body.

Demonstration of UAV deployment and control of mobile wireless sensing networks for modal analysis of structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Hao; Hirose, Mitsuhito; Greenwood, William; Xiao, Yong; Lynch, Jerome; Zekkos, Dimitrios; Kamat, Vineet

2016-04-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can serve as a powerful mobile sensing platform for assessing the health of civil infrastructure systems. To date, the majority of their uses have been dedicated to vision and laser-based spatial imaging using on-board cameras and LiDAR units, respectively. Comparatively less work has focused on integration of other sensing modalities relevant to structural monitoring applications. The overarching goal of this study is to explore the ability for UAVs to deploy a network of wireless sensors on structures for controlled vibration testing. The study develops a UAV platform with an integrated robotic gripper that can be used to install wireless sensors in structures, drop a heavy weight for the introduction of impact loads, and to uninstall wireless sensors for reinstallation elsewhere. A pose estimation algorithm is embedded in the UAV to estimate the location of the UAV during sensor placement and impact load introduction. The Martlet wireless sensor network architecture is integrated with the UAV to provide the UAV a mobile sensing capability. The UAV is programmed to command field deployed Martlets, aggregate and temporarily store data from the wireless sensor network, and to communicate data to a fixed base station on site. This study demonstrates the integrated UAV system using a simply supported beam in the lab with Martlet wireless sensors placed by the UAV and impact load testing performed. The study verifies the feasibility of the integrated UAV-wireless monitoring system architecture with accurate modal characteristics of the beam estimated by modal analysis.

Cooperative terrain model acquisition by a team of two or three point-robots

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

Rao, N.S.V.; Protopopescu, V.; Manickam, N.

1996-04-01

We address the model acquisition problem for an unknown planar terrain by a team of two or three robots. The terrain is cluttered by a finite number of polygonal obstacles whose shapes and positions are unknown. The robots are point-sized and equipped with visual sensors which acquire all visible parts of the terrain by scan operations executed from their locations. The robots communicate with each other via wireless connection. The performance is measured by the number of the sensor (scan) operations which are assumed to be the most time-consuming of all the robot operations. We employ the restricted visibility graphmore » methods in a hierarchical setup. For terrains with convex obstacles and for teams of n(= 2, 3) robots, we prove that the sensing time is reduced by a factor of 1/n. For terrains with concave corners, the performance of the algorithm depends on the number of concave regions and their depths. A hierarchical decomposition of the restricted visibility graph into n-connected and (n - 1)-or-less connected components is considered. The performance for the n(= 2, 3) robot team is expressed in terms of the sizes of n-connected components, and the sizes and diameters of (n - 1)-or-less connected components.« less

MEASUREMENT AND ANALYSIS OF VAPOR SENSORS USED AT UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK SITES

EPA Science Inventory

This report is a continuation of an investigation to quantify the operating characteristics of vapor sensor technologies used at underground storage tank (UST) sites. n the previous study (EPA/600/R-92/219) the sensitivity, selectivity, and response time to simulated UST environm...

Underground Storage Tanks on Indian Lands. Education Moderates an Environmental Threat.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hillger, Robert W.; Small, Matthew C.

1992-01-01

Describes problems related to old underground storage tanks (USTs) that may leak toxic contents, focusing on relevance for American Indian reservations. Discusses design, installation, and upgrading of UST systems; federal definitions and regulations; leak detection; legal responsibility; and education for public awareness. Includes Environmental…

Intuitive wireless control of a robotic arm for people living with an upper body disability.

PubMed

Fall, C L; Turgeon, P; Campeau-Lecours, A; Maheu, V; Boukadoum, M; Roy, S; Massicotte, D; Gosselin, C; Gosselin, B

2015-08-01

Assistive Technologies (ATs) also called extrinsic enablers are useful tools for people living with various disabilities. The key points when designing such useful devices not only concern their intended goal, but also the most suitable human-machine interface (HMI) that should be provided to users. This paper describes the design of a highly intuitive wireless controller for people living with upper body disabilities with a residual or complete control of their neck and their shoulders. Tested with JACO, a six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) assistive robotic arm with 3 flexible fingers on its end-effector, the system described in this article is made of low-cost commercial off-the-shelf components and allows a full emulation of JACO's standard controller, a 3 axis joystick with 7 user buttons. To do so, three nine-degree-of-freedom (9-DOF) inertial measurement units (IMUs) are connected to a microcontroller and help measuring the user's head and shoulders position, using a complementary filter approach. The results are then transmitted to a base-station via a 2.4-GHz low-power wireless transceiver and interpreted by the control algorithm running on a PC host. A dedicated software interface allows the user to quickly calibrate the controller, and translates the information into suitable commands for JACO. The proposed controller is thoroughly described, from the electronic design to implemented algorithms and user interfaces. Its performance and future improvements are discussed as well.

Efficient Segmentation of a Breast in B-Mode Ultrasound Tomography Using Three-Dimensional GrabCut (GC3D)

PubMed Central

Wu, Shibin; Zhuang, Ling; Wei, Xinhua; Sak, Mark; Neb, Duric; Hu, Jiani; Xie, Yaoqin

2017-01-01

As an emerging modality for whole breast imaging, ultrasound tomography (UST), has been adopted for diagnostic purposes. Efficient segmentation of an entire breast in UST images plays an important role in quantitative tissue analysis and cancer diagnosis, while major existing methods suffer from considerable time consumption and intensive user interaction. This paper explores three-dimensional GrabCut (GC3D) for breast isolation in thirty reflection (B-mode) UST volumetric images. The algorithm can be conveniently initialized by localizing points to form a polygon, which covers the potential breast region. Moreover, two other variations of GrabCut and an active contour method were compared. Algorithm performance was evaluated from volume overlap ratios (TO, target overlap; MO, mean overlap; FP, false positive; FN, false negative) and time consumption. Experimental results indicate that GC3D considerably reduced the work load and achieved good performance (TO = 0.84; MO = 0.91; FP = 0.006; FN = 0.16) within an average of 1.2 min per volume. Furthermore, GC3D is not only user friendly, but also robust to various inputs, suggesting its great potential to facilitate clinical applications during whole-breast UST imaging. In the near future, the implemented GC3D can be easily automated to tackle B-mode UST volumetric images acquired from the updated imaging system. PMID:28786946

Advanced Mobility Handover for Mobile IPv6 Based Wireless Networks

PubMed Central

Safa Sadiq, Ali; Fisal, Norsheila Binti; Ghafoor, Kayhan Zrar; Lloret, Jaime

2014-01-01

We propose an Advanced Mobility Handover scheme (AMH) in this paper for seamless mobility in MIPv6-based wireless networks. In the proposed scheme, the mobile node utilizes a unique home IPv6 address developed to maintain communication with other corresponding nodes without a care-of-address during the roaming process. The IPv6 address for each MN during the first round of AMH process is uniquely identified by HA using the developed MN-ID field as a global permanent, which is identifying uniquely the IPv6 address of MN. Moreover, a temporary MN-ID is generated by access point each time an MN is associated with a particular AP and temporarily saved in a developed table inside the AP. When employing the AMH scheme, the handover process in the network layer is performed prior to its default time. That is, the mobility handover process in the network layer is tackled by a trigger developed AMH message to the next access point. Thus, a mobile node keeps communicating with the current access point while the network layer handover is executed by the next access point. The mathematical analyses and simulation results show that the proposed scheme performs better as compared with the existing approaches. PMID:25614890

Urban Morphological Dynamics in Santiago (chile): Proposing Sustainable Indicators from Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández, H. J.; Gutiérrez, M. A.; Acuña, M. P.

2016-06-01

Latin America is one of the world's most urbanised regions, with more than 80% of inhabitants living in urban areas and over 50 cities with at least 1 million inhabitants. The concept of urban structure types (UST) allows the dynamics of a growing urban environment to be captured in its quantity and quality. They are defined as areas of homogenous appearance in the urban matrix with a recognisable mixture of built-up areas and open spaces. We used the vegetation-impervious-soil (V-I-S) model approach to classify and monitor different types of USTs in Santiago (~800 km2), Chile between 1985 and 2015. The V-I-S model is based on a simplification of the large diversity of urban land cover types in three general categories: vegetation, impervious surfaces and soil. These categories were obtained by processing Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-8 OLI images. First, we applied standard radiometric calibration and co-registration methods to all datasets. Second, using a linear spectral unmixing algorithm we performed a soft classification of urban land cover types (end members): trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, soils, buildings, roads and water bodies. All end members were validated using a combination of photointerpretation on high-resolution images (~1 m) and field data collection (only for 2015). In each pixel we used the resulting probability scores, logically grouped, to obtain final values for each V-I-S component. Third, we used statistical clustering of V-I-S values to create a set of eight pixel groups, which we interpreted as USTs and mapped them for each date. The overall accuracy for V-I-S components in 1985 and 2015 were 78% and 82%, respectively, and errors did not exhibit any spatial correlation. The main sources of differentiation between USTs were the trade-off proportions between vegetation and impervious components, whereas soil proportions remained near 5% across the city in both dates. To analyse the change in UST spatial configuration between dates, we used a set of selected landscape metrics and discussed their use as indicators for sustainable urban development. These indicators relate to the dispersion pattern of urban growth, the connectivity of open green space and the complexity in the composition of the UST types within the different sectors of the city. We were able to identify, using the dynamics exhibited by the USTs, three main zones: (1) city centre, where USTs of high-intensity development predominate, (2) eastern high-income areas whose spatial structure is marked by a relatively high urbanisation intensity with a very large proportion of vegetated spaces, and (3) peripheral areas, with significant changes in composition and configuration of USTs, in recent decades, showing high rates of urbanisation, shifting from low-medium to high densities. We concluded that these patterns and their dynamics are mainly determined by the spatial socio-economic stratification of the population.

Control of a 7-DOF Robotic Arm System With an SSVEP-Based BCI.

PubMed

Chen, Xiaogang; Zhao, Bing; Wang, Yijun; Xu, Shengpu; Gao, Xiaorong

2018-04-12

Although robot technology has been successfully used to empower people who suffer from motor disabilities to increase their interaction with their physical environment, it remains a challenge for individuals with severe motor impairment, who do not have the motor control ability to move robots or prosthetic devices by manual control. In this study, to mitigate this issue, a noninvasive brain-computer interface (BCI)-based robotic arm control system using gaze based steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) was designed and implemented using a portable wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) system. A 15-target SSVEP-based BCI using a filter bank canonical correlation analysis (FBCCA) method allowed users to directly control the robotic arm without system calibration. The online results from 12 healthy subjects indicated that a command for the proposed brain-controlled robot system could be selected from 15 possible choices in 4[Formula: see text]s (i.e. 2[Formula: see text]s for visual stimulation and 2[Formula: see text]s for gaze shifting) with an average accuracy of 92.78%, resulting in a 15 commands/min transfer rate. Furthermore, all subjects (even naive users) were able to successfully complete the entire move-grasp-lift task without user training. These results demonstrated an SSVEP-based BCI could provide accurate and efficient high-level control of a robotic arm, showing the feasibility of a BCI-based robotic arm control system for hand-assistance.

40 CFR 280.210 - Participation in management.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... or facility or property on which the UST or UST system is located, liquidate, wind up operations, and... the security interest includes all debt and costs incurred by the security interest holder, and is... value of the security interest also includes all reasonable and necessary costs, fees, or other charges...

40 CFR 280.31 - Operation and maintenance of corrosion protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Operation and maintenance of corrosion... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) General Operating Requirements § 280.31 Operation and maintenance of corrosion protection. All owners and operators of steel UST systems with corrosion protection must comply with the...

40 CFR 280.31 - Operation and maintenance of corrosion protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 28 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Operation and maintenance of corrosion... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) General Operating Requirements § 280.31 Operation and maintenance of corrosion protection. All owners and operators of steel UST systems with corrosion protection must comply with the...

40 CFR 280.31 - Operation and maintenance of corrosion protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 28 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Operation and maintenance of corrosion... UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST) General Operating Requirements § 280.31 Operation and maintenance of corrosion protection. All owners and operators of steel UST systems with corrosion protection must comply with the...

40 CFR 280.42 - Requirements for hazardous substance UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... UST systems. 280.42 Section 280.42 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... automatic line leak detector in accordance with § 280.44(a). (5) Other methods of release detection may be used if owners and operators: (i) Demonstrate to the implementing agency that an alternate method can...

Use of Electrical Conductivity Logging to Characterize the Geological Context of Releases at UST Sites

EPA Science Inventory

Risk is the combination of hazard and exposure. Risk characterization at UST release sites has traditionally emphasized hazard (presence of residual fuel) with little attention to exposure. Exposure characterization often limited to a one-dimensional model such as the RBCA equa...

Evaluation of a New Passive Diffusion Sampler for Improving the Calibration of Models to Evaluate Vapor Movement at UST Sites

EPA Science Inventory

Understanding transport of volatile contaminants in soil gas and ground water, particularly those associated with underground storage tanks (USTs), requires a detailed knowledge about the depth-dependent distribution of chemical species in the subsurface. A risk assessment of th...

A New Passive Diffusion Sampler for Improving the Calibration of Models to Evaluate Vapor Movement at UST Sites

EPA Science Inventory

Understanding transport of volatile contaminants in soil gas and ground water, particularly those associated with underground storage tanks (USTs), requires a detailed knowledge about the depthdependent distribution of chemical species in the subsurface. A risk assessment of the...

DECISION-SUPPORT SOFTWARE FOR SOIL VAPOR EXTRACTION TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION: HYPERVENTILATE

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimate* that 15% to 20% of the approximately 1.7 million underground storage tank (UST) systems containing petroleum products are either leaking or will leak In the near future. These UST systems could pose a serious threat to p...

El medioambiente y su salud

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Las acciones que usted toda en su diario vivir tienen un impacto en su medioambiente y su salud. La Agencia de Protección Ambiental de EE.UU. (EPA, por sus siglas en inglés) ofrece información sobre los pasos que puede tomar para protegerse a usted y prote

Online Phase Detection Using Wearable Sensors for Walking with a Robotic Prosthesis

PubMed Central

Goršič, Maja; Kamnik, Roman; Ambrožič, Luka; Vitiello, Nicola; Lefeber, Dirk; Pasquini, Guido; Munih, Marko

2014-01-01

This paper presents a gait phase detection algorithm for providing feedback in walking with a robotic prosthesis. The algorithm utilizes the output signals of a wearable wireless sensory system incorporating sensorized shoe insoles and inertial measurement units attached to body segments. The principle of detecting transitions between gait phases is based on heuristic threshold rules, dividing a steady-state walking stride into four phases. For the evaluation of the algorithm, experiments with three amputees, walking with the robotic prosthesis and wearable sensors, were performed. Results show a high rate of successful detection for all four phases (the average success rate across all subjects >90%). A comparison of the proposed method to an off-line trained algorithm using hidden Markov models reveals a similar performance achieved without the need for learning dataset acquisition and previous model training. PMID:24521944

Field studies of safety security rescue technologies through training and response activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, Robin R.; Stover, Sam

2006-05-01

This paper describes the field-oriented philosophy of the Institute for Safety Security Rescue Technology (iSSRT) and summarizes the activities and lessons learned during calendar year 2005 of its two centers: the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue and the NSF Safety Security Rescue industry/university cooperative research center. In 2005, iSSRT participated in four responses (La Conchita, CA, Mudslides, Hurricane Dennis, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Wilma) and conducted three field experiments (NJTF-1, Camp Hurricane, Richmond, MO). The lessons learned covered mobility, operator control units, wireless communications, and general reliability. The work has collectively identified six emerging issues for future work. Based on these studies, a 10-hour, 1 continuing education unit credit course on rescue robotics has been created and is available. Rescue robots and sensors are available for loan upon request.

Mobile wireless network for the urban environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Budulas, Peter; Luu, Brian; Gopaul, Richard

2005-05-01

As the Army transforms into the Future Force, particular attention must be paid to operations in Complex and Urban Terrain. Our adversaries increasingly draw us into operations in the urban environment and one can presume that this trend will continue in future battles. In order to ensure that the United States Army maintains battlefield dominance, the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is developing technology to equip our soldiers for the urban operations of the future. Sophisticated soldier borne systems will extend sensing to the individual soldier, and correspondingly, allow the soldier to establish an accurate picture of their surrounding environment utilizing information from local and remote assets. Robotic platforms will be an integral part of the future combat team. These platforms will augment the team with remote sensing modalities, task execution capabilities, and enhanced communication systems. To effectively utilize the products provided by each of these systems, collected data must be exchanged in real time to all affected entities. Therefore, the Army Research Laboratory is also developing the technology that will be required to support high bandwidth mobile communication in urban environments. This technology incorporates robotic systems that will allow connectivity in areas unreachable by traditional systems. This paper will address some of the issues of providing wireless connectivity in complex and urban terrain. It will further discuss approaches developed by the Army Research Laboratory to integrate communications capabilities into soldier and robotic systems and provide seamless connectivity between the elements of a combat team, and higher echelons.

A Segway RMP-based robotic transport system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Hoa G.; Kogut, Greg; Barua, Ripan; Burmeister, Aaron; Pezeshkian, Narek; Powell, Darren; Farrington, Nathan; Wimmer, Matt; Cicchetto, Brett; Heng, Chana; Ramirez, Velia

2004-12-01

In the area of logistics, there currently is a capability gap between the one-ton Army robotic Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment (MULE) vehicle and a soldier"s backpack. The Unmanned Systems Branch at Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR Systems Center, or SSC), San Diego, with the assistance of a group of interns from nearby High Tech High School, has demonstrated enabling technologies for a solution that fills this gap. A small robotic transport system has been developed based on the Segway Robotic Mobility Platform (RMP). We have demonstrated teleoperated control of this robotic transport system, and conducted two demonstrations of autonomous behaviors. Both demonstrations involved a robotic transporter following a human leader. In the first demonstration, the transporter used a vision system running a continuously adaptive mean-shift filter to track and follow a human. In the second demonstration, the separation between leader and follower was significantly increased using Global Positioning System (GPS) information. The track of the human leader, with a GPS unit in his backpack, was sent wirelessly to the transporter, also equipped with a GPS unit. The robotic transporter traced the path of the human leader by following these GPS breadcrumbs. We have additionally demonstrated a robotic medical patient transport capability by using the Segway RMP to power a mock-up of the Life Support for Trauma and Transport (LSTAT) patient care platform, on a standard NATO litter carrier. This paper describes the development of our demonstration robotic transport system and the various experiments conducted.

Technological evaluation of gesture and speech interfaces for enabling dismounted soldier-robot dialogue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kattoju, Ravi Kiran; Barber, Daniel J.; Abich, Julian; Harris, Jonathan

2016-05-01

With increasing necessity for intuitive Soldier-robot communication in military operations and advancements in interactive technologies, autonomous robots have transitioned from assistance tools to functional and operational teammates able to service an array of military operations. Despite improvements in gesture and speech recognition technologies, their effectiveness in supporting Soldier-robot communication is still uncertain. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the performance of gesture and speech interface technologies to facilitate Soldier-robot communication during a spatial-navigation task with an autonomous robot. Gesture and speech semantically based spatial-navigation commands leveraged existing lexicons for visual and verbal communication from the U.S Army field manual for visual signaling and a previously established Squad Level Vocabulary (SLV). Speech commands were recorded by a Lapel microphone and Microsoft Kinect, and classified by commercial off-the-shelf automatic speech recognition (ASR) software. Visual signals were captured and classified using a custom wireless gesture glove and software. Participants in the experiment commanded a robot to complete a simulated ISR mission in a scaled down urban scenario by delivering a sequence of gesture and speech commands, both individually and simultaneously, to the robot. Performance and reliability of gesture and speech hardware interfaces and recognition tools were analyzed and reported. Analysis of experimental results demonstrated the employed gesture technology has significant potential for enabling bidirectional Soldier-robot team dialogue based on the high classification accuracy and minimal training required to perform gesture commands.

Electricity unplugged

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karalis, Aristeidis

2009-02-01

The judge was driving back late one cold winter night. Entering the garage, the battery-charging indicator in his wirelessly powered electric car came on. "Home at last," crossed his mind. He swiped his personal smartcard on the front-door detector to be let in. He heard a "charging" beep from his mobile phone. The blinking cursor on the half-finished e-mail on the laptop had been waiting all day on the side table. He picked the computer up and walked towards his desk. "Good evening, your honour. Your wirelessly heated robe," said the butler-robot as it approached from the kitchen. Putting on the electric garment, he sat on the medical desk chair. His artificial heart was now beating faster.

76 FR 21299 - Oregon: Tentative Approval of State Underground Storage Tank Program: Public Hearing Cancellation

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-15

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 40 CFR Part 281 [EPA-R10-UST-2011-0097; FRL-9296-1] Oregon: Tentative Approval of State Underground Storage Tank Program: Public Hearing Cancellation AGENCY... application for final approval of its Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program under Subtitle I of the Resource...

PERFORMANCE OF CONVENTIONAL REMEDIAL TECHNOLOGY FOR TREATMENT OF MTBE AND BENZENE AT UST SITES IN KANSAS

EPA Science Inventory

Ground water at most UST spills sites in Kansas contains both MTBE and benzene, and both contaminants must be effectively treated to close the sites. Soil vacuum extraction, air sparging, and excavation are the most common treatment technologies in Kansas. To compare the relati...

Nanodispersed Suspensions of Zeolite Catalysts for Converting Dimethyl Ether into Olefins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolesnichenko, N. V.; Yashina, O. V.; Ezhova, N. N.; Bondarenko, G. N.; Khadzhiev, S. N.

2018-01-01

Nanodispersed suspensions that are effective in DME conversion and stable in the reaction zone in a three-phase system (slurry reactor) are obtained from MFI zeolite commercial samples (TsVM, IK-17-1, and CBV) in liquid media via ultrasonic treatment (UST). It is found that the dispersion medium, in which ultrasound affects zeolite commercial sample, has a large influence on particle size in the suspension. UST in the aqueous medium produces zeolite nanoparticles smaller than 50 nm, while larger particles of MFI zeolite samples form in silicone or hydrocarbon oils. Spectral and adsorption data show that when zeolites undergo UST in an aqueous medium, the acid sites are redistributed on the zeolite surface and the specific surface area of the mesopores increases. Preliminary UST in aqueous media of zeolite commercial samples (TsVM, IK-17-1, and CBV) affects the catalytic properties of MFI zeolite nanodispersed suspensions. The selectivity of samples when paraffins and olefins form is largely due to superacid sites consisting of OH groups of hydroxonium ion H3O+.

The Modular Design and Production of an Intelligent Robot Based on a Closed-Loop Control Strategy.

PubMed

Zhang, Libo; Zhu, Junjie; Ren, Hao; Liu, Dongdong; Meng, Dan; Wu, Yanjun; Luo, Tiejian

2017-10-14

Intelligent robots are part of a new generation of robots that are able to sense the surrounding environment, plan their own actions and eventually reach their targets. In recent years, reliance upon robots in both daily life and industry has increased. The protocol proposed in this paper describes the design and production of a handling robot with an intelligent search algorithm and an autonomous identification function. First, the various working modules are mechanically assembled to complete the construction of the work platform and the installation of the robotic manipulator. Then, we design a closed-loop control system and a four-quadrant motor control strategy, with the aid of debugging software, as well as set steering gear identity (ID), baud rate and other working parameters to ensure that the robot achieves the desired dynamic performance and low energy consumption. Next, we debug the sensor to achieve multi-sensor fusion to accurately acquire environmental information. Finally, we implement the relevant algorithm, which can recognize the success of the robot's function for a given application. The advantage of this approach is its reliability and flexibility, as the users can develop a variety of hardware construction programs and utilize the comprehensive debugger to implement an intelligent control strategy. This allows users to set personalized requirements based on their needs with high efficiency and robustness.

Wireless Emergency Alerts: Trust Model Technical Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-01

Simulation=,.alse·/> <Observa1ionsl> <JNode> 4\\lode id=" M13 • Name="System Accessibilit)r Type=,_abelled~ <Partnt Nodtf> <SIJt.c>Sever~l Ouignett<l and...System_@lt3• Type~Continuous Interval"> <Pareni_Node> M13 əPareni_Nocte> <St.tn>.fnfinily • 0.0@0.0 • 10.0@10.0 • fnfinity<ISiates> <N PT> <NPT _Row

Autonomous mobile robotic system for supporting counterterrorist and surveillance operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamczyk, Marek; Bulandra, Kazimierz; Moczulski, Wojciech

2017-10-01

Contemporary research on mobile robots concerns applications to counterterrorist and surveillance operations. The goal is to develop systems that are capable of supporting the police and special forces by carrying out such operations. The paper deals with a dedicated robotic system for surveillance of large objects such as airports, factories, military bases, and many others. The goal is to trace unauthorised persons who try to enter to the guarded area, document the intrusion and report it to the surveillance centre, and then warn the intruder by sound messages and eventually subdue him/her by stunning through acoustic effect of great power. The system consists of several parts. An armoured four-wheeled robot assures required mobility of the system. The robot is equipped with a set of sensors including 3D mapping system, IR and video cameras, and microphones. It communicates with the central control station (CCS) by means of a wideband wireless encrypted system. A control system of the robot can operate autonomously, and under remote control. In the autonomous mode the robot follows the path planned by the CCS. Once an intruder has been detected, the robot can adopt its plan to allow tracking him/her. Furthermore, special procedures of treatment of the intruder are applied including warning about the breach of the border of the protected area, and incapacitation of an appropriately selected very loud sound until a patrol of guards arrives. Once getting stuck the robot can contact the operator who can remotely solve the problem the robot is faced with.

Robotic large-scale application of wheat cell-free translation to structural studies including membrane proteins

PubMed Central

Beebe, Emily T.; Makino, Shin-ichi; Nozawa, Akira; Matsubara, Yuko; Frederick, Ronnie O.; Primm, John G.; Goren, Michael A.; Fox, Brian G.

2010-01-01

The use of the Protemist XE, an automated discontinuous-batch protein synthesis robot, in cell-free translation is reported. The soluble Galdieria sulphuraria protein DCN1 was obtained in greater than 2 mg total synthesis yield per mL of reaction mixture from the Protemist XE, and the structure was subsequently solved by X-ray crystallography using material from one 10 mL synthesis (PDB ID: 3KEV). The Protemist XE was also capable of membrane protein translation. Thus human sigma-1 receptor was translated in the presence of unilamellar liposomes and bacteriorhodopsin was translated directly into detergent micelles in the presence of all-trans-retinal. The versatility, ease of use, and compact size of the Protemist XE robot demonstrate its suitability for large-scale synthesis of many classes of proteins. PMID:20637905

Optimization-based Approach to Cross-layer Resource Management in Wireless Networked Control Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-01

interest from both academia and industry [37], finding applications in un- manned robotic vehicles, automated highways and factories, smart homes and...is stable when the scaler varies slowly. The algorithm is further extended to utilize the slack resource in the network, which leads to the...model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Optimal sampling rate allocation formulation . . . . . 67 Price-based algorithm

Sensing and Force-Feedback Exoskeleton (SAFE) Robotic Glove.

PubMed

Ben-Tzvi, Pinhas; Ma, Zhou

2015-11-01

This paper presents the design, implementation and experimental validation of a novel robotic haptic exoskeleton device to measure the user's hand motion and assist hand motion while remaining portable and lightweight. The device consists of a five-finger mechanism actuated with miniature DC motors through antagonistically routed cables at each finger, which act as both active and passive force actuators. The SAFE Glove is a wireless and self-contained mechatronic system that mounts over the dorsum of a bare hand and provides haptic force feedback to each finger. The glove is adaptable to a wide variety of finger sizes without constraining the range of motion. This makes it possible to accurately and comfortably track the complex motion of the finger and thumb joints associated with common movements of hand functions, including grip and release patterns. The glove can be wirelessly linked to a computer for displaying and recording the hand status through 3D Graphical User Interface (GUI) in real-time. The experimental results demonstrate that the SAFE Glove is capable of reliably modeling hand kinematics, measuring finger motion and assisting hand grasping motion. Simulation and experimental results show the potential of the proposed system in rehabilitation therapy and virtual reality applications.

Collaborative Indoor Access Point Localization Using Autonomous Mobile Robot Swarm.

PubMed

Awad, Fahed; Naserllah, Muhammad; Omar, Ammar; Abu-Hantash, Alaa; Al-Taj, Abrar

2018-01-31

Localization of access points has become an important research problem due to the wide range of applications it addresses such as dismantling critical security threats caused by rogue access points or optimizing wireless coverage of access points within a service area. Existing proposed solutions have mostly relied on theoretical hypotheses or computer simulation to demonstrate the efficiency of their methods. The techniques that rely on estimating the distance using samples of the received signal strength usually assume prior knowledge of the signal propagation characteristics of the indoor environment in hand and tend to take a relatively large number of uniformly distributed random samples. This paper presents an efficient and practical collaborative approach to detect the location of an access point in an indoor environment without any prior knowledge of the environment. The proposed approach comprises a swarm of wirelessly connected mobile robots that collaboratively and autonomously collect a relatively small number of non-uniformly distributed random samples of the access point's received signal strength. These samples are used to efficiently and accurately estimate the location of the access point. The experimental testing verified that the proposed approach can identify the location of the access point in an accurate and efficient manner.

Collaborative Indoor Access Point Localization Using Autonomous Mobile Robot Swarm

PubMed Central

Awad, Fahed; Naserllah, Muhammad; Omar, Ammar; Abu-Hantash, Alaa; Al-Taj, Abrar

2018-01-01

Localization of access points has become an important research problem due to the wide range of applications it addresses such as dismantling critical security threats caused by rogue access points or optimizing wireless coverage of access points within a service area. Existing proposed solutions have mostly relied on theoretical hypotheses or computer simulation to demonstrate the efficiency of their methods. The techniques that rely on estimating the distance using samples of the received signal strength usually assume prior knowledge of the signal propagation characteristics of the indoor environment in hand and tend to take a relatively large number of uniformly distributed random samples. This paper presents an efficient and practical collaborative approach to detect the location of an access point in an indoor environment without any prior knowledge of the environment. The proposed approach comprises a swarm of wirelessly connected mobile robots that collaboratively and autonomously collect a relatively small number of non-uniformly distributed random samples of the access point’s received signal strength. These samples are used to efficiently and accurately estimate the location of the access point. The experimental testing verified that the proposed approach can identify the location of the access point in an accurate and efficient manner. PMID:29385042

Bio-inspired group modeling and analysis for intruder detection in mobile sensor/robotic networks.

PubMed

Fu, Bo; Xiao, Yang; Liang, Xiannuan; Philip Chen, C L

2015-01-01

Although previous bio-inspired models have concentrated on invertebrates (such as ants), mammals such as primates with higher cognitive function are valuable for modeling the increasingly complex problems in engineering. Understanding primates' social and communication systems, and applying what is learned from them to engineering domains is likely to inspire solutions to a number of problems. This paper presents a novel bio-inspired approach to determine group size by researching and simulating primate society. Group size does matter for both primate society and digital entities. It is difficult to determine how to group mobile sensors/robots that patrol in a large area when many factors are considered such as patrol efficiency, wireless interference, coverage, inter/intragroup communications, etc. This paper presents a simulation-based theoretical study on patrolling strategies for robot groups with the comparison of large and small groups through simulations and theoretical results.

Thermoelectric Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

Instead of bulky coils and compressors used in conventional refrigeration systems, UST design engineers drew on thermo-electric technology. UST's precision temperature chambers (PTC's) feature small thermoelectric modules that measure not much more than 1 square inch and operate on unique phenomenon of heat exchange. When electric current flows through specialized metallic crystals, heat is produced; when current direction is reversed cooling is produced.

A Study of the Spanish-Ethnic Soldier: Attitudes, Problems, Needs

DTIC Science & Technology

1973-12-31

asegurarse de que los nuineros de las preguntas que Usted esta contestando son los mismos que los numeros que Usted esta m~rcando eri las hojas-para...mis amigos se enteren de c6mo soy .real mente y que se desilusionen conmigo. 12. Tengo un complejo de inferioridad. 13. Por culpa de otras

A Self-Organizing Interaction and Synchronization Method between a Wearable Device and Mobile Robot.

PubMed

Kim, Min Su; Lee, Jae Geun; Kang, Soon Ju

2016-06-08

In the near future, we can expect to see robots naturally following or going ahead of humans, similar to pet behavior. We call this type of robots "Pet-Bot". To implement this function in a robot, in this paper we introduce a self-organizing interaction and synchronization method between wearable devices and Pet-Bots. First, the Pet-Bot opportunistically identifies its owner without any human intervention, which means that the robot self-identifies the owner's approach on its own. Second, Pet-Bot's activity is synchronized with the owner's behavior. Lastly, the robot frequently encounters uncertain situations (e.g., when the robot goes ahead of the owner but meets a situation where it cannot make a decision, or the owner wants to stop the Pet-Bot synchronization mode to relax). In this case, we have adopted a gesture recognition function that uses a 3-D accelerometer in the wearable device. In order to achieve the interaction and synchronization in real-time, we use two wireless communication protocols: 125 kHz low-frequency (LF) and 2.4 GHz Bluetooth low energy (BLE). We conducted experiments using a prototype Pet-Bot and wearable devices to verify their motion recognition of and synchronization with humans in real-time. The results showed a guaranteed level of accuracy of at least 94%. A trajectory test was also performed to demonstrate the robot's control performance when following or leading a human in real-time.

Application of wireless power transmission systems in wireless capsule endoscopy: an overview.

PubMed

Basar, Md Rubel; Ahmad, Mohd Yazed; Cho, Jongman; Ibrahim, Fatimah

2014-06-19

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is a promising technology for direct diagnosis of the entire small bowel to detect lethal diseases, including cancer and obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB). To improve the quality of diagnosis, some vital specifications of WCE such as image resolution, frame rate and working time need to be improved. Additionally, future multi-functioning robotic capsule endoscopy (RCE) units may utilize advanced features such as active system control over capsule motion, drug delivery systems, semi-surgical tools and biopsy. However, the inclusion of the above advanced features demands additional power that make conventional power source methods impractical. In this regards, wireless power transmission (WPT) system has received attention among researchers to overcome this problem. Systematic reviews on techniques of using WPT for WCE are limited, especially when involving the recent technological advancements. This paper aims to fill that gap by providing a systematic review with emphasis on the aspects related to the amount of transmitted power, the power transmission efficiency, the system stability and patient safety. It is noted that, thus far the development of WPT system for this WCE application is still in initial stage and there is room for improvements, especially involving system efficiency, stability, and the patient safety aspects.

The Summer Robotic Autonomy Course

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nourbakhsh, Illah R.

2002-01-01

We offered a first Robotic Autonomy course this summer, located at NASA/Ames' new NASA Research Park, for approximately 30 high school students. In this 7-week course, students worked in ten teams to build then program advanced autonomous robots capable of visual processing and high-speed wireless communication. The course made use of challenge-based curricula, culminating each week with a Wednesday Challenge Day and a Friday Exhibition and Contest Day. Robotic Autonomy provided a comprehensive grounding in elementary robotics, including basic electronics, electronics evaluation, microprocessor programming, real-time control, and robot mechanics and kinematics. Our course then continued the educational process by introducing higher-level perception, action and autonomy topics, including teleoperation, visual servoing, intelligent scheduling and planning and cooperative problem-solving. We were able to deliver such a comprehensive, high-level education in robotic autonomy for two reasons. First, the content resulted from close collaboration between the CMU Robotics Institute and researchers in the Information Sciences and Technology Directorate and various education program/project managers at NASA/Ames. This collaboration produced not only educational content, but will also be focal to the conduct of formative and summative evaluations of the course for further refinement. Second, CMU rapid prototyping skills as well as the PI's low-overhead perception and locomotion research projects enabled design and delivery of affordable robot kits with unprecedented sensory- locomotory capability. Each Trikebot robot was capable of both indoor locomotion and high-speed outdoor motion and was equipped with a high-speed vision system coupled to a low-cost pan/tilt head. As planned, follow the completion of Robotic Autonomy, each student took home an autonomous, competent robot. This robot is the student's to keep, as she explores robotics with an extremely capable tool in the midst of a new community for roboticists. CMU provided undergraduate course credit for this official course, 16-162U, for 13 students, with all other students receiving course credit from National Hispanic University.

A hybrid protection approaches for denial of service (DoS) attacks in wireless sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunasekaran, Mahalakshmi; Periakaruppan, Subathra

2017-06-01

Wireless sensor network (WSN) contains the distributed autonomous devices with the sensing capability of physical and environmental conditions. During the clustering operation, the consumption of more energy causes the draining in battery power that leads to minimum network lifetime. Hence, the WSN devices are initially operated on low-power sleep mode to maximise the lifetime. But, the attacks arrival cause the disruption in low-power operating called denial of service (DoS) attacks. The conventional intrusion detection (ID) approaches such as rule-based and anomaly-based methods effectively detect the DoS attacks. But, the energy consumption and false detection rate are more. The absence of attack information and broadcast of its impact to the other cluster head (CH) leads to easy DoS attacks arrival. This article combines the isolation and routing tables to detect the attack in the specific cluster and broadcasts the information to other CH. The intercommunication between the CHs prevents the DoS attacks effectively. In addition, the swarm-based defence approach is proposed to migrate the fault channel to normal operating channel through frequency hop approaches. The comparative analysis between the proposed table-based intrusion detection systems (IDSs) and swarm-based defence approaches with the traditional IDS regarding the parameters of transmission overhead/efficiency, energy consumption, and false positive/negative rates proves the capability of DoS prediction/prevention in WSN.

An Anonymous User Authentication and Key Agreement Scheme Based on a Symmetric Cryptosystem in Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Jung, Jaewook; Kim, Jiye; Choi, Younsung; Won, Dongho

2016-08-16

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), a registered user can login to the network and use a user authentication protocol to access data collected from the sensor nodes. Since WSNs are typically deployed in unattended environments and sensor nodes have limited resources, many researchers have made considerable efforts to design a secure and efficient user authentication process. Recently, Chen et al. proposed a secure user authentication scheme using symmetric key techniques for WSNs. They claim that their scheme assures high efficiency and security against different types of attacks. After careful analysis, however, we find that Chen et al.'s scheme is still vulnerable to smart card loss attack and is susceptible to denial of service attack, since it is invalid for verification to simply compare an entered ID and a stored ID in smart card. In addition, we also observe that their scheme cannot preserve user anonymity. Furthermore, their scheme cannot quickly detect an incorrect password during login phase, and this flaw wastes both communication and computational overheads. In this paper, we describe how these attacks work, and propose an enhanced anonymous user authentication and key agreement scheme based on a symmetric cryptosystem in WSNs to address all of the aforementioned vulnerabilities in Chen et al.'s scheme. Our analysis shows that the proposed scheme improves the level of security, and is also more efficient relative to other related schemes.

Security enhanced multi-factor biometric authentication scheme using bio-hash function.

PubMed

Choi, Younsung; Lee, Youngsook; Moon, Jongho; Won, Dongho

2017-01-01

With the rapid development of personal information and wireless communication technology, user authentication schemes have been crucial to ensure that wireless communications are secure. As such, various authentication schemes with multi-factor authentication have been proposed to improve the security of electronic communications. Multi-factor authentication involves the use of passwords, smart cards, and various biometrics to provide users with the utmost privacy and data protection. Cao and Ge analyzed various authentication schemes and found that Younghwa An's scheme was susceptible to a replay attack where an adversary masquerades as a legal server and a user masquerading attack where user anonymity is not provided, allowing an adversary to execute a password change process by intercepting the user's ID during login. Cao and Ge improved upon Younghwa An's scheme, but various security problems remained. This study demonstrates that Cao and Ge's scheme is susceptible to a biometric recognition error, slow wrong password detection, off-line password attack, user impersonation attack, ID guessing attack, a DoS attack, and that their scheme cannot provide session key agreement. Then, to address all weaknesses identified in Cao and Ge's scheme, this study proposes a security enhanced multi-factor biometric authentication scheme and provides a security analysis and formal analysis using Burrows-Abadi-Needham logic. Finally, the efficiency analysis reveals that the proposed scheme can protect against several possible types of attacks with only a slightly high computational cost.

A novel land use approach for assessment of human health: The relationship between urban structure types and cardiorespiratory disease risk.

PubMed

Réquia Júnior, Weeberb João; Roig, Henrique Llacer; Koutrakis, Petros

2015-12-01

Extensive evidence shows that in addition to lifestyle factors, environmental aspects are an important risk factor for human health. Numerous approaches have been used to estimate the relationship between environment and health. For example, the urban characteristics, especially the types of land use, are considered a potential proxy indicator to evaluate risk of disease. Although several studies have used land use variables to assess human health, none of them has used the concept of Urban Morphology by Urban Structure Types (USTs) as indicators of land use. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between USTs and cardiorespiratory disease risks in the Federal District, Brazil. Toward this end, we used a quantile regression model to estimate risk. We used 21 types of UST. Income and population density were used as covariates in our sensitivity analysis. Our analysis showed an association between cardiorespiratory diseases risk and 10 UST variables (1 related to rural area, 6 related to residential area, 1 recreational area, 1 public area and 1 commercial area). Our findings suggest that the conventional land use method may be missing important information about the effect of land use on human health. The use of USTs can be an approach to complement the conventional method. This should be of interest to policy makers in order to enhance public health policies and to create future strategies in terms of urban planning, land use and environmental health. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Taxonomic composition and biostratigraphic value of the Early Riphean organic-walled microfossil association from the Ust'-Il'ya Formation of the Anabar Uplift, Northern Siberia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sergeev, V. N.; Vorob'eva, N. G.; Petrov, P. Yu.; Semikhatov, M. A.

2017-05-01

It is demonstrated on the basis of the first monographic study of multiple and taxonomically variable organic-walled microfossils from the Ust'-Il'ya Formation of the Anabar Uplift that both prokaryotic and eukaryotic forms are present in the composition of this microbiota. They are divided into four formal groups on the basis of the specifics of the morphological indicators of the identified taxa. The review of the data on the isotopic age of hosting deposits showed that the Ust'-Il'ya Formation is of the Early Riphean in age which are currently evaluated as 1750 ± 10-1400 Ma. Relatively large and morphologically complex eukaryotic forms present in the Ust'-Il'ya Formation served in due time as the basis for an erroneous conclusion on the Late Riphean age of the specified formation and the overlying Lower Kotuikan Subformation of the Anabar Uplift. The paper provides a global comparative analysis of the Early Riphean microbiotas, demonstrates the position of the Ust'-Il'ya and Kotuikan microbiotas amidst the microbiotas of the same age, and shows that the relatively large acanthomorphic acritarchs Tappania, Valeria, Dictiosphaera, Satka, and Shuiyousphaeridium appeared in the geological history already during the Early Riphean Erathem. Moreover, the paper discusses the recently published data on the distribution of aerobic and anaerobic conditions in the Early Riphean paleobasins and provides the conclusion on the impact of the lateral change of these conditions on the taxonomic composition of the microbiota.

Enhanced Deployment Strategy for Role-based Hierarchical Application Agents in Wireless Sensor Networks with Established Clusterheads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gendreau, Audrey

Efficient self-organizing virtual clusterheads that supervise data collection based on their wireless connectivity, risk, and overhead costs, are an important element of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). This function is especially critical during deployment when system resources are allocated to a subsequent application. In the presented research, a model used to deploy intrusion detection capability on a Local Area Network (LAN), in the literature, was extended to develop a role-based hierarchical agent deployment algorithm for a WSN. The resulting model took into consideration the monitoring capability, risk, deployment distribution cost, and monitoring cost associated with each node. Changing the original LAN methodology approach to model a cluster-based sensor network depended on the ability to duplicate a specific parameter that represented the monitoring capability. Furthermore, other parameters derived from a LAN can elevate costs and risk of deployment, as well as jeopardize the success of an application on a WSN. A key component of the approach presented in this research was to reduce the costs when established clusterheads in the network were found to be capable of hosting additional detection agents. In addition, another cost savings component of the study addressed the reduction of vulnerabilities associated with deployment of agents to high volume nodes. The effectiveness of the presented method was validated by comparing it against a type of a power-based scheme that used each node's remaining energy as the deployment value. While available energy is directly related to the model used in the presented method, the study deliberately sought out nodes that were identified with having superior monitoring capability, cost less to create and sustain, and are at low-risk of an attack. This work investigated improving the efficiency of an intrusion detection system (IDS) by using the proposed model to deploy monitoring agents after a temperature sensing application had established the network traffic flow to the sink. The same scenario was repeated using a power-based IDS to compare it against the proposed model. To identify a clusterhead's ability to host monitoring agents after the temperature sensing application terminated, the deployed IDS utilized the communication history and other network factors in order to rank the nodes. Similarly, using the node's communication history, the deployed power-based IDS ranked nodes based on their remaining power. For each individual scenario, and after the IDS application was deployed, the temperature sensing application was run for a second time. This time, to monitor the temperature sensing agents as the data flowed towards the sink, the network traffic was rerouted through the new intrusion detection clusterheads. Consequently, if the clusterheads were shared, the re-routing step was not preformed. Experimental results in this research demonstrated the effectiveness of applying a robust deployment metric to improve upon the energy efficiency of a deployed application in a multi-application WSN. It was found that in the scenarios with the intrusion detection application that utilized the proposed model resulted in more remaining energy than in the scenarios that implemented the power-based IDS. The algorithm especially had a positive impact on the small, dense, and more homogeneous networks. This finding was reinforced by the smaller percentage of new clusterheads that was selected. Essentially, the energy cost of the route to the sink was reduced because the network traffic was rerouted through fewer new clusterheads. Additionally, it was found that the intrusion detection topology that used the proposed approach formed smaller and more connected sets of clusterheads than the power-based IDS. As a consequence, this proposed approach essentially achieved the research objective for enhancing energy use in a multi-application WSN.

Using ultrasound tomography to identify the distributions of density throughout the breast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sak, Mark; Duric, Neb; Littrup, Peter; Sherman, Mark E.; Gierach, Gretchen L.

2016-04-01

Women with high breast density are at increased risk of developing breast cancer. Breast density has usually been defined using mammography as the ratio of fibroglandular tissue to total breast area. Ultrasound tomography (UST) is an emerging modality that can also be used to measure breast density. UST creates tomographic sound speed images of the patient's breast which is useful as sound speed is directly proportional to tissue density. Furthermore, the volumetric and quantitative information contained in the sound speed images can be used to describe the distribution of breast density. The work presented here measures the UST sound speed density distributions of 165 women with negative screening mammography. Frequency distributions of the sound speed voxel information were examined for each patient. In a preliminary analysis, the UST sound speed distributions were averaged across patients and grouped by various patient and density-related factors (e.g., age, body mass index, menopausal status, average mammographic breast density). It was found that differences in the distribution of density could be easily visualized for different patient groupings. Furthermore, findings suggest that the shape of the distributions may be used to identify participants with varying amounts of dense and non-dense tissue.

Cooperative Robot Localization Using Event-Triggered Estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iglesias Echevarria, David I.

It is known that multiple robot systems that need to cooperate to perform certain activities or tasks incur in high energy costs that hinder their autonomous functioning and limit the benefits provided to humans by these kinds of platforms. This work presents a communications-based method for cooperative robot localization. Implementing concepts from event-triggered estimation, used with success in the field of wireless sensor networks but rarely to do robot localization, agents are able to only send measurements to their neighbors when the expected novelty in this information is high. Since all agents know the condition that triggers a measurement to be sent or not, the lack of a measurement is therefore informative and fused into state estimates. In the case agents do not receive either direct nor indirect measurements of all others, the agents employ a covariance intersection fusion rule in order to keep the local covariance error metric bounded. A comprehensive analysis of the proposed algorithm and its estimation performance in a variety of scenarios is performed, and the algorithm is compared to similar cooperative localization approaches. Extensive simulations are performed that illustrate the effectiveness of this method.

Wireless "Jump" Starts for Partly Disabled Equipment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Castle, K. D.

1986-01-01

Equipment activated when normal remote starting does not work Beam from nearby station first carries raw energy and then subsystemactivating signals to equipment crippled by discharged storage batteries. Operators start up equipment without approaching it under hazardous conditions. Potential terrestrial applications for scheme include starting of robots on such remotely-controlled hazardous tasks as handling of explosives or retrieval or deposition of objects in hostile environments.

Northwest Manufacturing Initiative

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-31

to automobiles and wind turbine blades [1-4]. The difficulty with incorporating composites lies in joining material sections together. Composite...marine and wind turbine structures [1, 23]. All the material systems consist of [M/90/0] lamina, which are a combination of one layer of chopped...completely new control system (including software interfaces) were developed and used to build both 2 wheel and 4 wheel driven mobile, wireless robots

Design of Ammunition Gripper for 155-mm Robotic Howitzer

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-03-01

construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy , or decision, unless so designated by other docimientation. The citation in this...ocn-^moocaocouiincD-^rcTXDoinnnru’rin lA- ■♦ fuin—«p-oo^mr--^ T ■^ iD’^ .-4ono>inc»^ o^incwr- cncD ’-^-^.^ocucuoooorucDinmLnf^CJicn ojcnnj^u)t7

Development of fast wireless detection system for fixed offshore platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhigang; Yu, Yan; Jiao, Dong; Wang, Jie; Li, Zhirui; Ou, Jinping

2011-04-01

Offshore platforms' security is concerned since in 1950s and 1960s, and in the early 1980s some important specifications and standards are built, and all these provide technical basis of fixed platform design, construction, installation and evaluation. With the condition that more and more platforms are in serving over age, the research about the evaluation and detection technology of offshore platform has been a hotspot, especially underwater detection, and assessment method based on the finite element calculation. For fixed platform structure detection, conventional NDT methods, such as eddy current, magnetic powder, permeate, X-ray and ultrasonic, etc, are generally used. These techniques are more mature, intuitive, but underwater detection needs underwater robot, the necessary supporting tools of auxiliary equipment, and trained professional team, thus resources and cost used are considerable, installation time of test equipment is long. This project presents a new kind of fast wireless detection and damage diagnosis system for fixed offshore platform using wireless sensor networks, that is, wireless sensor nodes can be put quickly on the offshore platform, detect offshore platform structure global status by wireless communication, and then make diagnosis. This system is operated simply, suitable for offshore platform integrity states rapid assessment. The designed system consists in intelligence acquisition equipment and 8 wireless collection nodes, the whole system has 64 collection channels, namely every wireless collection node has eight 16-bit accuracy of A/D channels. Wireless collection node, integrated with vibration sensing unit, embedded low-power micro-processing unit, wireless transceiver unit, large-capacity power unit, and GPS time synchronization unit, can finish the functions such as vibration data collection, initial analysis, data storage, data wireless transmission. Intelligence acquisition equipment, integrated with high-performance computation unit, wireless transceiver unit, mobile power unit and embedded data analysis software, can totally control multi-wireless collection nodes, receive and analyze data, parameter identification. Data is transmitted at the 2.4GHz wireless communication channel, every sensing data channel in charge of data transmission is in a stable frequency band, control channel responsible for the control of power parameters is in a public frequency band. The test is initially conducted for the designed system, experimental results show that the system has good application prospects and practical value with fast arrangement, high sampling rate, high resolution, capacity of low frequency detection.

A Self-Organizing Interaction and Synchronization Method between a Wearable Device and Mobile Robot

PubMed Central

Kim, Min Su; Lee, Jae Geun; Kang, Soon Ju

2016-01-01

In the near future, we can expect to see robots naturally following or going ahead of humans, similar to pet behavior. We call this type of robots “Pet-Bot”. To implement this function in a robot, in this paper we introduce a self-organizing interaction and synchronization method between wearable devices and Pet-Bots. First, the Pet-Bot opportunistically identifies its owner without any human intervention, which means that the robot self-identifies the owner’s approach on its own. Second, Pet-Bot’s activity is synchronized with the owner’s behavior. Lastly, the robot frequently encounters uncertain situations (e.g., when the robot goes ahead of the owner but meets a situation where it cannot make a decision, or the owner wants to stop the Pet-Bot synchronization mode to relax). In this case, we have adopted a gesture recognition function that uses a 3-D accelerometer in the wearable device. In order to achieve the interaction and synchronization in real-time, we use two wireless communication protocols: 125 kHz low-frequency (LF) and 2.4 GHz Bluetooth low energy (BLE). We conducted experiments using a prototype Pet-Bot and wearable devices to verify their motion recognition of and synchronization with humans in real-time. The results showed a guaranteed level of accuracy of at least 94%. A trajectory test was also performed to demonstrate the robot’s control performance when following or leading a human in real-time. PMID:27338384

Biobotic insect swarm based sensor networks for search and rescue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozkurt, Alper; Lobaton, Edgar; Sichitiu, Mihail; Hedrick, Tyson; Latif, Tahmid; Dirafzoon, Alireza; Whitmire, Eric; Verderber, Alexander; Marin, Juan; Xiong, Hong

2014-06-01

The potential benefits of distributed robotics systems in applications requiring situational awareness, such as search-and-rescue in emergency situations, are indisputable. The efficiency of such systems requires robotic agents capable of coping with uncertain and dynamic environmental conditions. For example, after an earthquake, a tremendous effort is spent for days to reach to surviving victims where robotic swarms or other distributed robotic systems might play a great role in achieving this faster. However, current technology falls short of offering centimeter scale mobile agents that can function effectively under such conditions. Insects, the inspiration of many robotic swarms, exhibit an unmatched ability to navigate through such environments while successfully maintaining control and stability. We have benefitted from recent developments in neural engineering and neuromuscular stimulation research to fuse the locomotory advantages of insects with the latest developments in wireless networking technologies to enable biobotic insect agents to function as search-and-rescue agents. Our research efforts towards this goal include development of biobot electronic backpack technologies, establishment of biobot tracking testbeds to evaluate locomotion control efficiency, investigation of biobotic control strategies with Gromphadorhina portentosa cockroaches and Manduca sexta moths, establishment of a localization and communication infrastructure, modeling and controlling collective motion by learning deterministic and stochastic motion models, topological motion modeling based on these models, and the development of a swarm robotic platform to be used as a testbed for our algorithms.

Instrumented Compliant Wrist with Proximity and Contact Sensing for Close Robot Interaction Control.

PubMed

Laferrière, Pascal; Payeur, Pierre

2017-06-14

Compliance has been exploited in various forms in robotic systems to allow rigid mechanisms to come into contact with fragile objects, or with complex shapes that cannot be accurately modeled. Force feedback control has been the classical approach for providing compliance in robotic systems. However, by integrating other forms of instrumentation with compliance into a single device, it is possible to extend close monitoring of nearby objects before and after contact occurs. As a result, safer and smoother robot control can be achieved both while approaching and while touching surfaces. This paper presents the design and extensive experimental evaluation of a versatile, lightweight, and low-cost instrumented compliant wrist mechanism which can be mounted on any rigid robotic manipulator in order to introduce a layer of compliance while providing the controller with extra sensing signals during close interaction with an object's surface. Arrays of embedded range sensors provide real-time measurements on the position and orientation of surfaces, either located in proximity or in contact with the robot's end-effector, which permits close guidance of its operation. Calibration procedures are formulated to overcome inter-sensor variability and achieve the highest available resolution. A versatile solution is created by embedding all signal processing, while wireless transmission connects the device to any industrial robot's controller to support path control. Experimental work demonstrates the device's physical compliance as well as the stability and accuracy of the device outputs. Primary applications of the proposed instrumented compliant wrist include smooth surface following in manufacturing, inspection, and safe human-robot interaction.

Spatiotemporal expression of chondroitin sulfate sulfotransferases in the postnatal developing mouse cerebellum.

PubMed

Ishii, Maki; Maeda, Nobuaki

2008-08-01

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) proteoglycans are major components of the cell surface and the extracellular matrix in the developing brain and bind to various proteins via CS chains in a CS structure-dependent manner. This study demonstrated the expression pattern of three CS sulfotransferase genes, dermatan 4-O-sulfotransferase (D4ST), uronyl 2-O-sulfotransferase (UST), and N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate 6-O-sulfotransferase (GalNAc4S-6ST), in the mouse postnatal cerebellum. These sulfotransferases are responsible for the biosynthesis of oversulfated structures in CS chains such as B, D, and E units, which constitute the binding sites for various heparin-binding proteins. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated that the expression of UST increased remarkably during cerebellar development. The amounts of B and D units, which are generated by UST activity, in the cerebellar CS chains also increased during development. In contrast, the expression of GalNAc4S-6ST and its biosynthetic product, E unit, decreased during postnatal development. In situ hybridization experiments revealed the levels of UST and GalNAc4S-6ST mRNAs to correlate inversely in many cells including Purkinje cells, granule cells in the external granular layer, and inhibitory interneurons. In these neurons, the expression of UST increased and that of GalNAc4S-6ST decreased during development and/or maturation. D4ST was also expressed by many neurons, but its expression was not simply correlated with development, which might contribute to the diversification of CS structures expressed by distinct neurons. These results suggest that the CS structures of various cerebellar neurons change during development and such changes of CS are involved in the regulation of various signaling pathways.

Phenotypic and metabolic responses to drought and salinity of four contrasting lentil accessions

PubMed Central

Muscolo, A.; Junker, A.; Klukas, C.; Weigelt-Fischer, K.; Riewe, D.; Altmann, T.

2015-01-01

Drought and salinity are among the major abiotic stresses which, often inter-relatedly, adversely affect plant growth and productivity. Plant stress responses depend on the type of stress, on its intensity, on the species, and also on the genotype. Different accessions of a species may have evolved different mechanisms to cope with stress and to complete their life cycles. This study is focused on lentil, an important Mediterranean legume with high quality protein for the human diet. The effects of salinity and drought on germination and early growth of Castelluccio di Norcia (CAST), Pantelleria (PAN), Ustica (UST), and Eston (EST) accessions were evaluated to identify metabolic and phenotypic traits related to drought and/or salinity stress tolerance. The results showed a relationship between imposed stresses and performance of the cultivars. According to germination frequencies, the accession ranking was as follows: NaCl resistant > susceptible, PAN > UST > CAST > EST; polyethylene glycol (PEG) resistant > susceptible, CAST > UST > EST > PAN. Seedling tolerance rankings were: NaCl resistant > susceptible, CAST ≈ UST > PAN ≈ EST; PEG resistant > susceptible, CAST > EST ≈ UST > PAN. Changes in the metabolite profiles, mainly quantitative rather than qualitative, were observed in the same cultivar in respect to the treatments, and among the cultivars under the same treatment. Metabolic differences in the stress tolerance of the different genotypes were related to a reduction in the levels of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates. The relevant differences, between the most NaCl-tolerant genotype (PAN) and the most sensitive one (EST) were related to the decrease in the threonic acid level. Stress-specific metabolite indicators were also identified: ornithine and asparagine as markers of drought stress and alanine and homoserine as markers of salinity stress. PMID:25969553

Towards Dynamic Contrast Specific Ultrasound Tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demi, Libertario; van Sloun, Ruud J. G.; Wijkstra, Hessel; Mischi, Massimo

2016-10-01

We report on the first study demonstrating the ability of a recently-developed, contrast-enhanced, ultrasound imaging method, referred to as cumulative phase delay imaging (CPDI), to image and quantify ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) kinetics. Unlike standard ultrasound tomography, which exploits changes in speed of sound and attenuation, CPDI is based on a marker specific to UCAs, thus enabling dynamic contrast-specific ultrasound tomography (DCS-UST). For breast imaging, DCS-UST will lead to a more practical, faster, and less operator-dependent imaging procedure compared to standard echo-contrast, while preserving accurate imaging of contrast kinetics. Moreover, a linear relation between CPD values and ultrasound second-harmonic intensity was measured (coefficient of determination = 0.87). DCS-UST can find clinical applications as a diagnostic method for breast cancer localization, adding important features to multi-parametric ultrasound tomography of the breast.

Towards Dynamic Contrast Specific Ultrasound Tomography.

PubMed

Demi, Libertario; Van Sloun, Ruud J G; Wijkstra, Hessel; Mischi, Massimo

2016-10-05

We report on the first study demonstrating the ability of a recently-developed, contrast-enhanced, ultrasound imaging method, referred to as cumulative phase delay imaging (CPDI), to image and quantify ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) kinetics. Unlike standard ultrasound tomography, which exploits changes in speed of sound and attenuation, CPDI is based on a marker specific to UCAs, thus enabling dynamic contrast-specific ultrasound tomography (DCS-UST). For breast imaging, DCS-UST will lead to a more practical, faster, and less operator-dependent imaging procedure compared to standard echo-contrast, while preserving accurate imaging of contrast kinetics. Moreover, a linear relation between CPD values and ultrasound second-harmonic intensity was measured (coefficient of determination = 0.87). DCS-UST can find clinical applications as a diagnostic method for breast cancer localization, adding important features to multi-parametric ultrasound tomography of the breast.

Towards Dynamic Contrast Specific Ultrasound Tomography

PubMed Central

Demi, Libertario; Van Sloun, Ruud J. G.; Wijkstra, Hessel; Mischi, Massimo

2016-01-01

We report on the first study demonstrating the ability of a recently-developed, contrast-enhanced, ultrasound imaging method, referred to as cumulative phase delay imaging (CPDI), to image and quantify ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) kinetics. Unlike standard ultrasound tomography, which exploits changes in speed of sound and attenuation, CPDI is based on a marker specific to UCAs, thus enabling dynamic contrast-specific ultrasound tomography (DCS-UST). For breast imaging, DCS-UST will lead to a more practical, faster, and less operator-dependent imaging procedure compared to standard echo-contrast, while preserving accurate imaging of contrast kinetics. Moreover, a linear relation between CPD values and ultrasound second-harmonic intensity was measured (coefficient of determination = 0.87). DCS-UST can find clinical applications as a diagnostic method for breast cancer localization, adding important features to multi-parametric ultrasound tomography of the breast. PMID:27703251

Compact Encoding of Robot-Generated 3D Maps for Efficient Wireless Transmission

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-01-01

Lempel - Ziv -Welch (LZW) and Ziv - Lempel (LZ77) respectively. Image based compression can also be based on dic- tionaries... compression of the data , without actually displaying a 3D model, printing statistical results for comparison of the different algorithms . 1http... compression algorithms , and wavelet algorithms tuned to the specific nature of the raw laser data . For most such applications, the usage of lossless

Wireless Robotic Communications in Urban Environments: Issues for the Fire Service

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

affect signal propagation? Do some frequencies perform better than others in specific settings? • Radio Environment: How much impact might...of responders at each scenario, the radio frequency environment for each will be examined. Link budget calculations will be performed to assess...soldiers indicated that the main technical drawbacks were the narrow field of view, poor image quality, and limited radio range. The authors concluded

Wearable computer for mobile augmented-reality-based controlling of an intelligent robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turunen, Tuukka; Roening, Juha; Ahola, Sami; Pyssysalo, Tino

2000-10-01

An intelligent robot can be utilized to perform tasks that are either hazardous or unpleasant for humans. Such tasks include working in disaster areas or conditions that are, for example, too hot. An intelligent robot can work on its own to some extent, but in some cases the aid of humans will be needed. This requires means for controlling the robot from somewhere else, i.e. teleoperation. Mobile augmented reality can be utilized as a user interface to the environment, as it enhances the user's perception of the situation compared to other interfacing methods and allows the user to perform other tasks while controlling the intelligent robot. Augmented reality is a method that combines virtual objects into the user's perception of the real world. As computer technology evolves, it is possible to build very small devices that have sufficient capabilities for augmented reality applications. We have evaluated the existing wearable computers and mobile augmented reality systems to build a prototype of a future mobile terminal- the CyPhone. A wearable computer with sufficient system resources for applications, wireless communication media with sufficient throughput and enough interfaces for peripherals has been built at the University of Oulu. It is self-sustained in energy, with enough operating time for the applications to be useful, and uses accurate positioning systems.

Polymorphic robotic system controlled by an observing camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koçer, Bilge; Yüksel, Tugçe; Yümer, M. Ersin; Özen, C. Alper; Yaman, Ulas

2010-02-01

Polymorphic robotic systems, which are composed of many modular robots that act in coordination to achieve a goal defined on the system level, have been drawing attention of industrial and research communities since they bring additional flexibility in many applications. This paper introduces a new polymorphic robotic system, in which the detection and control of the modules are attained by a stationary observing camera. The modules do not have any sensory equipment for positioning or detecting each other. They are self-powered, geared with means of wireless communication and locking mechanisms, and are marked to enable the image processing algorithm detect the position and orientation of each of them in a two dimensional space. Since the system does not depend on the modules for positioning and commanding others, in a circumstance where one or more of the modules malfunction, the system will be able to continue operating with the rest of the modules. Moreover, to enhance the compatibility and robustness of the system under different illumination conditions, stationary reference markers are employed together with global positioning markers, and an adaptive filtering parameter decision methodology is enclosed. To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study to introduce a remote camera observer to control modules of a polymorphic robotic system.

Peer-to-peer model for the area coverage and cooperative control of mobile sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Jindong; Xi, Ning

2004-09-01

This paper presents a novel model and distributed algorithms for the cooperation and redeployment of mobile sensor networks. A mobile sensor network composes of a collection of wireless connected mobile robots equipped with a variety of sensors. In such a sensor network, each mobile node has sensing, computation, communication, and locomotion capabilities. The locomotion ability enhances the autonomous deployment of the system. The system can be rapidly deployed to hostile environment, inaccessible terrains or disaster relief operations. The mobile sensor network is essentially a cooperative multiple robot system. This paper first presents a peer-to-peer model to define the relationship between neighboring communicating robots. Delaunay Triangulation and Voronoi diagrams are used to define the geometrical relationship between sensor nodes. This distributed model allows formal analysis for the fusion of spatio-temporal sensory information of the network. Based on the distributed model, this paper discusses a fault tolerant algorithm for autonomous self-deployment of the mobile robots. The algorithm considers the environment constraints, the presence of obstacles and the nonholonomic constraints of the robots. The distributed algorithm enables the system to reconfigure itself such that the area covered by the system can be enlarged. Simulation results have shown the effectiveness of the distributed model and deployment algorithms.

A Passive Wireless Multi-Sensor SAW Technology Device and System Perspectives

PubMed Central

Malocha, Donald C.; Gallagher, Mark; Fisher, Brian; Humphries, James; Gallagher, Daniel; Kozlovski, Nikolai

2013-01-01

This paper will discuss a SAW passive, wireless multi-sensor system under development by our group for the past several years. The device focus is on orthogonal frequency coded (OFC) SAW sensors, which use both frequency diversity and pulse position reflectors to encode the device ID and will be briefly contrasted to other embodiments. A synchronous correlator transceiver is used for the hardware and post processing and correlation techniques of the received signal to extract the sensor information will be presented. Critical device and system parameters addressed include encoding, operational range, SAW device parameters, post-processing, and antenna-SAW device integration. A fully developed 915 MHz OFC SAW multi-sensor system is used to show experimental results. The system is based on a software radio approach that provides great flexibility for future enhancements and diverse sensor applications. Several different sensor types using the OFC SAW platform are shown. PMID:23666124

Patient safety with blood products administration using wireless and bar-code technology.

PubMed

Porcella, Aleta; Walker, Kristy

2005-01-01

Supported by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics interdisciplinary research team created an online data-capture-response tool utilizing wireless mobile devices and bar code technology to track and improve blood products administration process. The tool captures 1) sample collection, 2) sample arrival in the blood bank, 3) blood product dispense from blood bank, and 4) administration. At each step, the scanned patient wristband ID bar code is automatically compared to scanned identification barcode on requisition, sample, and/or product, and the system presents either a confirmation or an error message to the user. Following an eight-month, 5 unit, staged pilot, a 'big bang,' hospital-wide implementation occurred on February 7, 2005. Preliminary results from pilot data indicate that the new barcode process captures errors 3 to 10 times better than the old manual process.

Development and Translation of Hybrid Optoacoustic/Ultrasonic Tomography for Early Breast Cancer Detection

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

OAT) and laser-induced ultrasound tomography (LUT) to obtain coregistered maps of tissue optical absorption and speed of sound , displayed within the...computed tomography (UST) can provide high-resolution anatomical images of breast lesions based on three complementary acoustic properties (speed-of- sound ...tomography (UST) can provide high-resolution anatomical images of breast lesions based on three complementary acoustic properties (speed-of- sound

An ultrashort throw ratio projection lens design based on a catadioptric structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Hsiu-Cheng; Pan, Jui-Wen

2018-07-01

In this paper, we present a rotational symmetry for an ultrashort throw (UST) lens with offset field. The UST lens has a throw ratio of 0.23 and a total track of 195 mm. The optical elements of the UST lens are comprised of two parts. First, a catadioptric projection lens where the catadioptric function permits reaching an ultrashort throw ratio, short total track, while at the same time requiring fewer lens elements. The second part is a collimating lens which takes advantage of the telecentric condition to generate uniform total internal reflection (TIR) in the TIR prism. With this design, an effective focal length of -1.96 mm and a f-number of 2.4 can be obtained. The root mean square spot size and lateral colour of all fields are smaller than one pixel in size. The maximum optical distortion of -0.97% and TV distortion of 0.2% are acceptable. In terms of image quality, the modulation transfer function (MTF) values for all fields are above 0.65 at 0.245 line pairs/mm. Even when the tolerance error is considered, the MTF values for all fields are still above 0.3. The suitability of the novel UST lens design for projection applications is discussed.

UST Financial Assurance Information

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Subtitle I of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended by the Hazardous Waste Disposal Act of 1984, brought underground storage tanks (USTs) under federal regulation. As part of that regulation, Congress directed EPA to develop financial responsibility regulations for UST owners and operators. Congress wanted owners and operators of underground storage tanks (USTs) to show that they have the financial resources to clean up a site if a release occurs, correct environmental damage, and compensate third parties for injury to their property or themselves.Owners and operators have several options: obtain insurance coverage from an insurer or a risk retention group; demonstrate self-insurance using a financial test; obtain corporate guarantees, surety bonds, or letters of credit; place the required amount into a trust fund administered by a third party; or rely on coverage provided by a state financial assurance fund.Information in this data asset includes state documentation to support this requirement. Many states have developed financial assurance funds to help owners and operators meet financial responsibility requirements and to help cover the costs of cleanups. State financial assurance fund programs, which supplement or are a substitute for private insurance, have been especially useful for small-to-medium sized petroleum marketers.EPA requires its Regional Offices to conduct annual reviews of state financial assurance funds. Data is provided by s

Space Solar Power Technology Demonstration for Lunar Polar Applications: Laser-Photovoltaic Wireless Power Transmission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Henley, M. W.; Fikes, J. C.; Howell, J.; Mankins, J. C.; Howell, Joe T. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Space Solar Power technology offers unique benefits for near-term NASA space science missions, which can mature this technology for other future applications. "Laser-Photo-Voltaic Wireless Power Transmission" (Laser-PV WPT) is a technology that uses a laser to beam power to a photovoltaic receiver, which converts the laser's light into electricity. Future Laser-PV WPT systems may beam power from Earth to satellites or large Space Solar Power satellites may beam power to Earth, perhaps supplementing terrestrial solar photo-voltaic receivers. In a near-term scientific mission to the moon, Laser-PV WPT can enable robotic operations in permanently shadowed lunar polar craters, which may contain ice. Ground-based technology demonstrations are proceeding, to mature the technology for this initial application, in the moon's polar regions.

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

Kurt Derr; Milos Manic

Time and location data play a very significant role in a variety of factory automation scenarios, such as automated vehicles and robots, their navigation, tracking, and monitoring, to services of optimization and security. In addition, pervasive wireless capabilities combined with time and location information are enabling new applications in areas such as transportation systems, health care, elder care, military, emergency response, critical infrastructure, and law enforcement. A person/object in proximity to certain areas for specific durations of time may pose a risk hazard either to themselves, others, or the environment. This paper presents a novel fuzzy based spatio-temporal risk calculationmore » DSTiPE method that an object with wireless communications presents to the environment. The presented Matlab based application for fuzzy spatio-temporal risk cluster extraction is verified on a diagonal vehicle movement example.« less

A Social Potential Fields Approach for Self-Deployment and Self-Healing in Hierarchical Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

González-Parada, Eva; Cano-García, Jose; Aguilera, Francisco; Sandoval, Francisco; Urdiales, Cristina

2017-01-01

Autonomous mobile nodes in mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSN) allow self-deployment and self-healing. In both cases, the goals are: (i) to achieve adequate coverage; and (ii) to extend network life. In dynamic environments, nodes may use reactive algorithms so that each node locally decides when and where to move. This paper presents a behavior-based deployment and self-healing algorithm based on the social potential fields algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, nodes are attached to low cost robots to autonomously navigate in the coverage area. The proposed algorithm has been tested in environments with and without obstacles. Our study also analyzes the differences between non-hierarchical and hierarchical routing configurations in terms of network life and coverage. PMID:28075364

A Social Potential Fields Approach for Self-Deployment and Self-Healing in Hierarchical Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

González-Parada, Eva; Cano-García, Jose; Aguilera, Francisco; Sandoval, Francisco; Urdiales, Cristina

2017-01-09

Autonomous mobile nodes in mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSN) allow self-deployment and self-healing. In both cases, the goals are: (i) to achieve adequate coverage; and (ii) to extend network life. In dynamic environments, nodes may use reactive algorithms so that each node locally decides when and where to move. This paper presents a behavior-based deployment and self-healing algorithm based on the social potential fields algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, nodes are attached to low cost robots to autonomously navigate in the coverage area. The proposed algorithm has been tested in environments with and without obstacles. Our study also analyzes the differences between non-hierarchical and hierarchical routing configurations in terms of network life and coverage.

Progress in the development of shallow-water mapping systems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bergeron, E.; Worley, C.R.; O'Brien, T.

2007-01-01

The USGS (US Geological Survey) Coastal and Marine Geology has deployed an advance autonomous shallow-draft robotic vehicle, Iris, for shallow-water mapping in Apalachicola Bay, Florida. The vehicle incorporates a side scan sonar system, seismic-reflection profiler, single-beam echosounder, and global positioning system (GPS) navigation. It is equipped with an onboard microprocessor-based motor controller, delivering signals for speed and steering to hull-mounted brushless direct-current thrusters. An onboard motion sensor in the Sea Robotics vehicle control system enclosure has been integrated in the vehicle to measure the vehicle heave, pitch, roll, and heading. Three water-tight enclosures are mounted along the vehicle axis for the Edgetech computer and electronics system including the Sea Robotics computer, a control and wireless communications system, and a Thales ZXW real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS receiver. The vehicle has resulted in producing high-quality seismic reflection and side scan sonar data, which will help in developing the baseline oyster habitat maps.

A Flexible Sensor Technology for the Distributed Measurement of Interaction Pressure

PubMed Central

Donati, Marco; Vitiello, Nicola; De Rossi, Stefano Marco Maria; Lenzi, Tommaso; Crea, Simona; Persichetti, Alessandro; Giovacchini, Francesco; Koopman, Bram; Podobnik, Janez; Munih, Marko; Carrozza, Maria Chiara

2013-01-01

We present a sensor technology for the measure of the physical human-robot interaction pressure developed in the last years at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. The system is composed of flexible matrices of opto-electronic sensors covered by a soft silicone cover. This sensory system is completely modular and scalable, allowing one to cover areas of any sizes and shapes, and to measure different pressure ranges. In this work we present the main application areas for this technology. A first generation of the system was used to monitor human-robot interaction in upper- (NEUROExos; Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna) and lower-limb (LOPES; University of Twente) exoskeletons for rehabilitation. A second generation, with increased resolution and wireless connection, was used to develop a pressure-sensitive foot insole and an improved human-robot interaction measurement systems. The experimental characterization of the latter system along with its validation on three healthy subjects is presented here for the first time. A perspective on future uses and development of the technology is finally drafted. PMID:23322104

Internet Teleoperation of a Robot with Streaming Buffer System under Varying Time Delays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Jahng-Hyon; Shin, Wanjae

It is known that existence of irregular transmission time delay is a major bottleneck for application of advanced robot control schemes to internet telerobotic systems. In the internet teleoperation system, the irregular transmission time delay causes a critical problem, which includes instability and inaccuracy. This paper suggests a practical internet teleoperation system with streaming buffer system, which consists of a buffer, a buffer manager, and a control timer. The proposed system converts the irregular transmission time delay to a constant. So, the system effectively transmits the control input to a remote site to operate a robot stably and accurately. This feature enables short control input intervals. That means the entire system has a large control bandwidth. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by experiments of teleoperation from USC (University of Southern California in U. S.A.) to HYU (Hanyang Univ. in Korea) through the Internet. The proposed method is also demonstrated by experiments of teleoperation through the wireless internet.

Design and development of an upper extremity motion capture system for a rehabilitation robot.

PubMed

Nanda, Pooja; Smith, Alan; Gebregiorgis, Adey; Brown, Edward E

2009-01-01

Human robot interaction is a new and rapidly growing field and its application in the realm of rehabilitation and physical care is a major focus area of research worldwide. This paper discusses the development and implementation of a wireless motion capture system for the human arm which can be used for physical therapy or real-time control of a robotic arm, among many other potential applications. The system is comprised of a mechanical brace with rotary potentiometers inserted at the different joints to capture position data. It also contains surface electrodes which acquire electromyographic signals through the CleveMed BioRadio device. The brace interfaces with a software subsystem which displays real time data signals. The software includes a 3D arm model which imitates the actual movement of a subject's arm under testing. This project began as part of the Rochester Institute of Technology's Undergraduate Multidisciplinary Senior Design curriculum and has been integrated into the overall research objectives of the Biomechatronic Learning Laboratory.

Security enhanced multi-factor biometric authentication scheme using bio-hash function

PubMed Central

Lee, Youngsook; Moon, Jongho

2017-01-01

With the rapid development of personal information and wireless communication technology, user authentication schemes have been crucial to ensure that wireless communications are secure. As such, various authentication schemes with multi-factor authentication have been proposed to improve the security of electronic communications. Multi-factor authentication involves the use of passwords, smart cards, and various biometrics to provide users with the utmost privacy and data protection. Cao and Ge analyzed various authentication schemes and found that Younghwa An’s scheme was susceptible to a replay attack where an adversary masquerades as a legal server and a user masquerading attack where user anonymity is not provided, allowing an adversary to execute a password change process by intercepting the user’s ID during login. Cao and Ge improved upon Younghwa An’s scheme, but various security problems remained. This study demonstrates that Cao and Ge’s scheme is susceptible to a biometric recognition error, slow wrong password detection, off-line password attack, user impersonation attack, ID guessing attack, a DoS attack, and that their scheme cannot provide session key agreement. Then, to address all weaknesses identified in Cao and Ge’s scheme, this study proposes a security enhanced multi-factor biometric authentication scheme and provides a security analysis and formal analysis using Burrows-Abadi-Needham logic. Finally, the efficiency analysis reveals that the proposed scheme can protect against several possible types of attacks with only a slightly high computational cost. PMID:28459867

An Anonymous User Authentication and Key Agreement Scheme Based on a Symmetric Cryptosystem in Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Jung, Jaewook; Kim, Jiye; Choi, Younsung; Won, Dongho

2016-01-01

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), a registered user can login to the network and use a user authentication protocol to access data collected from the sensor nodes. Since WSNs are typically deployed in unattended environments and sensor nodes have limited resources, many researchers have made considerable efforts to design a secure and efficient user authentication process. Recently, Chen et al. proposed a secure user authentication scheme using symmetric key techniques for WSNs. They claim that their scheme assures high efficiency and security against different types of attacks. After careful analysis, however, we find that Chen et al.’s scheme is still vulnerable to smart card loss attack and is susceptible to denial of service attack, since it is invalid for verification to simply compare an entered ID and a stored ID in smart card. In addition, we also observe that their scheme cannot preserve user anonymity. Furthermore, their scheme cannot quickly detect an incorrect password during login phase, and this flaw wastes both communication and computational overheads. In this paper, we describe how these attacks work, and propose an enhanced anonymous user authentication and key agreement scheme based on a symmetric cryptosystem in WSNs to address all of the aforementioned vulnerabilities in Chen et al.’s scheme. Our analysis shows that the proposed scheme improves the level of security, and is also more efficient relative to other related schemes. PMID:27537890

Antenna Design Considerations for the Advanced Extravehicular Mobility Unit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bakula, Casey J.; Theofylaktos, Onoufrios

2015-01-01

NASA is designing an Advanced Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AEMU)to support future manned missions beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO). A key component of the AEMU is the communications assembly that allows for the wireless transfer of voice, video, and suit telemetry. The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) currently used on the International Space Station (ISS) contains a radio system with a single omni-directional resonant cavity antenna operating slightly above 400 MHz capable of transmitting and receiving data at a rate of about 125 kbps. Recent wireless communications architectures are calling for the inclusion of commercial wireless standards such as 802.11 that operate in higher frequency bands at much higher data rates. The current AEMU radio design supports a 400 MHz band for low-rate mission-critical data and a high-rate band based on commercial wireless local area network (WLAN) technology to support video, communication with non-extravehicular activity (EVA) assets such as wireless sensors and robotic assistants, and a redundant path for mission-critical EVA data. This paper recommends the replacement of the existing EMU antenna with a new antenna that maintains the performance characteristics of the current antenna but with lower weight and volume footprints. NASA has funded several firms to develop such an antenna over the past few years, and the most promising designs are variations on the basic patch antenna. This antenna technology at UHF is considered by the authors to be mature and ready for infusion into NASA AEMU technology development programs.

Validation of computational code UST3D by the example of experimental aerodynamic data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Surzhikov, S. T.

2017-02-01

Numerical simulation of the aerodynamic characteristics of the hypersonic vehicles X-33 and X-34 as well as spherically blunted cone is performed using the unstructured meshes. It is demonstrated that the numerical predictions obtained with the computational code UST3D are in acceptable agreement with the experimental data for approximate parameters of the geometry of the hypersonic vehicles and in excellent agreement with data for blunted cone.

Organic chemical aging mechanisms: An annotated bibliography. Waste Tank Safety Program

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

Samuels, W.D.; Camaioni, D.M.; Nelson, D.A.

1993-09-01

An annotated bibliography has been compiled of the potential chemical and radiological aging mechanisms of the organic constituents (non-ferrocyanide) that would likely be found in the UST at Hanford. The majority of the work that has been conducted on the aging of organic chemicals used for extraction and processing of nuclear materials has been in conjunction with the acid or PUREX type processes. At Hanford the waste being stored in the UST has been stabilized with caustic. The aging factors that were used in this work were radiolysis, hydrolysis and nitrite/nitrate oxidation. The purpose of this work was two-fold: tomore » determine whether or not research had been or is currently being conducted on the species associated with the Hanford UST waste, either as a mixture or as individual chemicals or chemical functionalities, and to determine what areas of chemical aging need to be addressed by further research.« less

Demonstration of a wireless driven MEMS pond skater that uses EWOD technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mita, Y.; Li, Y.; Kubota, M.; Morishita, S.; Parkes, W.; Haworth, L. I.; Flynn, B. W.; Terry, J. G.; Tang, T.-B.; Ruthven, A. D.; Smith, S.; Walton, A. J.

2009-07-01

A silicon swimming robot or pond skating device has been demonstrated. It floats on liquid surfaces using surface tension and is capable of movement using electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) based propulsion. Its dimensions are 6 × 9 mm and the driving mechanism involves first trapping air bubbles within the liquid onto the hydrophobic surface of the device. The air bubbles are then moved using EWOD, which provides the propulsion. The device employs a recently reported TaO EWOD technology enabling a driving voltage of ≈15 V, which is low enough for RF power transmission, thus facilitating wire-free movement. A wired version has been measured to move 1.35 mm in 168 ms (a speed of 8 mm s -1). This low voltage-EWOD (<15 V) device, fabricated using a CMOS compatible process, is believed to be the world's smallest swimming MEMS device that has no mechanical moving parts. The paper also reports results of EWOD droplet operation driven by wireless power transmission and demonstrates that such a wireless design can be successfully mounted on a floating EWOD device to produce movement.

A Movement-Assisted Deployment of Collaborating Autonomous Sensors for Indoor and Outdoor Environment Monitoring

PubMed Central

Niewiadomska-Szynkiewicz, Ewa; Sikora, Andrzej; Marks, Michał

2016-01-01

Using mobile robots or unmanned vehicles to assist optimal wireless sensors deployment in a working space can significantly enhance the capability to investigate unknown environments. This paper addresses the issues of the application of numerical optimization and computer simulation techniques to on-line calculation of a wireless sensor network topology for monitoring and tracking purposes. We focus on the design of a self-organizing and collaborative mobile network that enables a continuous data transmission to the data sink (base station) and automatically adapts its behavior to changes in the environment to achieve a common goal. The pre-defined and self-configuring approaches to the mobile-based deployment of sensors are compared and discussed. A family of novel algorithms for the optimal placement of mobile wireless devices for permanent monitoring of indoor and outdoor dynamic environments is described. They employ a network connectivity-maintaining mobility model utilizing the concept of the virtual potential function for calculating the motion trajectories of platforms carrying sensors. Their quality and utility have been justified through simulation experiments and are discussed in the final part of the paper. PMID:27649186

A Movement-Assisted Deployment of Collaborating Autonomous Sensors for Indoor and Outdoor Environment Monitoring.

PubMed

Niewiadomska-Szynkiewicz, Ewa; Sikora, Andrzej; Marks, Michał

2016-09-14

Using mobile robots or unmanned vehicles to assist optimal wireless sensors deployment in a working space can significantly enhance the capability to investigate unknown environments. This paper addresses the issues of the application of numerical optimization and computer simulation techniques to on-line calculation of a wireless sensor network topology for monitoring and tracking purposes. We focus on the design of a self-organizing and collaborative mobile network that enables a continuous data transmission to the data sink (base station) and automatically adapts its behavior to changes in the environment to achieve a common goal. The pre-defined and self-configuring approaches to the mobile-based deployment of sensors are compared and discussed. A family of novel algorithms for the optimal placement of mobile wireless devices for permanent monitoring of indoor and outdoor dynamic environments is described. They employ a network connectivity-maintaining mobility model utilizing the concept of the virtual potential function for calculating the motion trajectories of platforms carrying sensors. Their quality and utility have been justified through simulation experiments and are discussed in the final part of the paper.

Medical telerobotic systems: current status and future trends.

PubMed

Avgousti, Sotiris; Christoforou, Eftychios G; Panayides, Andreas S; Voskarides, Sotos; Novales, Cyril; Nouaille, Laurence; Pattichis, Constantinos S; Vieyres, Pierre

2016-08-12

Teleoperated medical robotic systems allow procedures such as surgeries, treatments, and diagnoses to be conducted across short or long distances while utilizing wired and/or wireless communication networks. This study presents a systematic review of the relevant literature between the years 2004 and 2015, focusing on medical teleoperated robotic systems which have witnessed tremendous growth over the examined period. A thorough insight of telerobotics systems discussing design concepts, enabling technologies (namely robotic manipulation, telecommunications, and vision systems), and potential applications in clinical practice is provided, while existing limitations and future trends are also highlighted. A representative paradigm of the short-distance case is the da Vinci Surgical System which is described in order to highlight relevant issues. The long-distance telerobotics concept is exemplified through a case study on diagnostic ultrasound scanning. Moreover, the present review provides a classification into short- and long-distance telerobotic systems, depending on the distance from which they are operated. Telerobotic systems are further categorized with respect to their application field. For the reviewed systems are also examined their engineering characteristics and the employed robotics technology. The current status of the field, its significance, the potential, as well as the challenges that lie ahead are thoroughly discussed.

Using Wireless Sensor Networks in Improvised Explosive Device Detection

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

data collection (permitting self - healing when a node failure occurs); Sensor nodes Gateway nodes 24 • Energy efficiency (necessary to maintain...Runner” robotic platform (see Figure 1). It is reported that this system can detect a wide range of IEDs, even those concealed in vehicles. However...be as simple as running over a rubber hose to produce enough air pressure to activate a switch. Some IEDs have been remotely detonated with radio

Aircraft Pilot Situational Awareness Interface for Airborne Operation of Network Controlled Unmanned Systems (US)

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

operator, can be operated autonomously or remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or nonlethal payload. Ballistic or semi ...states that vehicles should be recoverable, and that ballistic or semi - ballistic vehicles, cruise missiles, and artillery projectiles are not considered...2007-2032. 32 Nicola Tesla and his telautomatons (robots); Tesla further demonstrated remote control of objects by wireless in an exhibition in 1898

Partnership in Innovative Preparation for Educators and Students (PIPES)

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-23

it? Sign up for this workshop to find out! You will construct a working wind generator to find out which turbine generates the most electricity...program an advanced robot that will accomplish a greater number of amazing tasks using additional sensors and commands. Requires some previous NXT...tech wireless networks and cell phones to solve a cyber-bullying mystery . Learn ways to stay safe online. 19 Kitchen Chemistry – Science and

From Bombs to Breast Cancer Imaging: Los Alamos National Laboratory

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

Martineau, Rebecca M

In the United States, one in eight women will be affected by breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed - as well as the second most fatal - cancer in American women. It is estimated that there will be nearly 200,000 diagnoses of breast cancer this year; more than 40,000 of these will be fatal. Although advances in medical technologies have greatly increased the odds of surviving the disease, the increase in screenings has not resulted in a significant reduction in the breast cancer mortality rate. Moreover, recent studies have even suggestedmore » that an increase in these methods might, in itself, cause cancer. A new tool for early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer, supported by an award from the Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs of Department of Defense, could give women a new advantage in the fight against breast cancer. This LANL-led project will integrate ultrasound tomography (UST) with recent discoveries in the field of cell and tissue biomechanics to improve breast cancer detection and characterization. UST uses ultrasound waves instead of X-rays to identify and characterize breast tumors. This technology reveals small mechanical-property changes within the breast. These changes are often the earliest signs of breast cancer. Additionally, UST is effective for women with dense breast tissue, who have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. Because the technology does not use radiation, UST can also be used as frequently as needed for women with a high risk of developing breast cancer. In contrast, mammography, the only routine breast-cancer screening tool currently available, is not effective for women with dense breast tissue and may come with unwanted side-effects caused by ionizing radiation. UST has great potential to become an alternative breast-cancer screening tool because of UST's advantages and benefits over mammography. Currently, there is fierce debate surrounding the age at which breast cancer screening should begin, and once begun, how often it should occur. The American Cancer Society recommends yearly mammograms starting at age 40. On the other hand, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends against routine so early. Rather, the Task Force recommends biennial mammography screening for women aged 50 to 74 years. The ten-year discrepancy in the onset of screening results from recent data suggesting that the frequent use of X-ray radiation during screenings could potentially increase the likelihood of developing cancer. This danger is increased by the low sensitivity and accuracy of mammograms, which sometimes require multiple screenings to yield results. Furthermore, mammograms are often not only inaccurate, but average appalling misdiagnoses rates: about 80% false positives and 15% false negatives. These misdiagnoses lead to unwarranted biopsies at an estimated health care cost of $2 billion per year, while at the same time, resulting in excessive cases of undetected cancer. As such, the National Cancer Institute recommends more studies on the advantages of types and frequency of screenings, as well as alternative screening options. The UST technology developed at LANL could be an alternative option to greatly improve the specificity and sensitivity of breast cancer screening without using ionizing radiation. LANL is developing high-resolution ultrasound tomography algorithms and a clinical ultrasound tomography scanner to conduct patient studies at the UNM Hospital. During UST scanning, the patient lies face-down while her breast, immersed in a tank of warm water, is scanned by phased-transducer arrays. UST uses recorded ultrasound signals to reconstruct a high-resolution three-dimensional image of the breast, showing the spatial distribution of mechanical properties within the breast. Breast cancers are detected by higher values of mechanical properties compared to surrounding tissues. Thus, high-resolution breast images obtained using LANL's novel UST algorithms have the potential to detect breast cancer at its earliest stage. The goal of this Multi-Team Award project is two-fold: (1) develop a novel, safe and cost-effective breast-imaging technique, and (2) improve the specificity and sensitivity of breast cancer imaging. The project is expected to integrate basic research with clinical studies, perform substantive cross-disciplinary training among scientists on the teams and involve participation of consumer advocates. Those involved in the project are optimistic about future developments.« less

Deployment and early experience with remote-presence patient care in a community hospital.

PubMed

Petelin, J B; Nelson, M E; Goodman, J

2007-01-01

The introduction of the RP6 (InTouch Health, Santa Barbara, CA, USA) remote-presence "robot" appears to offer a useful telemedicine device. The authors describe the deployment and early experience with the RP6 in a community hospital and provided a live demonstration of the system on April 16, 2005 during the Emerging Technologies Session of the 2005 SAGES Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The RP6 is a 5-ft 4-in. tall, 215-pound robot that can be remotely controlled from an appropriately configured computer located anywhere on the Internet (i.e., on this planet). The system is composed of a control station (a computer at the central station), a mechanical robot, a wireless network (at the remote facility: the hospital), and a high-speed Internet connection at both the remote (hospital) and central locations. The robot itself houses a rechargeable power supply. Its hardware and software allows communication over the Internet with the central station, interpretation of commands from the central station, and conversion of the commands into mechanical and nonmechanical actions at the remote location, which are communicated back to the central station over the Internet. The RP6 system allows the central party (e.g., physician) to control the movements of the robot itself, see and hear at the remote location (hospital), and be seen and heard at the remote location (hospital) while not physically there. Deployment of the RP6 system at the hospital was accomplished in less than a day. The wireless network at the institution was already in place. The control station setup time ranged from 1 to 4 h and was dependent primarily on the quality of the Internet connection (bandwidth) at the remote locations. Patients who visited with the RP6 on their discharge day could be discharged more than 4 h earlier than with conventional visits, thereby freeing up hospital beds on a busy med-surg floor. Patient visits during "off hours" (nights and weekends) were three times more efficient than conventional visits during these times (20 min per visit vs 40-min round trip travel + 20-min visit). Patients and nursing personnel both expressed tremendous satisfaction with the remote-presence interaction. The authors' early experience suggests a significant benefit to patients, hospitals, and physicians with the use of RP6. The implications for future development are enormous.

Robotic telepresence for collaborative clinical outreach.

PubMed

Lai, Fuji

2008-01-01

The increasing complexity of healthcare and shortage of clinical specialists needs to be addressed through communication, collaboration and coordination of resources to ensure timely delivery of clinical expertise. Remote Presence is a next generation telemedicine technology platform which combines the power of robotics, wireless, and the internet to enable hospitals and physicians to bring the right care to the right patient at the right time. For example, Remote Presence has been successfully implemented in a hub and spoke model allowing stroke neurologists at a stroke center of excellence to provide the spoke hospital staff with patient consultation and training services. The results are improved geographical reach of stroke specialist care throughout the region with significant impact on patient outcomes as well as improved alignment with established care standards and best practices.

Modification of the Magnetic Properties of α-Fe2O3 Powders by Ultrasonic Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stolyar, S. V.; Bayukov, O. A.; Iskhakov, R. S.; Yaroslavtsev, R. N.; Ladygina, V. P.

2017-12-01

Hematite (α-Fe2O3) powders after ultrasonic treatment (UST) in the regime of cavitation in aqueous suspension and in that with an organic component (albumin protein) have been studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy and ferromagnetic resonance techniques. It is established that the UST in aqueous hematite suspensions with albumin results in the formation of a new magnetic phase with parameters coinciding with those of the α-Fe metallic phase.

A tiered approach to distinguish sources of gasoline and diesel spills.

PubMed

Xiong, Wenhui; Bernesky, Ryan; Bechard, Robert; Michaud, Guy; Lang, Jeremy

2014-07-15

Approximately 11% and 25% of annual Canadian oil spill accidents are gasoline and diesel spills, respectively. Gasoline and diesel spills are a challenge to conventional environmental forensic techniques because refinery processes remove most of the higher molecular weight biomarkers. This study presents a tiered environmental forensics strategy that includes such information as site operational history, geology/hydrogeology, GC/FID pre-screening, volatile GC/MS, semi-volatile GC/MS, and GC/MS selected ion monitoring (SIM) chromatograms for fingerprinting of gasoline and diesel spills. GC/FID pre-screening analysis identified the presence of two individual gasoline and diesel plumes at a fuel service station (study site). The gasoline plume is present between the upgradient fuel underground storage tanks (USTs) and the downgradient diesel plume, suggesting that the diesel impacts to groundwater may not be originated from the current UST leakage. Similar distribution of C3-alkylbenzenes (the most stable chemicals in gasoline) and the consistent diagnostic ratios of the analyte pairs with similar solubility indicate that the source for the dissolved gasoline constituents in the gasoline impacted zone likely originated from a gasoline leakage from the current USTs on the study site. In the diesel impacted zone, the distinct distribution and diagnostic ratios of sesquiterpanes (biomarkers for diesel) and alkylated PAHs confirm that the diesel plume originate from different crude oil sources than the current USTs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

"The phactalysts": carbon nanotube/TiO2 composites as phototropic actuators for wireless remote triggering of chemical reactions and catalysis.

PubMed

Vassalini, Irene; Alessandri, Ivano

2017-08-17

A new concept of a reconfigurable smart catalyst was developed from the synergistic combination of polycarbonate/carbon nanotube bimorph photoactuators and TiO 2 . The addition of TiO 2 provides the photoactuators with photocatalytic activity and superior opto-mechanical properties, making phototropic actuation fast, reversible and responsive to Vis-NIR light sources. These composites were tested in the wireless, light-driven and spatially controlled remote triggering of different chemical reactions, including local explosions and photocatalytic polymerizations. The same materials were also investigated as efficient opto-mechanical shutters for the light-selective inhibition or activation of specific reactions, such as the photo-induced degradation of organic dyes. These results suggest that the integration of photocatalysts with soft photoactuators can open intriguing opportunities for chemistry and soft robotics.

Low-power low-latency MAC protocol for aeronautical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabater, Jordi; Kluge, Martin; Bovelli, Sergio; Schalk, Josef

2007-05-01

This paper describes asynchronous MAC (Medium Access Control) strategies based on the IEEE 802.15.4 physical layer for wireless aeronautical applications where low power and low latency are important requirements as well as security and data integrity. Sensor data is acquired and collected on request, by means of a mobile device, and later stored in a centralized database. In order to have the smallest power consumption the wireless sensor has to remain in deep sleep mode as long as possible and wake up and listen periodically for RF activity. If its unique ID is mentioned in the destination address field, the complete frame is received, processed and replied if necessary. If the detected packet is addressed to another sensor the reception will stop immediately and the wireless sensor will go into deep sleep mode again. Listening instead of sending actively does not 'pollute' the already crowded 2.45GHz spectrum, reduces collisions and increases security. The mobile data concentrator can not be synchronized with all the sensors installed in a distributed environment, therefore smart asynchronous data transmission strategies are needed to reduce latencies and increase throughput. For the considered application, sensors are independent of each other, simply share the medium and together with the data concentrator are organized in a star network topology. The centre of the star is the concentrator which is rarely in range. It coordinates and activates the wireless sensor nodes to collect the measured data.

Osteopathic Manual Treatment and Ultrasound Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Licciardone, John C.; Minotti, Dennis E.; Gatchel, Robert J.; Kearns, Cathleen M.; Singh, Karan P.

2013-01-01

PURPOSE We studied the efficacy of osteopathic manual treatment (OMT) and ultrasound therapy (UST) for chronic low back pain. METHODS A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, 2 × 2 factorial design was used to study OMT and UST for short-term relief of nonspecific chronic low back pain. The 455 patients were randomized to OMT (n = 230) or sham OMT (n = 225) main effects groups, and to UST (n = 233) or sham UST (n = 222) main effects groups. Six treatment sessions were provided over 8 weeks. Intention-to-treat analysis was performed to measure moderate and substantial improvements in low back pain at week 12 (30% or greater and 50% or greater pain reductions from baseline, respectively). Five secondary outcomes, safety, and treatment adherence were also assessed. RESULTS There was no statistical interaction between OMT and UST. Patients receiving OMT were more likely than patients receiving sham OMT to achieve moderate (response ratio [RR] = 1.38; 95% CI, 1.16-1.64; P <.001) and substantial (RR = 1.41, 95% CI, 1.13-1.76; P = .002) improvements in low back pain at week 12. These improvements met the Cochrane Back Review Group criterion for a medium effect size. Back-specific functioning, general health, work disability specific to low back pain, safety outcomes, and treatment adherence did not differ between patients receiving OMT and sham OMT. Nevertheless, patients in the OMT group were more likely to be very satisfied with their back care throughout the study (P <.001). Patients receiving OMT used prescription drugs for low back pain less frequently during the 12 weeks than did patients in the sham OMT group (use ratio = 0.66, 95% CI, 0.43-1.00; P = .048). Ultrasound therapy was not efficacious. CONCLUSIONS The OMT regimen met or exceeded the Cochrane Back Review Group criterion for a medium effect size in relieving chronic low back pain. It was safe, parsimonious, and well accepted by patients. PMID:23508598

Osteopathic manual treatment and ultrasound therapy for chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Licciardone, John C; Minotti, Dennis E; Gatchel, Robert J; Kearns, Cathleen M; Singh, Karan P

2013-01-01

We studied the efficacy of osteopathic manual treatment (OMT) and ultrasound therapy (UST) for chronic low back pain. A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, 2 × 2 factorial design was used to study OMT and UST for short-term relief of nonspecific chronic low back pain. The 455 patients were randomized to OMT (n = 230) or sham OMT (n = 225) main effects groups, and to UST (n = 233) or sham UST (n = 222) main effects groups. Six treatment sessions were provided over 8 weeks. Intention-to-treat analysis was performed to measure moderate and substantial improvements in low back pain at week 12 (30% or greater and 50% or greater pain reductions from baseline, respectively). Five secondary outcomes, safety, and treatment adherence were also assessed. There was no statistical interaction between OMT and UST. Patients receiving OMT were more likely than patients receiving sham OMT to achieve moderate (response ratio [RR] = 1.38; 95% CI, 1.16-1.64; P <.001) and substantial (RR = 1.41, 95% CI, 1.13-1.76; P = .002) improvements in low back pain at week 12. These improvements met the Cochrane Back Review Group criterion for a medium effect size. Back-specific functioning, general health, work disability specific to low back pain, safety outcomes, and treatment adherence did not differ between patients receiving OMT and sham OMT. Nevertheless, patients in the OMT group were more likely to be very satisfied with their back care throughout the study (P <.001). Patients receiving OMT used prescription drugs for low back pain less frequently during the 12 weeks than did patients in the sham OMT group (use ratio = 0.66, 95% CI, 0.43-1.00; P = .048). Ultrasound therapy was not efficacious. The OMT regimen met or exceeded the Cochrane Back Review Group criterion for a medium effect size in relieving chronic low back pain. It was safe, parsimonious, and well accepted by patients.

Team Oriented Robotic Exploration Task on Scorpion and K9 Platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirchner, Frank

2003-01-01

This final report describes the achievements that have been made in the project over the complete period of performance. The technical progress highlights the different areas of work in terms of Progress in Mechatronics, Sensor integration, Software Development. User Interfaces, Behavior Development and Experimental Results and System Testing. The different areas are: Mechatronics, Sensor integration, Software development, Experimental results and Basic System Testing, Behaviors Development and Advanced System Testing, User Interface and Wireless Communication.

Animal board invited review: precision livestock farming for dairy cows with a focus on oestrus detection.

PubMed

Mottram, T

2016-10-01

Dairy cows are high value farm animals requiring careful management to achieve the best results. Since the advent of robotic and high throughput milking, the traditional few minutes available for individual human attention daily has disappeared and new automated technologies have been applied to improve monitoring of dairy cow production, nutrition, fertility, health and welfare. Cows milked by robots must meet legal requirements to detect healthy milk. This review focuses on emerging technical approaches in those areas of high cost to the farmer (fertility, metabolic disorders, mastitis, lameness and calving). The availability of low cost tri-axial accelerometers and wireless telemetry has allowed accurate models of behaviour to be developed and sometimes combined with rumination activity detected by acoustic sensors to detect oestrus; other measures (milk and skin temperature, electronic noses, milk yield) have been abandoned. In-line biosensors have been developed to detect markers for ovulation, pregnancy, lactose, mastitis and metabolic changes. Wireless telemetry has been applied to develop boluses for monitoring the rumen pH and temperature to detect metabolic disorders. Udder health requires a multisensing approach due to the varying inflammatory responses collectively described as mastitis. Lameness can be detected by walk over weigh cells, but also by various types of video image analysis and speed measurement. Prediction and detection of calving time is an area of active research mostly focused on behavioural change.

The Impact of Prostate Cancer Treatment-Related Symptoms on Low-Income Latino Couples

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

hacerle una pregunta sobre su salud. A1. En general, ¿Usted diría que su salud es excelente, muy buena, buena, regular, o mala? 100...hizo usted su trabajo u otras actividades con el mismo cuidado que de costumbre debido a algún problema emocional, como sentirse deprimido o...problema, si es que ha tenido problemas con esto, de gotear orina o mojarse los pantalones durante las últimas 4 semanas? 100 Ningún problema

100-N Area underground storage tank closures

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

Rowley, C.A.

1993-08-01

This report describes the removal/characterization actions concerning underground storage tanks (UST) at the 100-N Area. Included are 105-N-LFT, 182-N-1-DT, 182-N-2-DT, 182-N-3-DT, 100-N-SS-27, and 100-N-SS-28. The text of this report gives a summary of remedial activities. In addition, correspondence relating to UST closures can be found in Appendix B. Appendix C contains copies of Unusual Occurrence Reports, and validated sampling data results comprise Appendix D.

Ecological Interfaces for Improving Mobile Robot Teleoperation

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-10-01

reviewers’ comments. C. W. Nielsen is with the Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415 USA (e-mail: curtis.nielsen@inl.gov). M . A. Goodrich is with...tele- operation. Section III presents the ecological interface paradigm and describes the 3-D interface. Section IV presents the sum- maries from new...in an empty laboratory environment that was filled with cardboard boxes and was more than 700 m from the operator. The display that the test subjects

Installation restoration program. Closure assessment report for UST removals at sites 4 and 5 - petroleum, oils, and lubricants facility. Virginia Air National Guard, 192nd Fighter Group, Richmond International Airport, Sandston, Virginia. Final report

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

NONE

The objectives of the closure assessment were to determine the extent of contaminated soil adjacent to the USTs requiring excavation, to provide documentation of soil and groundwater conditions following excavation, and to document closure activities in accordance with applicable VADEQ regulations. During closure activities, ASI provided technical support to the Base to ensure that the UST removal contractor (E K, Inc.) hereinafter referred to as the Contractor was in compliance with the technical requirements (as specified in the Plans and Specifications for Removal of Abandoned Underground Storage Tanks, Virginia Air National Guard, Richmond International Airport, Sandston, VA., dated July 1991more » and revised April 1992, and Addendum Numbers 1 through 7) of the contract. ASI was also responsible for collecting soil and/or groundwater closure samples from the excavations, and providing off-site fixed based laboratory analysis to verify clean conditions within the excavations.« less

Effect of Hydrologic and Geochemical Conditions on Oxygen-Enhanced Bioremediation in a Gasoline-Contaminated Aquifer

USGS Publications Warehouse

Landmeyer, J.E.; Bradley, P.M.

2003-01-01

The effect of pre-existing factors, e.g., hydrologic, geochemical, and microbiological properties, on the results of oxygen addition to a reformulated gasoline-contaminated groundwater system was studied. Oxygen addition with an oxygen-release compound (a proprietary form of magnesium peroxide produced different results with respect to dissolved oxygen (DO) generation and contaminant decrease in the two locations. Oxygen-release compound injected at the former UST source area did not significantly change measured concentrations of DO, benzene, toluene, or MTBE. Conversely, oxygen-release compound injected 200 m downgradient of the former UST source area rapidly increased DO levels, and benzene, toluene, and MTBE concentrations decreased substantially. The different results could be related to differences in hydrologic and geochemical conditions that characterized the two locations prior to oxygen addition. The lack of recharge to ground water in the paved UST source area led to a much larger geochemical sink for DO compared to ground water in the unpaved area.

Wirelessly powered micro-tracer enabled by miniaturized antenna and microfluidic channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, G.; Zhao, X.; Seren, H. R.; Chen, C.; Zhang, X.

2015-12-01

A miniaturized antenna, 380μm by 380μm in size, was fabricated and integrated with a commercialized passive RFID chip to form a micro-tracer, whose size was 2mm by 1mm in total. The micro-tracer was wirelessly powered and interrogated by a single layer spiral reader antenna through near field coupling. To maximize the working distance, the resonant frequency of micro-tracer and reader antenna were matched at 840MHz. Due to the ultra small size of the tracer antenna, power transfer efficiency decreased dramatically as the distance between tracer antenna and reader antenna increased, thus the working distance of the microtracer was limited within 1mm. To achieve massive operation of the micro-tracer, a microfluidic platform was fabricated with in channel focusing and separation. Acrylic sheets were laser cut to define the channel and cover structure, then bonded together layer by layer with a glass substrate, on which reader antenna was integrated. Pump oil was used as the fluidic media carrying the micro-tracer flowing inside the microfluidic channel. The wireless power transfer and real-time communication was demonstrated with the micro-tracer flowing above the reader antenna, as the ID of the micro-tracer was retrieved and displayed on a computer screen.

A kinematic analysis of the rapid step test in balance-impaired and unimpaired older women.

PubMed

Schulz, Brian W; Ashton-Miller, James A; Alexander, Neil B

2007-04-01

Little is known about the kinematic and kinetic determinants that might explain age and balance-impairment alterations in the results of volitional stepping performance tests. Maximal unipedal stance time (UST) was used to distinguish "balance-impaired" old (BI, UST<10s, N=15, mean age=76 years) from unimpaired old (O, UST>30s, N=12, mean age=71 years) before they and healthy young females (Y, UST>30s, N=13, mean age=23 years) performed the rapid step test (RST). The RST evaluates the time required to take volitional front, side, and back steps of at least 80% maximum step length in response to verbal commands. Kinematic and kinetic data were recorded during the RST. The results indicate that the initiation phase of the step was the major source of age- and balance impairment-related delays. The delays in BI were primarily caused by increased postural adjustments prior to step initiation, as measured by center-of-pressure (COP) path length (p<0.003). The Step landing phase showed similar, but non-significant, temporal trends. Step length and peak center-of-mass (COM) deceleration during the Step-Out landing decreased in O by 18% (p=0.0002) and 24% (p=0.001), respectively, and a further 12% (p=0.04) and 18% (p=0.08) in BI. We conclude that the delay in BI step initiation was due to the increase in their postural adjustments prior to step initiation.

The prevalence of upright non-stepping time in comparison to stepping time in 11-13 year old school children across seasons.

PubMed

McCrorie, P Rw; Duncan, E; Granat, M H; Stansfield, B W

2012-11-01

Evidence suggests that behaviours such as standing are beneficial for our health. Unfortunately, little is known of the prevalence of this state, its importance in relation to time spent stepping or variation across seasons. The aim of this study was to quantify, in young adolescents, the prevalence and seasonal changes in time spent upright and not stepping (UNSt(time)) as well as time spent upright and stepping (USt(time)), and their contribution to overall upright time (U(time)). Thirty-three adolescents (12.2 ± 0.3 y) wore the activPAL activity monitor during four school days on two occasions: November/December (winter) and May/June (summer). UNSt(time) contributed 60% of daily U(time) at winter (Mean = 196 min) and 53% at summer (Mean = 171 min); a significant seasonal effect, p < 0.001. USt(time) was significantly greater in summer compared to winter (153 min versus 131 min, p < 0.001). The effects in UNSt(time) could be explained through significant seasonal differences during the school hours (09:00-16:00), whereas the effects in USt(time) could be explained through significant seasonal differences in the evening period (16:00-22:00). Adolescents spent a greater amount of time upright and not stepping than they did stepping, in both winter and summer. The observed seasonal effects for both UNSt(time) and USt(time) provide important information for behaviour change intervention programs.

Electronic p-Chip-Based System for Identification of Glass Slides and Tissue Cassettes in Histopathology Laboratories.

PubMed

Mandecki, Wlodek; Qian, Jay; Gedzberg, Katie; Gruda, Maryanne; Rodriguez, Efrain Frank; Nesbitt, Leslie; Riben, Michael

2018-01-01

The tagging system is based on a small, electronic, wireless, laser-light-activated microtransponder named "p-Chip." The p-Chip is a silicon integrated circuit, the size of which is 600 μm × 600 μm × 100 μm. Each p-Chip contains a unique identification code stored within its electronic memory that can be retrieved with a custom reader. These features allow the p-Chip to be used as an unobtrusive and scarcely noticeable ID tag on glass slides and tissue cassettes. The system is comprised of p-Chip-tagged sample carriers, a dedicated benchtop p-Chip ID reader that can accommodate both objects, and an additional reader (the Wand), with an adapter for reading IDs of glass slides stored vertically in drawers. On slides, p-Chips are attached with adhesive to the center of the short edge, and on cassettes - embedded directly into the plastic. ID readout is performed by bringing the reader to the proximity of the chip. Standard histopathology laboratory protocols were used for testing. Very good ID reading efficiency was observed for both glass slides and cassettes. When processed slides are stored in vertical filing drawers, p-Chips remain readable without the need to remove them from the storage location, thereby improving the speed of searches in collections. On the cassettes, the ID continues to be readable through a thin layer of paraffin. Both slides and tissue cassettes can be read with the same reader, reducing the need for redundant equipment. The p-Chip is stable to all chemical challenges commonly used in the histopathology laboratory, tolerates temperature extremes, and remains durable in long-term storage. The technology is compatible with laboratory information management systems software systems. The p-Chip system is very well suited for identification of glass slides and cassettes in the histopathology laboratory.

Electronic p-Chip-Based System for Identification of Glass Slides and Tissue Cassettes in Histopathology Laboratories

PubMed Central

Mandecki, Wlodek; Qian, Jay; Gedzberg, Katie; Gruda, Maryanne; Rodriguez, Efrain “Frank”; Nesbitt, Leslie; Riben, Michael

2018-01-01

Background: The tagging system is based on a small, electronic, wireless, laser-light-activated microtransponder named “p-Chip.” The p-Chip is a silicon integrated circuit, the size of which is 600 μm × 600 μm × 100 μm. Each p-Chip contains a unique identification code stored within its electronic memory that can be retrieved with a custom reader. These features allow the p-Chip to be used as an unobtrusive and scarcely noticeable ID tag on glass slides and tissue cassettes. Methods: The system is comprised of p-Chip-tagged sample carriers, a dedicated benchtop p-Chip ID reader that can accommodate both objects, and an additional reader (the Wand), with an adapter for reading IDs of glass slides stored vertically in drawers. On slides, p-Chips are attached with adhesive to the center of the short edge, and on cassettes – embedded directly into the plastic. ID readout is performed by bringing the reader to the proximity of the chip. Standard histopathology laboratory protocols were used for testing. Results: Very good ID reading efficiency was observed for both glass slides and cassettes. When processed slides are stored in vertical filing drawers, p-Chips remain readable without the need to remove them from the storage location, thereby improving the speed of searches in collections. On the cassettes, the ID continues to be readable through a thin layer of paraffin. Both slides and tissue cassettes can be read with the same reader, reducing the need for redundant equipment. Conclusions: The p-Chip is stable to all chemical challenges commonly used in the histopathology laboratory, tolerates temperature extremes, and remains durable in long-term storage. The technology is compatible with laboratory information management systems software systems. The p-Chip system is very well suited for identification of glass slides and cassettes in the histopathology laboratory. PMID:29692946

Body surface mounted biomedical monitoring system using Bluetooth.

PubMed

Nambu, Masayuki

2007-01-01

Continuous monitoring in daily life is important for the health condition control of the elderly. However, portable or wearable devices need to carry by user on their own will. On the other hand, implantation sensors are not adoptable, because of generic users dislike to insert the any object in the body for monitoring. Therefore, another monitoring system of the health condition to carry it easily is necessary. In addition, ID system is necessary even if the subject live with few families. Furthermore, every measurement system should be wireless system, because not to obstruct the daily life of the user. In this paper, we propose the monitoring system, which is mounted on the body surface. This system will not obstruct the action or behavior of user in daily life, because this system attached the body surface on the back of the user. In addition, this system has wireless communication system, using Bluetooth, and acquired data transfer to the outside of the house via the Internet.

Design and Implementation of a Brain Computer Interface System for Controlling a Robotic Claw

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angelakis, D.; Zoumis, S.; Asvestas, P.

2017-11-01

The aim of this paper is to present the design and implementation of a brain-computer interface (BCI) system that can control a robotic claw. The system is based on the Emotiv Epoc headset, which provides the capability of simultaneous recording of 14 EEG channels, as well as wireless connectivity by means of the Bluetooth protocol. The system is initially trained to decode what user thinks to properly formatted data. The headset communicates with a personal computer, which runs a dedicated software application, implemented under the Processing integrated development environment. The application acquires the data from the headset and invokes suitable commands to an Arduino Uno board. The board decodes the received commands and produces corresponding signals to a servo motor that controls the position of the robotic claw. The system was tested successfully on a healthy, male subject, aged 28 years. The results are promising, taking into account that no specialized hardware was used. However, tests on a larger number of users is necessary in order to draw solid conclusions regarding the performance of the proposed system.

Designing of routing algorithms in autonomous distributed data transmission system for mobile computing devices with ‘WiFi-Direct’ technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikitin, I. A.; Sherstnev, V. S.; Sherstneva, A. I.; Botygin, I. A.

2017-02-01

The results of the research of existent routing protocols in wireless networks and their main features are discussed in the paper. Basing on the protocol data, the routing protocols in wireless networks, including search routing algorithms and phone directory exchange algorithms, are designed with the ‘WiFi-Direct’ technology. Algorithms without IP-protocol were designed, and that enabled one to increase the efficiency of the algorithms while working only with the MAC-addresses of the devices. The developed algorithms are expected to be used in the mobile software engineering with the Android platform taken as base. Easier algorithms and formats of the well-known route protocols, rejection of the IP-protocols enables to use the developed protocols on more primitive mobile devices. Implementation of the protocols to the engineering industry enables to create data transmission networks among working places and mobile robots without any access points.

Self-aligning LED-based optical link

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Thomas C.; Drost, Robert J.; Rzasa, John R.; Sadler, Brian M.; Davis, Christopher C.

2016-09-01

The steady advances in light-emitting diode (LED) technology have motivated the use of LEDs in optical wireless communication (OWC) applications such as indoor local area networks (LANs) and communication between mobile platforms (e.g., robots, vehicles). In contrast to traditional radio frequency (RF) wireless communication, OWC utilizes electromagnetic spectrum that is largely unregulated and unrestricted. OWC communication may be especially useful in RF-denied environments, in which RF communication may be prohibited or undesirable. However, OWC does present some challenges, including the need to maintain alignment between potentially moving nodes. We describe a novel system for link alignment that is composed of a hyperboloidal mirror, camera, and gimbal. The experimental system is able to use the mirror and camera to detect an LED beacon of a neighboring node and estimate its bearing (azimuth and elevation), point the gimbal towards the beacon, and establish an optical link.

LinkMind: link optimization in swarming mobile sensor networks.

PubMed

Ngo, Trung Dung

2011-01-01

A swarming mobile sensor network is comprised of a swarm of wirelessly connected mobile robots equipped with various sensors. Such a network can be applied in an uncertain environment for services such as cooperative navigation and exploration, object identification and information gathering. One of the most advantageous properties of the swarming wireless sensor network is that mobile nodes can work cooperatively to organize an ad-hoc network and optimize the network link capacity to maximize the transmission of gathered data from a source to a target. This paper describes a new method of link optimization of swarming mobile sensor networks. The new method is based on combination of the artificial potential force guaranteeing connectivities of the mobile sensor nodes and the max-flow min-cut theorem of graph theory ensuring optimization of the network link capacity. The developed algorithm is demonstrated and evaluated in simulation.

Tattoolike Polyaniline Microparticle-Doped Gold Nanowire Patches as Highly Durable Wearable Sensors.

PubMed

Gong, Shu; Lai, Daniel T H; Wang, Yan; Yap, Lim Wei; Si, Kae Jye; Shi, Qianqian; Jason, Naveen Noah; Sridhar, Tam; Uddin, Hemayet; Cheng, Wenlong

2015-09-09

Wearable and highly sensitive strain sensors are essential components of electronic skin for future biomonitoring and human machine interfaces. Here we report a low-cost yet efficient strategy to dope polyaniline microparticles into gold nanowire (AuNW) films, leading to 10 times enhancement in conductivity and ∼8 times improvement in sensitivity. Simultaneously, tattoolike wearable sensors could be fabricated simply by a direct "draw-on" strategy with a Chinese penbrush. The stretchability of the sensors could be enhanced from 99.7% to 149.6% by designing curved tattoo with different radius of curvatures. We also demonstrated roller coating method to encapusulate AuNWs sensors, exhibiting excellent water resistibility and durability. Because of improved conductivity of our sensors, they can directly interface with existing wireless circuitry, allowing for fabrication of wireless flexion sensors for a human finger-controlled robotic arm system.

LinkMind: Link Optimization in Swarming Mobile Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Ngo, Trung Dung

2011-01-01

A swarming mobile sensor network is comprised of a swarm of wirelessly connected mobile robots equipped with various sensors. Such a network can be applied in an uncertain environment for services such as cooperative navigation and exploration, object identification and information gathering. One of the most advantageous properties of the swarming wireless sensor network is that mobile nodes can work cooperatively to organize an ad-hoc network and optimize the network link capacity to maximize the transmission of gathered data from a source to a target. This paper describes a new method of link optimization of swarming mobile sensor networks. The new method is based on combination of the artificial potential force guaranteeing connectivities of the mobile sensor nodes and the max-flow min-cut theorem of graph theory ensuring optimization of the network link capacity. The developed algorithm is demonstrated and evaluated in simulation. PMID:22164070

Rule-Based vs. Behavior-Based Self-Deployment for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Urdiales, Cristina; Aguilera, Francisco; González-Parada, Eva; Cano-García, Jose; Sandoval, Francisco

2016-01-01

In mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSN), nodes are allowed to move autonomously for deployment. This process is meant: (i) to achieve good coverage; and (ii) to distribute the communication load as homogeneously as possible. Rather than optimizing deployment, reactive algorithms are based on a set of rules or behaviors, so nodes can determine when to move. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of both reactive deployment approaches: rule-based and behavior-based ones. Specifically, we compare a backbone dispersion algorithm with a social potential fields algorithm. Most tests are done under simulation for a large number of nodes in environments with and without obstacles. Results are validated using a small robot network in the real world. Our results show that behavior-based deployment tends to provide better coverage and communication balance, especially for a large number of nodes in areas with obstacles. PMID:27399709

Gas pipe explorer robot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilcox, Brian (Inventor)

2004-01-01

A gas pipe explorer formed of a plurality of connecting elements, and an articulation element between the connected elements. The connected elements include drive capabilities, and the articulation element allows the connected elements to traverse gas pipes of arbitrary shapes and sizes. A sensor may sends the characteristics of the gas pipe, and the communication element may send back those sends characteristics. The communication can be wired, over a tether connecting the device to a remote end. Alternatively, the connection can be wireless, driven by either a generator or a battery.

Extending Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Network Life without Full Knowledge.

PubMed

Najeeb, Najeeb W; Detweiler, Carrick

2017-07-17

When extending the life of Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks (WRSN), one challenge is charging networks as they grow larger. Overcoming this limitation will render a WRSN more practical and highly adaptable to growth in the real world. Most charging algorithms require a priori full knowledge of sensor nodes' power levels in order to determine the nodes that require charging. In this work, we present a probabilistic algorithm that extends the life of scalable WRSN without a priori power knowledge and without full network exploration. We develop a probability bound on the power level of the sensor nodes and utilize this bound to make decisions while exploring a WRSN. We verify the algorithm by simulating a wireless power transfer unmanned aerial vehicle, and charging a WRSN to extend its life. Our results show that, without knowledge, our proposed algorithm extends the life of a WRSN on average 90% of what an optimal full knowledge algorithm can achieve. This means that the charging robot does not need to explore the whole network, which enables the scaling of WRSN. We analyze the impact of network parameters on our algorithm and show that it is insensitive to a large range of parameter values.

Extending Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Network Life without Full Knowledge

PubMed Central

Najeeb, Najeeb W.; Detweiler, Carrick

2017-01-01

When extending the life of Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks (WRSN), one challenge is charging networks as they grow larger. Overcoming this limitation will render a WRSN more practical and highly adaptable to growth in the real world. Most charging algorithms require a priori full knowledge of sensor nodes’ power levels in order to determine the nodes that require charging. In this work, we present a probabilistic algorithm that extends the life of scalable WRSN without a priori power knowledge and without full network exploration. We develop a probability bound on the power level of the sensor nodes and utilize this bound to make decisions while exploring a WRSN. We verify the algorithm by simulating a wireless power transfer unmanned aerial vehicle, and charging a WRSN to extend its life. Our results show that, without knowledge, our proposed algorithm extends the life of a WRSN on average 90% of what an optimal full knowledge algorithm can achieve. This means that the charging robot does not need to explore the whole network, which enables the scaling of WRSN. We analyze the impact of network parameters on our algorithm and show that it is insensitive to a large range of parameter values. PMID:28714936

Medical capsule robots: A renaissance for diagnostics, drug delivery and surgical treatment.

PubMed

Mapara, Sanyat S; Patravale, Vandana B

2017-09-10

The advancements in electronics and the progress in nanotechnology have resulted in path breaking development that will transform the way diagnosis and treatment are carried out currently. This development is Medical Capsule Robots, which has emerged from the science fiction idea of robots travelling inside the body to diagnose and cure disorders. The first marketed capsule robot was a capsule endoscope developed to capture images of the gastrointestinal tract. Today, varieties of capsule endoscopes are available in the market. They are slightly larger than regular oral capsules, made up of a biocompatible case and have electronic circuitry and mechanisms to capture and transmit images. In addition, robots with diagnostic features such as in vivo body temperature detection and pH monitoring have also been launched in the market. However, a multi-functional unit that will diagnose and cure diseases inside the body has not yet been realized. A remote controlled capsule that will undertake drug delivery and surgical treatment has not been successfully launched in the market. High cost, inadequate power supply, lack of control over drug release, limited space for drug storage on the capsule, inadequate safety and no mechanisms for active locomotion and anchoring have prevented their entry in the market. The capsule robots can revolutionize the current way of diagnosis and treatment. This paper discusses in detail the applications of medical capsule robots in diagnostics, drug delivery and surgical treatment. In diagnostics, detailed analysis has been presented on wireless capsule endoscopes, issues associated with the marketed versions and their corresponding solutions in literature. Moreover, an assessment has been made of the existing state of remote controlled capsules for targeted drug delivery and surgical treatment and their future impact is predicted. Besides the need for multi-functional capsule robots and the areas for further research have also been highlighted. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Robot for Investigations and Assessments of Nuclear Areas

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

Kanaan, Daniel; Dogny, Stephane

RIANA is a remote controlled Robot dedicated for Investigations and Assessments of Nuclear Areas. The development of RIANA is motivated by the need to have at disposal a proven robot, tested in hot cells; a robot capable of remotely investigate and characterise the inside of nuclear facilities in order to collect efficiently all the required data in the shortest possible time. It is based on a wireless medium sized remote carrier that may carry a wide variety of interchangeable modules, sensors and tools. It is easily customised to match specific requirements and quickly configured depending on the mission and themore » operator's preferences. RIANA integrates localisation and navigation systems. The robot will be able to generate / update a 2D map of its surrounding and exploring areas. The position of the robot is given accurately on the map. Furthermore, the robot will be able to autonomously calculate, define and follow a trajectory between 2 points taking into account its environment and obstacles. The robot is configurable to manage obstacles and restrict access to forbidden areas. RIANA allows an advanced control of modules, sensors and tools; all collected data (radiological and measured data) are displayed in real time in different format (chart, on the generated map...) and stored in a single place so that may be exported in a convenient format for data processing. This modular design gives RIANA the flexibility to perform multiple investigation missions where humans cannot work such as: visual inspections, dynamic localization and 2D mapping, characterizations and nuclear measurements of floor and walls, non destructive testing, samples collection: solid and liquid. The benefits of using RIANA are: - reducing the personnel exposures by limiting the manual intervention time, - minimizing the time and reducing the cost of investigation operations, - providing critical inputs to set up and optimize cleanup and dismantling operations. (authors)« less

Wireless Sensor Network Handles Image Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

To relay data from remote locations for NASA s Earth sciences research, Goddard Space Flight Center contributed to the development of "microservers" (wireless sensor network nodes), which are now used commercially as a quick and affordable means to capture and distribute geographical information, including rich sets of aerial and street-level imagery. NASA began this work out of a necessity for real-time recovery of remote sensor data. These microservers work much like a wireless office network, relaying information between devices. The key difference, however, is that instead of linking workstations within one office, the interconnected microservers operate miles away from one another. This attribute traces back to the technology s original use: The microservers were originally designed for seismology on remote glaciers and ice streams in Alaska, Greenland, and Antarctica-acquiring, storing, and relaying data wirelessly between ground sensors. The microservers boast three key attributes. First, a researcher in the field can establish a "managed network" of microservers and rapidly see the data streams (recovered wirelessly) on a field computer. This rapid feedback permits the researcher to reconfigure the network for different purposes over the course of a field campaign. Second, through careful power management, the microservers can dwell unsupervised in the field for up to 2 years, collecting tremendous amounts of data at a research location. The third attribute is the exciting potential to deploy a microserver network that works in synchrony with robotic explorers (e.g., providing ground truth validation for satellites, supporting rovers as they traverse the local environment). Managed networks of remote microservers that relay data unsupervised for up to 2 years can drastically reduce the costs of field instrumentation and data rec

A Review of Centrifugal Testing of Gasoline Contamination and Remediation

PubMed Central

Meegoda, Jay N.; Hu, Liming

2011-01-01

Leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) containing gasoline represent a significant public health hazard. Virtually undetectable to the UST owner, gasoline leaks can contaminate groundwater supplies. In order to develop remediation plans one must know the extent of gasoline contamination. Centrifugal simulations showed that in silty and sandy soils gasoline moved due to the physical process of advection and was retained as a pool of free products above the water table. However, in clayey soils there was a limited leak with lateral spreading and without pooling of free products above the water table. Amount leaked depends on both the type of soil underneath the USTs and the amount of corrosion. The soil vapor extraction (SVE) technology seems to be an effective method to remove contaminants from above the water table in contaminated sites. In-situ air sparging (IAS) is a groundwater remediation technology for contamination below the water table, which involves the injection of air under pressure into a well installed into the saturated zone. However, current state of the art is not adequate to develop a design guide for site implementation. New information is being currently generated by both centrifugal tests as well as theoretical models to develop a design guide for IAS. The petroleum contaminated soils excavated from leaking UST sites can be used for construction of highway pavements, specifically as sub-base material or blended and used as hot or cold mix asphalt concrete. Cost analysis shows that 5% petroleum contaminated soils is included in hot or cold mix asphalt concrete can save US$5.00 production cost per ton of asphalt produced. PMID:21909320

Outcomes of torsional microcoaxial phacoemulsification performed by 12-degree and 22-degree bent tips.

PubMed

Helvacioglu, Firat; Yeter, Celal; Tunc, Zeki; Sencan, Sadik

2013-08-01

To compare the safety and efficacy of Ozil Intelligent Phaco torsional microcoaxial phacoemulsification surgeries performed with 12-degree and 22-degree bent tips using the Infiniti Vision System. Maltepe University School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology, Istanbul, Turkey. Comparative case series. Eyes were assigned to 2.2 mm microcoaxial phacoemulsification using the torsional mode with a 22-degree bent tip (Group 1) or a 12-degree bent tip (Group 2). The primary outcome measures were ultrasound time (UST), cumulative dissipated energy (CDE), longitudinal and torsional ultrasound (US) amplitudes, mean surgical time, mean volume of balanced salt solution used, and surgical complications. Both groups included 45 eyes. The mean UST, CDE, longitudinal US amplitude, and torsional US amplitude were 65 seconds ± 27.23 (SD), 11.53 ± 6.99, 0.22 ± 0.26, and 42.86 ± 15.64, respectively, in Group 1 and 84 ± 45.04 seconds, 16.68 ± 10.66, 0.48 ± 0.68, and 46.27 ± 14.74, respectively, in Group 2. The mean UST, CDE, and longitudinal amplitudes were significantly lower in Group 1 (P=.003, P=.008, and P=.022, respectively). The mean volume of balanced salt solution was 73.33 ± 28.58 cc in Group 1 and 82.08 ± 26.21 cc in Group 2 (P=.134). Torsional phacoemulsification performed with 22-degree bent tips provided more effective lens removal than 12-degree bent tips, with a lower UST and CDE. Copyright © 2013 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ozil IP torsional mode versus combined torsional/longitudinal microcoaxial phacoemulsification.

PubMed

Helvacioglu, Firat; Tunc, Zeki; Yeter, Celal; Oguzhan, Hasan; Sencan, Sadik

2012-01-01

To compare the safety and efficacy of microcoaxial phacoemulsification surgeries performed with the Ozil Intelligent Phaco (IP) torsional mode and combined torsional/longitudinal ultrasound (US) mode using the Infiniti Vision System (Alcon Laboratories). In this prospective randomized comparative study, 60 eyes were assigned to 2.2-mm microcoaxial phacoemulsification using the Ozil IP torsional mode (group 1) or combined torsional/longitudinal US mode (group 2). The primary outcome measures were US time (UST), cumulative dissipated energy (CDE), longitudinal and torsional ultrasound amplitudes, mean operation time, mean volume of balanced salt solution (BSS) used, and surgical complications. Both groups included 30 eyes. Mean UST, CDE, and longitudinal and torsional ultrasound amplitudes in group 1 were 1 minute 15±34.33 seconds, 8.74±5.64, 0.43±0.74, and 25.56±8.56, respectively, and these parameters in group 2 were 1 minute 40±51.44 seconds, 9.28±5.99, 3.64±1.55, and 3.71±1.34, respectively. UST and longitudinal amplitudes were found to be significantly low in group 1 (p<0.001, p<0.001), whereas torsional amplitude was found to be significantly high in this group (p=0.001). Mean volumes of BSS used in groups 1 and 2 were 63.30±18.00 cc and 84.50±28.65 cc, respectively (p=0.001). The Ozil IP torsional mode may provide more effective lens removal than the combined torsional/longitudinal US mode with a lower UST and volume of BSS used.

A review of centrifugal testing of gasoline contamination and remediation.

PubMed

Meegoda, Jay N; Hu, Liming

2011-08-01

Leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) containing gasoline represent a significant public health hazard. Virtually undetectable to the UST owner, gasoline leaks can contaminate groundwater supplies. In order to develop remediation plans one must know the extent of gasoline contamination. Centrifugal simulations showed that in silty and sandy soils gasoline moved due to the physical process of advection and was retained as a pool of free products above the water table. However, in clayey soils there was a limited leak with lateral spreading and without pooling of free products above the water table. Amount leaked depends on both the type of soil underneath the USTs and the amount of corrosion. The soil vapor extraction (SVE) technology seems to be an effective method to remove contaminants from above the water table in contaminated sites. In-situ air sparging (IAS) is a groundwater remediation technology for contamination below the water table, which involves the injection of air under pressure into a well installed into the saturated zone. However, current state of the art is not adequate to develop a design guide for site implementation. New information is being currently generated by both centrifugal tests as well as theoretical models to develop a design guide for IAS. The petroleum contaminated soils excavated from leaking UST sites can be used for construction of highway pavements, specifically as sub-base material or blended and used as hot or cold mix asphalt concrete. Cost analysis shows that 5% petroleum contaminated soils is included in hot or cold mix asphalt concrete can save US$5.00 production cost per ton of asphalt produced.

A flexible touch-pressure sensor array with wireless transmission system for robotic skin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Ying; Fang, Ding; Wu, Can; Wang, Weihua; Guo, Xiaohui; Liu, Ping

2016-06-01

Human skin contains multiple receptors and is able to sense various stimuli such as temperature, touch, pressure, and deformation, with high sensitivity and resolution. The development of skin-like sensors capable of sensing these stimuli is of great importance for various applications such as robots, touch detection, temperature monitoring, and strain gauges. Great efforts have been made to develop high performance touch sensor and pressure sensor. Compared with general sensor, the touch-pressure sensor which is reported in this paper not only can measure large pressure but also has a high resolution in the small range so that it can feel slight touch. The sensor has a vertical structure. The upper layer is made of silicone rubber as the capacitive layer and the lower layer employs multiwall carbon nanotubes and carbon black filled silicone rubber as the resistive layer. The electrodes are made by conductive silver adhesives. In addition, the electrodes are connected to the pads on the top surface of the flexible printed circuit board by enamelled wires which made it easier to fabricate sensor array. The resolution of the touch-pressure sensor in the range of 0-10 N and 10-100 N are 0.1 N and 1 N, respectively. The experimental data of the sensor are sent by ZigBee wireless technology which reduces the complexity of the wiring and provides a convenient way to apply and maintain the sensor array.

A flexible touch-pressure sensor array with wireless transmission system for robotic skin.

PubMed

Huang, Ying; Fang, Ding; Wu, Can; Wang, Weihua; Guo, Xiaohui; Liu, Ping

2016-06-01

Human skin contains multiple receptors and is able to sense various stimuli such as temperature, touch, pressure, and deformation, with high sensitivity and resolution. The development of skin-like sensors capable of sensing these stimuli is of great importance for various applications such as robots, touch detection, temperature monitoring, and strain gauges. Great efforts have been made to develop high performance touch sensor and pressure sensor. Compared with general sensor, the touch-pressure sensor which is reported in this paper not only can measure large pressure but also has a high resolution in the small range so that it can feel slight touch. The sensor has a vertical structure. The upper layer is made of silicone rubber as the capacitive layer and the lower layer employs multiwall carbon nanotubes and carbon black filled silicone rubber as the resistive layer. The electrodes are made by conductive silver adhesives. In addition, the electrodes are connected to the pads on the top surface of the flexible printed circuit board by enamelled wires which made it easier to fabricate sensor array. The resolution of the touch-pressure sensor in the range of 0-10 N and 10-100 N are 0.1 N and 1 N, respectively. The experimental data of the sensor are sent by ZigBee wireless technology which reduces the complexity of the wiring and provides a convenient way to apply and maintain the sensor array.

A New United Nations for a New Era: Security, Development, and the ’Regional Solution’ (The Case of Latin America)

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-01

Deal describe political organizations not as mindless, robotic entities, but as “living, screaming political arenas that host a complex web of...Peace, The Failed State Index, http://www.fundforpeace.org/ web /index.php?option=com_content&task=view& id=391&Itemid=549, accessed October 22, 2009 2:10...of the South American peoples. SICA - Sistema de Integracion Centroamericana, or Central American Integration System (Est. 1991) The Central

Performance Analysis and Odometry Improvement of an Omnidirectional Mobile Robot for Outdoor Terrain

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

sin cos , , =      +=         = iD v v i i b yi xi i ξ ξ φ xx (1) where ix and bx are the planer velocity vectors at the i-th...variables given by an operator. The wheel angular velocities, ωi,L and ωi,R, that yield the desired i-th ASOC planer velocity are formulated as follows

An evaluation of intraoperative and postoperative outcomes of torsional mode versus longitudinal ultrasound mode phacoemulsification: a Meta-analysis.

PubMed

Leon, Pia; Umari, Ingrid; Mangogna, Alessandro; Zanei, Andrea; Tognetto, Daniele

2016-01-01

To evaluate and compare the intraoperative parameters and postoperative outcomes of torsional mode and longitudinal mode of phacoemulsification. Pertinent studies were identified by a computerized MEDLINE search from January 2002 to September 2013. The Meta-analysis is composed of two parts. In the first part the intraoperative parameters were considered: ultrasound time (UST) and cumulative dissipated energy (CDE). The intraoperative values were also distinctly considered for two categories (moderate and hard cataract group) depending on the nuclear opacity grade. In the second part of the study the postoperative outcomes as the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and the endothelial cell loss (ECL) were taken in consideration. The UST and CDE values proved statistically significant in support of torsional mode for both moderate and hard cataract group. The analysis of BCVA did not present statistically significant difference between the two surgical modalities. The ECL count was statistically significant in support of torsional mode (P<0.001). The Meta-analysis shows the superiority of the torsional mode for intraoperative parameters (UST, CDE) and postoperative ECL outcomes.

An evaluation of intraoperative and postoperative outcomes of torsional mode versus longitudinal ultrasound mode phacoemulsification: a Meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Leon, Pia; Umari, Ingrid; Mangogna, Alessandro; Zanei, Andrea; Tognetto, Daniele

2016-01-01

AIM To evaluate and compare the intraoperative parameters and postoperative outcomes of torsional mode and longitudinal mode of phacoemulsification. METHODS Pertinent studies were identified by a computerized MEDLINE search from January 2002 to September 2013. The Meta-analysis is composed of two parts. In the first part the intraoperative parameters were considered: ultrasound time (UST) and cumulative dissipated energy (CDE). The intraoperative values were also distinctly considered for two categories (moderate and hard cataract group) depending on the nuclear opacity grade. In the second part of the study the postoperative outcomes as the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and the endothelial cell loss (ECL) were taken in consideration. RESULTS The UST and CDE values proved statistically significant in support of torsional mode for both moderate and hard cataract group. The analysis of BCVA did not present statistically significant difference between the two surgical modalities. The ECL count was statistically significant in support of torsional mode (P<0.001). CONCLUSION The Meta-analysis shows the superiority of the torsional mode for intraoperative parameters (UST, CDE) and postoperative ECL outcomes. PMID:27366694

Antifouling potentials of eight deep-sea-derived fungi from the South China Sea.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiao-Yong; Xu, Xin-Ya; Peng, Jiang; Ma, Chun-Feng; Nong, Xu-Hua; Bao, Jie; Zhang, Guang-Zhao; Qi, Shu-Hua

2014-04-01

Marine-derived microbial secondary metabolites are promising potential sources of nontoxic antifouling agents. The search for environmentally friendly and low-toxic antifouling components guided us to investigate the antifouling potentials of eight novel fungal isolates from deep-sea sediments of the South China Sea. Sixteen crude ethyl acetate extracts of the eight fungal isolates showed distinct antibacterial activity against three marine bacteria (Loktanella hongkongensis UST950701-009, Micrococcus luteus UST950701-006 and Pseudoalteromonas piscida UST010620-005), or significant antilarval activity against larval settlement of bryozoan Bugula neritina. Furthermore, the extract of Aspergillus westerdijkiae DFFSCS013 displayed strong antifouling activity in a field trial lasting 4 months. By further bioassay-guided isolation, five antifouling alkaloids including brevianamide F, circumdatin F and L, notoamide C, and 5-chlorosclerotiamide were isolated from the extract of A. westerdijkiae DFFSCS013. This is the first report about the antifouling potentials of metabolites of the deep-sea-derived fungi from the South China Sea, and the first stage towards the development of non- or low-toxic antifouling agents from deep-sea-derived fungi.

Construction concepts and validation of the 3D printed UST_2 modular stellarator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Queral, V.

2015-03-01

High accuracy, geometric complexity and thus high cost of stellarators tend to hinder the advance of stellarator research. Nowadays, new manufacturing methods might be developed for the production of small and middle-size stellarators. The methods should demonstrate advantages with respect common fabrication methods, like casting, cutting, forging and welding, for the construction of advanced highly convoluted modular stellarators. UST2 is a small modular three period quasi-isodynamic stellarator of major radius 0.26 m and plasma volume 10 litres being currently built to validate additive manufacturing (3D printing) for stellarator construction. The modular coils are wound in grooves defined on six 3D printed half period frames designed as light truss structures filled by a strong filler. A geometrically simple assembling configuration has been concocted for UST2 so as to try to lower the cost of the device while keeping the positioning accuracy of the different elements. The paper summarizes the construction and assembling concepts developed, the devised positioning methodology, the design of the coil frames and positioning elements and, an initial validation of the assembling of the components.

A Theoretical Investigation of Acoustic Cavitation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-07-15

program generates. One needs to know what fraction of the bubble’s volume reaches the critical temperature for free radical formation and how long it...MACH-UST/C DRIVER=PFPO*( 1 .O.EPS*SIN(T+DT+RST/DUME)) DUM1=1 .O+(DT/(2 .Q*RST*( 1.0-MACH)) )*(l1.5*UST*( 1 .- MACH/3 .O)+CAPP* 1(1 .O+MACH)* CAPM /RST...UPR--1 .5*U*U*(1 .-MACH/3. )+CAPP*( (P-DRIVER-(CAPW+ CAPM *U)/R) 1*(1. O+MACH )+( 1. 0+0 .0 )*R*PPR/C)/R*( 1. 0-MACH) ) UTL=U+DT*UPR * PTLPR=3.O*(GM1

Inexpensive semi-autonomous ground vehicles for defusing IEDs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davenport, Chris; Lodmell, James; Womble, Phillip C.; Barzilov, Alexander; Paschal, Jon; Hernandez, Robert; Moss, Kyle T.; Hopper, Lindsay

2008-04-01

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are an important concern to coalition forces during the conflicts in the Middle East. These devices are responsible for many casualties to American armed forces in the Middle East. These explosives are particularly dangerous because they are improvised with materials readily available to the designer, and there is no systematic way of explosive ordinance disposal. IEDs can be made from things such as standard military ammunition and can be detonated with common electronic devices such as cell phones and garage door openers. There is a great need for a low cost solution to neutralize these IEDs. At the Applied Physics Institute we are building a single function disrupter robot whose sole purpose is to neutralize these IEDs. We are modifying a toy remote control car to control it either wirelessly using WI-FI (IEEE 802.11) or wired by tethering the vehicle with an Ethernet cable (IEEE 802.3). The robot will be equipped with a high velocity fuze disrupter to neutralize the IED as well as a video camera for inspection and aiming purposes. This robot utilizes commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components which keeps the cost relatively low. Currently, similar robot systems have been deployed in Iraq and elsewhere but their method of operation is such that it is impractical to use in non-combat situations. We will discuss our design and possible deployment scenarios.

International Space Station (ISS)

NASA Image and Video Library

2007-08-01

As the construction continued on the International Space Station (ISS), STS-118 Astronaut Dave Williams, representing the Canadian Space Agency, participated in the fourth and final session of Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). During the 5 hour space walk, Williams and Expedition 15 engineer Clay Anderson (out of frame) installed the External Wireless Instrumentation System Antenna, attached a stand for the shuttle robotic arm extension boom, and retrieved the two Materials International Space Station Experiments (MISSE) for return to Earth. MISSE collects information on how different materials weather in the environment of space.

STS-118 Astronaut Williams and Expedition 15 Engineer Anderson Perform EVA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2007-01-01

As the construction continued on the International Space Station (ISS), STS-118 Astronaut Dave Williams, representing the Canadian Space Agency, participated in the fourth and final session of Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). During the 5 hour space walk, Williams and Expedition 15 engineer Clay Anderson (out of frame) installed the External Wireless Instrumentation System Antenna, attached a stand for the shuttle robotic arm extension boom, and retrieved the two Materials International Space Station Experiments (MISSE) for return to Earth. MISSE collects information on how different materials weather in the environment of space.

Trunk repositioning errors are increased in balance-impaired older adults.

PubMed

Goldberg, Allon; Hernandez, Manuel Enrique; Alexander, Neil B

2005-10-01

Controlling the flexing trunk is critical in recovering from a loss of balance and avoiding a fall. To investigate the relationship between trunk control and balance in older adults, we measured trunk repositioning accuracy in young and balance-impaired and unimpaired older adults. Young adults (N = 8, mean age 24.3 years) and two groups of community-dwelling older adults defined by unipedal stance time (UST)-a balance-unimpaired group (UST > 30 seconds, N = 7, mean age 73.9 years) and a balance-impaired group (UST < 5 seconds, N = 8, mean age 79.6 years)-were tested in standing trunk control ability by reproducing a approximately 30 degrees trunk flexion angle under three visual-surface conditions: eyes opened and closed on the floor, and eyes opened on foam. Errors in reproducing the angle were defined as trunk repositioning errors (TREs). Clinical measures related to balance, trunk extensor strength, and self-reported disability were obtained. TREs were significantly greater in the balance-impaired group than in the other groups, even when controlling for trunk extensor strength and body mass. In older adults, there were significant correlations between TREs and three clinical measures of balance and fall risk, UST and maximum step length (-0.65 to -0.75), and Timed Up & Go score (0.55), and between TREs and age (0.63-0.76). In each group TREs were similar under the three visual-surface conditions. Test-retest reliability for TREs was good to excellent (intraclass correlation coefficients > or =0.74). Older balance-impaired adults have larger TREs, and thus poorer trunk control, than do balance-unimpaired older individuals. TREs are reliable and valid measures of underlying balance impairment in older adults, and may eventually prove to be useful in predicting the ability to recover from losses of balance and to avoid falls.

The Kara and Ust-Kara impact structures (USSR) and their relevance to the K/T boundary event

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koeberl, Christian; Nazarov, M. A.; Harrison, T. M.; Sharpton, V. L.; Murali, A. V.; Burke, K.

1988-01-01

The Kara and Ust-Kara craters are twin impact structures situated at about 69 deg 10 min N; 65 deg 00 min E at the Kara Sea. For Kara a diameter of about 55 km would be a very conservative estimate, and field observations indicate a maximum current diameter of about 60 km. The diameter of Ust-Kara has to be larger than 16 km. A better estimate might be 25 km but in all likelihood it is even larger. Suevites and impactites from the Kara area have been known since the beginning of the century, but had been misidentified as glacial deposits. Only about 15 years ago the impact origin of the two structures was demonstrated, following the recognition of shock metamorphism in the area. The composition of the target rocks is mirrored by the composition of the clasts within the suevites. In the southern part of Kara, Permian shales and limestones are sometimes accompanied by diabasic dykes, similar to in the central uplift. Due to the high degree of shock metamorphism the shocked magmatic rocks are not easily identified, although most of them seem to be of diabasic or dioritic composition. The impact melts (tagamites) are grey to dark grey fine grained crystallized rocks showing very fine mineral components and are the product of shock-melting with later recrystallization. The impact glasses show a layered structure, inclusions, and vesicles, and have colors ranging from translucent white over brown and grey to black. A complete geochemical characterization of the Kara and Ust-Kara impact craters was attempted by analyzing more than 40 samples of target rocks, shocked rocks, suevites, impact melts, and impact glasses for major and trace elements.

A study on geometry effect of transmission coil for micro size magnetic induction coil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Kyung Hwa; Jun, Byoung Ok; Kim, Seunguk; Lee, Gwang Jun; Ryu, Mingyu; Choi, Ji-Woong; Jang, Jae Eun

2016-05-01

The effects of transmission (Tx) coil structure have been studied for micro-size magnetic induction coil. The size of the receiving (Rx) coil should be shrunk to the micrometer level for the various new applications such as micro-robot and wireless body implanted devices. In case of the macro-scale magnetic induction coil, the power transmission efficiency is generally considered to be higher as the inductance of the transmission coil became larger; however, the large size difference between macro-size Tx coil and micro-size Rx coil can decrease the power transmission efficiency due to the difference of resonance frequency. Here, we study a correlation of the power transmission with the size and distance between the macro-size Tx and micro-size Rx coils using magnetic induction technique. The maximum power efficiency was 0.28/0.23/0.13/0.12% at the distance of 0.3/1/3/5 cm between Rx and Tx coil. In addition, more efficient wireless power transferring method is suggested with a floating coil for the body implantable devices. The voltage output increased up to 5.4 mV than the original one Tx coil system. The results demonstrated the foundational wireless power transferring system with enhanced power efficiency.

Interactive Computer-Enhanced Remote Viewing System (ICERVS): Final report, November 1994--September 1996

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

NONE

1997-05-01

The Interactive Computer-Enhanced Remote Viewing System (ICERVS) is a software tool for complex three-dimensional (3-D) visualization and modeling. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the use of robotic and telerobotic systems in remote and/or hazardous environments, where spatial information is provided by 3-D mapping sensors. ICERVS provides a robust, interactive system for viewing sensor data in 3-D and combines this with interactive geometric modeling capabilities that allow an operator to construct CAD models to match the remote environment. Part I of this report traces the development of ICERVS through three evolutionary phases: (1) development of first-generation software to render orthogonalmore » view displays and wireframe models; (2) expansion of this software to include interactive viewpoint control, surface-shaded graphics, material (scalar and nonscalar) property data, cut/slice planes, color and visibility mapping, and generalized object models; (3) demonstration of ICERVS as a tool for the remediation of underground storage tanks (USTs) and the dismantlement of contaminated processing facilities. Part II of this report details the software design of ICERVS, with particular emphasis on its object-oriented architecture and user interface.« less

Correlated sequential tunneling in Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thorwart, M.; Egger, R.; Grifoni, M.

2005-02-01

We investigate tunneling through a quantum dot formed by two strong impurites in a spinless Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid. Upon employing a Markovian master equation approach, we compute the linear conductance due to sequential tunneling processes. Besides the previously used lowest-order Golden Rule rates describing uncorrelated sequential tunneling (UST) processes, we systematically include higher-order correlated sequential tunneling (CST) diagrams within the standard Weisskopf-Wigner approximation. We provide estimates for the parameter regions where CST effects are shown to dominate over UST. Focusing mainly on the temperature dependence of the conductance maximum, we discuss the relation of our results to previous theoretical and experimental results.

Progress on Numerical Modeling of the Dispersion of Ceramic Nanoparticles During Ultrasonic Processing and Solidification of Al-Based Nanocomposites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Daojie; Nastac, Laurentiu

2016-12-01

In present study, 6061- and A356-based nano-composites are fabricated by using the ultrasonic stirring technology (UST) in a coreless induction furnace. SiC nanoparticles are used as the reinforcement. Nanoparticles are added into the molten metal and then dispersed by ultrasonic cavitation and acoustic streaming assisted by electromagnetic stirring. The applied UST parameters in the current experiments are used to validate a recently developed magneto-hydro-dynamics (MHD) model, which is capable of modeling the cavitation and nanoparticle dispersion during UST processing. The MHD model accounts for turbulent fluid flow, heat transfer and solidification, and electromagnetic field, as well as the complex interaction between the nanoparticles and both the molten and solidified alloys by using ANSYS Maxwell and ANSYS Fluent. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are conducted to analyze the complex interactions between the nanoparticle and the liquid/solid interface. The current modeling results demonstrate that a strong flow can disperse the nanoparticles relatively well during molten metal and solidification processes. MD simulation results prove that ultrafine particles (10 nm) will be engulfed by the solidification front instead of being pushed, which is beneficial for nano-dispersion.

A Cross-Layer, Anomaly-Based IDS for WSN and MANET

PubMed Central

Amouri, Amar; Manthena, Raju

2018-01-01

Intrusion detection system (IDS) design for mobile adhoc networks (MANET) is a crucial component for maintaining the integrity of the network. The need for rapid deployment of IDS capability with minimal data availability for training and testing is an important requirement of such systems, especially for MANETs deployed in highly dynamic scenarios, such as battlefields. This work proposes a two-level detection scheme for detecting malicious nodes in MANETs. The first level deploys dedicated sniffers working in promiscuous mode. Each sniffer utilizes a decision-tree-based classifier that generates quantities which we refer to as correctly classified instances (CCIs) every reporting time. In the second level, the CCIs are sent to an algorithmically run supernode that calculates quantities, which we refer to as the accumulated measure of fluctuation (AMoF) of the received CCIs for each node under test (NUT). A key concept that is used in this work is that the variability of the smaller size population which represents the number of malicious nodes in the network is greater than the variance of the larger size population which represents the number of normal nodes in the network. A linear regression process is then performed in parallel with the calculation of the AMoF for fitting purposes and to set a proper threshold based on the slope of the fitted lines. As a result, the malicious nodes are efficiently and effectively separated from the normal nodes. The proposed scheme is tested for various node velocities and power levels and shows promising detection performance even at low-power levels. The results presented also apply to wireless sensor networks (WSN) and represent a novel IDS scheme for such networks. PMID:29470446

A Cross-Layer, Anomaly-Based IDS for WSN and MANET.

PubMed

Amouri, Amar; Morgera, Salvatore D; Bencherif, Mohamed A; Manthena, Raju

2018-02-22

Intrusion detection system (IDS) design for mobile adhoc networks (MANET) is a crucial component for maintaining the integrity of the network. The need for rapid deployment of IDS capability with minimal data availability for training and testing is an important requirement of such systems, especially for MANETs deployed in highly dynamic scenarios, such as battlefields. This work proposes a two-level detection scheme for detecting malicious nodes in MANETs. The first level deploys dedicated sniffers working in promiscuous mode. Each sniffer utilizes a decision-tree-based classifier that generates quantities which we refer to as correctly classified instances (CCIs) every reporting time. In the second level, the CCIs are sent to an algorithmically run supernode that calculates quantities, which we refer to as the accumulated measure of fluctuation (AMoF) of the received CCIs for each node under test (NUT). A key concept that is used in this work is that the variability of the smaller size population which represents the number of malicious nodes in the network is greater than the variance of the larger size population which represents the number of normal nodes in the network. A linear regression process is then performed in parallel with the calculation of the AMoF for fitting purposes and to set a proper threshold based on the slope of the fitted lines. As a result, the malicious nodes are efficiently and effectively separated from the normal nodes. The proposed scheme is tested for various node velocities and power levels and shows promising detection performance even at low-power levels. The results presented also apply to wireless sensor networks (WSN) and represent a novel IDS scheme for such networks.

Systems Analysis of Remote Piloting/Robotics Technology Applicable to Assault Rafts.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-01-01

LTOG 3.936 m n Driver Position Driver is only member of crew seated under armor - seated in front leftI of hull - 3 M17 periscopes - single piece...hatch cover. Vision Data Summary I.D - 3P; H - 82.5* to 165* V - 110 to 220 SC - Is not under armor ; therefore has freedom of vision. Mobility Information... under armor - seated in front left * of hull - 3 Ml7 periscopes - single piece hatch cover. 4Vision Data Summary SD - 3P; H - 82.50 to 1650 V - 110 to

Summary of Research, Academic Departments, 1983-1984.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-10-01

miagnetoelast ic strain gauiges. hydraulic (ollrols svsteiiis, robotics, aiiol gas tul-ili( engine (lilic(’. Th’lis wear, e’Ii phasis has beent placed...gatige, the( gifligV id~ itsSsigiifI Co(lifltioflihlg. High Level Real-Time Software for Hydraulic Control Systems in Deep Submergence Vehicles h~iSiAt...Simulation of a Hydraulic Control System At )VISUMt: ASSOCIATII PiiOtISSOt1 IAIU IIB V. I I)L SKA\\ Theo Jriluialrv pourpose of’ this l’C51’drch is to) wxIihi

A Multimodal Adaptive Wireless Control Interface for People With Upper-Body Disabilities.

PubMed

Fall, Cheikh Latyr; Quevillon, Francis; Blouin, Martine; Latour, Simon; Campeau-Lecours, Alexandre; Gosselin, Clement; Gosselin, Benoit

2018-06-01

This paper describes a multimodal body-machine interface (BoMI) to help individuals with upper-limb disabilities using advanced assistive technologies, such as robotic arms. The proposed system uses a wearable and wireless body sensor network (WBSN) supporting up to six sensor nodes to measure the natural upper-body gesture of the users and translate it into control commands. Natural gesture of the head and upper-body parts, as well as muscular activity, are measured using inertial measurement units (IMUs) and surface electromyography (sEMG) using custom-designed multimodal wireless sensor nodes. An IMU sensing node is attached to a headset worn by the user. It has a size of 2.9 cm 2.9 cm, a maximum power consumption of 31 mW, and provides angular precision of 1. Multimodal patch sensor nodes, including both IMU and sEMG sensing modalities are placed over the user able-body parts to measure the motion and muscular activity. These nodes have a size of 2.5 cm 4.0 cm and a maximum power consumption of 11 mW. The proposed BoMI runs on a Raspberry Pi. It can adapt to several types of users through different control scenarios using the head and shoulder motion, as well as muscular activity, and provides a power autonomy of up to 24 h. JACO, a 6-DoF assistive robotic arm, is used as a testbed to evaluate the performance of the proposed BoMI. Ten able-bodied subjects performed ADLs while operating the AT device, using the Test d'Évaluation des Membres Supérieurs de Personnes Âgées to evaluate and compare the proposed BoMI with the conventional joystick controller. It is shown that the users can perform all tasks with the proposed BoMI, almost as fast as with the joystick controller, with only 30% time overhead on average, while being potentially more accessible to the upper-body disabled who cannot use the conventional joystick controller. Tests show that control performance with the proposed BoMI improved by up to 17% on average, after three trials.

An IoT-Enabled Stroke Rehabilitation System Based on Smart Wearable Armband and Machine Learning.

PubMed

Yang, Geng; Deng, Jia; Pang, Gaoyang; Zhang, Hao; Li, Jiayi; Deng, Bin; Pang, Zhibo; Xu, Juan; Jiang, Mingzhe; Liljeberg, Pasi; Xie, Haibo; Yang, Huayong

2018-01-01

Surface electromyography signal plays an important role in hand function recovery training. In this paper, an IoT-enabled stroke rehabilitation system was introduced which was based on a smart wearable armband (SWA), machine learning (ML) algorithms, and a 3-D printed dexterous robot hand. User comfort is one of the key issues which should be addressed for wearable devices. The SWA was developed by integrating a low-power and tiny-sized IoT sensing device with textile electrodes, which can measure, pre-process, and wirelessly transmit bio-potential signals. By evenly distributing surface electrodes over user's forearm, drawbacks of classification accuracy poor performance can be mitigated. A new method was put forward to find the optimal feature set. ML algorithms were leveraged to analyze and discriminate features of different hand movements, and their performances were appraised by classification complexity estimating algorithms and principal components analysis. According to the verification results, all nine gestures can be successfully identified with an average accuracy up to 96.20%. In addition, a 3-D printed five-finger robot hand was implemented for hand rehabilitation training purpose. Correspondingly, user's hand movement intentions were extracted and converted into a series of commands which were used to drive motors assembled inside the dexterous robot hand. As a result, the dexterous robot hand can mimic the user's gesture in a real-time manner, which shows the proposed system can be used as a training tool to facilitate rehabilitation process for the patients after stroke.

Reconfigurable Robust Routing for Mobile Outreach Network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Ching-Fang

2010-01-01

The Reconfigurable Robust Routing for Mobile Outreach Network (R3MOO N) provides advanced communications networking technologies suitable for the lunar surface environment and applications. The R3MOON techn ology is based on a detailed concept of operations tailored for luna r surface networks, and includes intelligent routing algorithms and wireless mesh network implementation on AGNC's Coremicro Robots. The product's features include an integrated communication solution inco rporating energy efficiency and disruption-tolerance in a mobile ad h oc network, and a real-time control module to provide researchers an d engineers a convenient tool for reconfiguration, investigation, an d management.

Do You Know a Child with a Handicap? Children with Handicaps Have a Right to an Education [and] Do You Know Someone with a Handicap? Individuals with Handicaps Have a Right to an Education = Conoce Usted a un Nino que Tiene Alguna Desventaja? Los Ninos con Desventajas Tienen Derecho a Recibir Educacion [and] Conoce Usted Alguna Persona que Tenga Alguna Desventaja? Las Personas que Tienen Desventajas Tienen Derecho a Recibir Educacion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento. Div. of Special Education.

Two advertisements and two brochures for the California Search and Serve program are presented in this excerpt from the California Search and Serve "Search Guidelines and Resource Manual." The materials are designed to promote community involvement in the identification of handicapped persons, from birth through age 21, so that they may…

Application of geologic-mathematical 3D modeling for complex structure deposits by the example of Lower- Cretaceous period depositions in Western Ust - Balykh oil field (Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perevertailo, T.; Nedolivko, N.; Prisyazhnyuk, O.; Dolgaya, T.

2015-11-01

The complex structure of the Lower-Cretaceous formation by the example of the reservoir BC101 in Western Ust - Balykh Oil Field (Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District) has been studied. Reservoir range relationships have been identified. 3D geologic- mathematical modeling technique considering the heterogeneity and variability of a natural reservoir structure has been suggested. To improve the deposit geological structure integrity methods of mathematical statistics were applied, which, in its turn, made it possible to obtain equal probability models with similar input data and to consider the formation conditions of reservoir rocks and cap rocks.

Assessment of a visually guided autonomous exploration robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, C.; Evans, R.; Tidey, E.

2008-10-01

A system has been developed to enable a robot vehicle to autonomously explore and map an indoor environment using only visual sensors. The vehicle is equipped with a single camera, whose output is wirelessly transmitted to an off-board standard PC for processing. Visual features within the camera imagery are extracted and tracked, and their 3D positions are calculated using a Structure from Motion algorithm. As the vehicle travels, obstacles in its surroundings are identified and a map of the explored region is generated. This paper discusses suitable criteria for assessing the performance of the system by computer-based simulation and practical experiments with a real vehicle. Performance measures identified include the positional accuracy of the 3D map and the vehicle's location, the efficiency and completeness of the exploration and the system reliability. Selected results are presented and the effect of key system parameters and algorithms on performance is assessed. This work was funded by the Systems Engineering for Autonomous Systems (SEAS) Defence Technology Centre established by the UK Ministry of Defence.

A development of assistant surgical robot system based on surgical-operation-by-wire and hands-on-throttle-and-stick.

PubMed

Kim, Myungjoon; Lee, Chiwon; Park, Woo Jung; Suh, Yun Suhk; Yang, Han Kwang; Kim, H Jin; Kim, Sungwan

2016-05-20

Robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery offers several advantages compared with open surgery and conventional minimally invasive surgery. However, one issue that needs to be resolved is a collision between the robot arm and the assistant instrument. This is mostly caused by miscommunication between the surgeon and the assistant. To resolve this limitation, an assistant surgical robot system that can be simultaneously manipulated via a wireless controller is proposed to allow the surgeon to control the assistant instrument. The system comprises two novel master interfaces (NMIs), a surgical instrument with a gripper actuated by a micromotor, and 6-axis robot arm. Two NMIs are attached to master tool manipulators of da Vinci research kit (dVRK) to control the proposed system simultaneously with patient side manipulators of dVRK. The developments of the surgical instrument and NMI are based on surgical-operation-by-wire concept and hands-on-throttle-and-stick concept from the earlier research, respectively. Tests for checking the accuracy, latency, and power consumption of the NMI are performed. The gripping force, reaction time, and durability are assessed to validate the surgical instrument. The workspace is calculated for estimating the clinical applicability. A simple peg task using the fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery board and an in vitro test are executed with three novice volunteers. The NMI was operated for 185 min and reflected the surgeon's decision successfully with a mean latency of 132 ms. The gripping force of the surgical instrument was comparable to that of conventional systems and was consistent even after 1000 times of gripping motion. The reaction time was 0.4 s. The workspace was calculated to be 8397.4 cm(3). Recruited volunteers were able to execute the simple peg task within the cut-off time and successfully performed the in vitro test without any collision. Various experiments were conducted and it is verified that the proposed assistant surgical robot system enables collision-free and simultaneous operation of the dVRK's robot arm and the proposed assistant robot arm. The workspace is appropriate for the performance of various kinds of surgeries. Therefore, the proposed system is expected to provide higher safety and effectiveness for the current surgical robot system.

An Integrated Testbed for Cooperative Perception with Heterogeneous Mobile and Static Sensors

PubMed Central

Jiménez-González, Adrián; Martínez-De Dios, José Ramiro; Ollero, Aníbal

2011-01-01

Cooperation among devices with different sensing, computing and communication capabilities provides interesting possibilities in a growing number of problems and applications including domotics (domestic robotics), environmental monitoring or intelligent cities, among others. Despite the increasing interest in academic and industrial communities, experimental tools for evaluation and comparison of cooperative algorithms for such heterogeneous technologies are still very scarce. This paper presents a remote testbed with mobile robots and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) equipped with a set of low-cost off-the-shelf sensors, commonly used in cooperative perception research and applications, that present high degree of heterogeneity in their technology, sensed magnitudes, features, output bandwidth, interfaces and power consumption, among others. Its open and modular architecture allows tight integration and interoperability between mobile robots and WSN through a bidirectional protocol that enables full interaction. Moreover, the integration of standard tools and interfaces increases usability, allowing an easy extension to new hardware and software components and the reuse of code. Different levels of decentralization are considered, supporting from totally distributed to centralized approaches. Developed for the EU-funded Cooperating Objects Network of Excellence (CONET) and currently available at the School of Engineering of Seville (Spain), the testbed provides full remote control through the Internet. Numerous experiments have been performed, some of which are described in the paper. PMID:22247679

Development of a vision non-contact sensing system for telerobotic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karkoub, M.; Her, M.-G.; Ho, M.-I.; Huang, C.-C.

2013-08-01

The study presented here describes a novel vision-based motion detection system for telerobotic operations such as distant surgical procedures. The system uses a CCD camera and image processing to detect the motion of a master robot or operator. Colour tags are placed on the arm and head of a human operator to detect the up/down, right/left motion of the head as well as the right/left motion of the arm. The motion of the colour tags are used to actuate a slave robot or a remote system. The determination of the colour tags' motion is achieved through image processing using eigenvectors and colour system morphology and the relative head, shoulder and wrist rotation angles through inverse dynamics and coordinate transformation. A program is used to transform this motion data into motor control commands and transmit them to a slave robot or remote system through wireless internet. The system performed well even in complex environments with errors that did not exceed 2 pixels with a response time of about 0.1 s. The results of the experiments are available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFxLaVWE3f8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nvRcOzlWHw

An integrated testbed for cooperative perception with heterogeneous mobile and static sensors.

PubMed

Jiménez-González, Adrián; Martínez-De Dios, José Ramiro; Ollero, Aníbal

2011-01-01

Cooperation among devices with different sensing, computing and communication capabilities provides interesting possibilities in a growing number of problems and applications including domotics (domestic robotics), environmental monitoring or intelligent cities, among others. Despite the increasing interest in academic and industrial communities, experimental tools for evaluation and comparison of cooperative algorithms for such heterogeneous technologies are still very scarce. This paper presents a remote testbed with mobile robots and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) equipped with a set of low-cost off-the-shelf sensors, commonly used in cooperative perception research and applications, that present high degree of heterogeneity in their technology, sensed magnitudes, features, output bandwidth, interfaces and power consumption, among others. Its open and modular architecture allows tight integration and interoperability between mobile robots and WSN through a bidirectional protocol that enables full interaction. Moreover, the integration of standard tools and interfaces increases usability, allowing an easy extension to new hardware and software components and the reuse of code. Different levels of decentralization are considered, supporting from totally distributed to centralized approaches. Developed for the EU-funded Cooperating Objects Network of Excellence (CONET) and currently available at the School of Engineering of Seville (Spain), the testbed provides full remote control through the Internet. Numerous experiments have been performed, some of which are described in the paper.

RoboDiff: combining a sample changer and goniometer for highly automated macromolecular crystallography experiments

PubMed Central

Nurizzo, Didier; Bowler, Matthew W.; Caserotto, Hugo; Dobias, Fabien; Giraud, Thierry; Surr, John; Guichard, Nicolas; Papp, Gergely; Guijarro, Matias; Mueller-Dieckmann, Christoph; Flot, David; McSweeney, Sean; Cipriani, Florent; Theveneau, Pascal; Leonard, Gordon A.

2016-01-01

Automation of the mounting of cryocooled samples is now a feature of the majority of beamlines dedicated to macromolecular crystallography (MX). Robotic sample changers have been developed over many years, with the latest designs increasing capacity, reliability and speed. Here, the development of a new sample changer deployed at the ESRF beamline MASSIF-1 (ID30A-1), based on an industrial six-axis robot, is described. The device, named RoboDiff, includes a high-capacity dewar, acts as both a sample changer and a high-accuracy goniometer, and has been designed for completely unattended sample mounting and diffraction data collection. This aim has been achieved using a high level of diagnostics at all steps of the process from mounting and characterization to data collection. The RoboDiff has been in service on the fully automated endstation MASSIF-1 at the ESRF since September 2014 and, at the time of writing, has processed more than 20 000 samples completely automatically. PMID:27487827

A prospective, single-arm study on the use of the da Vinci® Table Motion with the Trumpf TS7000dV operating table.

PubMed

Morelli, Luca; Palmeri, Matteo; Simoncini, Tommaso; Cela, Vito; Perutelli, Alessandra; Selli, Cesare; Buccianti, Piero; Francesca, Francesco; Cecchi, Massimo; Zirafa, Cristina; Bastiani, Luca; Cuschieri, Alfred; Melfi, Franca

2018-03-30

The da Vinci® Table Motion (dVTM) comprises a combination of a unique operating table (Trumpf Medical™ TruSystem® 7000dV) capable of isocenter motion connected wirelessly with the da Vinci Xi® robotic platform, thereby enabling patients to be repositioned without removal of instruments and or undocking the robot. Between May 2015 to October 2015, the first human use of dVTM was carried out in this prospective, single-arm, post-market study in the EU, for which 40 patients from general surgery (GS), urology (U), or gynecology (G) were enrolled prospectively. Primary endpoints of the study were dVTM feasibility, efficacy, and safety. Surgeons from the three specialties obtained targeting success and the required table positioning in all cases. Table movement/repositioning was necessary to gain exposure of the operating field in 106/116 table moves (91.3%), change target in 2/116 table moves (1.7%), achieve hemodynamic relief in 4/116 table moves (3.5%), and improve external access for tumor removal in 4/116 table moves (3.5%). There was a significantly higher use of tilt and tilt plus Trendelenburg in GS group (GS vs. U p = 0.055 and GS vs. G p = 0.054). There were no dVTM safety-related or adverse events. The dVTM with TruSystem 7000dV operating table in wireless communication with the da Vinci Xi is a perfectly safe and effective synergistic combination, which allows repositioning of the patient whenever needed without imposing any delay in the execution of the operation. Moreover, it is helpful in avoiding extreme positions and enables the anesthesiologist to provide immediate and effective hemodynamic relief to the patient when needed.

EPICS controlled sample mounting robots at the GM/CA CAT.

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

Makarov, O. A.; Benn, R.; Corcoran, S.

2007-11-11

GM/CA CAT at Sector 23 of the advanced photon source (APS) is an NIH funded facility for crystallographic structure determination of biological macromolecules by X-ray diffraction [R.F. Fischetti, et al., GM/CA canted undulator beamlines for protein crystallography, Acta Crystallogr. A 61 (2005) C139]. The facility consists of three beamlines; two based on canted undulators and one on a bending magnet. The scientific and technical goals of the CAT emphasize streamlined, efficient throughput for a variety of sample types, sizes and qualities, representing the cutting edge of structural biology research. For this purpose all three beamlines are equipped with the ALS-stylemore » robots [C.W.Cork, et al. Status of the BCSB automated sample mounting and alignment system for macromolecular crystallography at the Advanced Light Source, SRI-2003, San-Francisco, CA, USA, August 25-29, 2003] for an automated mounting of cryo-protected macromolecular crystals. This report summarizes software and technical solutions implemented with the first of the three operational robots at beamline 23-ID-B. The automounter's Dewar can hold up to 72 or 96 samples residing in six Rigaku ACTOR magazines or ALS-style pucks, respectively. Mounting of a crystal takes approximately 2 s, during which time the temperature of the crystal is maintained near that of liquid nitrogen.« less

Wireless thin film transistor based on micro magnetic induction coupling antenna.

PubMed

Jun, Byoung Ok; Lee, Gwang Jun; Kang, Jong Gu; Kim, Seunguk; Choi, Ji-Woong; Cha, Seung Nam; Sohn, Jung Inn; Jang, Jae Eun

2015-12-22

A wireless thin film transistor (TFT) structure in which a source/drain or a gate is connected directly to a micro antenna to receive or transmit signals or power can be an important building block, acting as an electrical switch, a rectifier or an amplifier, for various electronics as well as microelectronics, since it allows simple connection with other devices, unlike conventional wire connections. An amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (α-IGZO) TFT with magnetic antenna structure was fabricated and studied for this purpose. To enhance the induction coupling efficiency while maintaining the same small antenna size, a magnetic core structure consisting of Ni and nanowires was formed under the antenna. With the micro-antenna connected to a source/drain or a gate of the TFT, working electrical signals were well controlled. The results demonstrated the device as an alternative solution to existing wire connections which cause a number of problems in various fields such as flexible/wearable devices, body implanted devices, micro/nano robots, and sensors for the 'internet of things' (IoT).

Wireless thin film transistor based on micro magnetic induction coupling antenna

PubMed Central

Jun, Byoung Ok; Lee, Gwang Jun; Kang, Jong Gu; Kim, Seunguk; Choi, Ji-Woong; Cha, Seung Nam; Sohn, Jung Inn; Jang, Jae Eun

2015-01-01

A wireless thin film transistor (TFT) structure in which a source/drain or a gate is connected directly to a micro antenna to receive or transmit signals or power can be an important building block, acting as an electrical switch, a rectifier or an amplifier, for various electronics as well as microelectronics, since it allows simple connection with other devices, unlike conventional wire connections. An amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (α-IGZO) TFT with magnetic antenna structure was fabricated and studied for this purpose. To enhance the induction coupling efficiency while maintaining the same small antenna size, a magnetic core structure consisting of Ni and nanowires was formed under the antenna. With the micro-antenna connected to a source/drain or a gate of the TFT, working electrical signals were well controlled. The results demonstrated the device as an alternative solution to existing wire connections which cause a number of problems in various fields such as flexible/wearable devices, body implanted devices, micro/nano robots, and sensors for the ‘internet of things’ (IoT). PMID:26691929

Wireless thin film transistor based on micro magnetic induction coupling antenna

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jun, Byoung Ok; Lee, Gwang Jun; Kang, Jong Gu; Kim, Seunguk; Choi, Ji-Woong; Cha, Seung Nam; Sohn, Jung Inn; Jang, Jae Eun

2015-12-01

A wireless thin film transistor (TFT) structure in which a source/drain or a gate is connected directly to a micro antenna to receive or transmit signals or power can be an important building block, acting as an electrical switch, a rectifier or an amplifier, for various electronics as well as microelectronics, since it allows simple connection with other devices, unlike conventional wire connections. An amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (α-IGZO) TFT with magnetic antenna structure was fabricated and studied for this purpose. To enhance the induction coupling efficiency while maintaining the same small antenna size, a magnetic core structure consisting of Ni and nanowires was formed under the antenna. With the micro-antenna connected to a source/drain or a gate of the TFT, working electrical signals were well controlled. The results demonstrated the device as an alternative solution to existing wire connections which cause a number of problems in various fields such as flexible/wearable devices, body implanted devices, micro/nano robots, and sensors for the ‘internet of things’ (IoT).

Biofuel cell backpacked insect and its application to wireless sensing.

PubMed

Shoji, Kan; Akiyama, Yoshitake; Suzuki, Masato; Nakamura, Nobuhumi; Ohno, Hiroyuki; Morishima, Keisuke

2016-04-15

This study investigated an enzymatic biofuel cell (BFC) which can be backpacked by cockroaches. The BFC generates electric power from trehalose in insect hemolymph by the trehalase and glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) reaction systems which dehydrogenate β-glucose obtained by hydrolyzing trehalose. First, an insect-mountable BFC (imBFC) was designed and fabricated with a 3D printer. The electrochemical reaction of anode-modified poly-L-lysine, vitamin K3, diaphorase, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, GDH and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) in the imBFC was evaluated and an oxidation current of 1.18 mAcm(-2) (at +0.6 V vs. Ag|AgCl) was observed. Then, the performance of the imBFC was evaluated and a maximum power output of 333 μW (285 μW cm(-)(2)) (at 0.5 V) was obtained. Furthermore, driving of both an LED device and a wireless temperature and humidity sensor device were powered by the imBFC. These results indicate that the imBFC has sufficient potential as a battery for novel ubiquitous robots such as insect cyborgs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The RoboConsultant: telementoring and remote presence in the operating room during minimally invasive urologic surgeries using a novel mobile robotic interface.

PubMed

Agarwal, Rahul; Levinson, Adam W; Allaf, Mohamad; Makarov, Danil; Nason, Alex; Su, Li-Ming

2007-11-01

Remote presence is the ability of an individual to project himself from one location to another to see, hear, roam, talk, and interact just as if that individual were actually there. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and functionality of a novel mobile robotic telementoring system controlled by a portable laptop control station linked via broadband Internet connection. RoboConsultant (RemotePresence-7; InTouch Health, Sunnyvale, CA) was employed for the purpose of intraoperative telementoring and consultation during five laparoscopic and endoscopic urologic procedures. Robot functionality including navigation, zoom capability, examination of external and internal endoscopic camera views, and telestration were evaluated. The robot was controlled by a senior surgeon from various locations ranging from an adjacent operating room to an affiliated hospital 5 miles away. The RoboConsultant performed without connection failure or interruption in each case, allowing the consulting surgeon to immerse himself and navigate within the operating room environment and provide effective communication, mentoring, telestration, and consultation. RoboConsultant provided clear, real-time, and effective telementoring and telestration and allowed the operator to experience remote presence in the operating room environment as a surgical consultant. The portable laptop control station and wireless connectivity allowed the consultant to be mobile and interact with the operating room team from virtually any location. In the future, the remote presence provided by the RoboConsultant may provide useful and effective intraoperative consultation by expert surgeons located in remote sites.

An IoT-Enabled Stroke Rehabilitation System Based on Smart Wearable Armband and Machine Learning

PubMed Central

Yang, Geng; Pang, Gaoyang; Zhang, Hao; Li, Jiayi; Deng, Bin; Pang, Zhibo; Xu, Juan; Jiang, Mingzhe; Liljeberg, Pasi; Xie, Haibo; Yang, Huayong

2018-01-01

Surface electromyography signal plays an important role in hand function recovery training. In this paper, an IoT-enabled stroke rehabilitation system was introduced which was based on a smart wearable armband (SWA), machine learning (ML) algorithms, and a 3-D printed dexterous robot hand. User comfort is one of the key issues which should be addressed for wearable devices. The SWA was developed by integrating a low-power and tiny-sized IoT sensing device with textile electrodes, which can measure, pre-process, and wirelessly transmit bio-potential signals. By evenly distributing surface electrodes over user’s forearm, drawbacks of classification accuracy poor performance can be mitigated. A new method was put forward to find the optimal feature set. ML algorithms were leveraged to analyze and discriminate features of different hand movements, and their performances were appraised by classification complexity estimating algorithms and principal components analysis. According to the verification results, all nine gestures can be successfully identified with an average accuracy up to 96.20%. In addition, a 3-D printed five-finger robot hand was implemented for hand rehabilitation training purpose. Correspondingly, user’s hand movement intentions were extracted and converted into a series of commands which were used to drive motors assembled inside the dexterous robot hand. As a result, the dexterous robot hand can mimic the user’s gesture in a real-time manner, which shows the proposed system can be used as a training tool to facilitate rehabilitation process for the patients after stroke. PMID:29805919

Tagging of Test Tubes with Electronic p-Chips for Use in Biorepositories.

PubMed

Mandecki, Wlodek; Kopacka, Wesley M; Qian, Ziye; Ertwine, Von; Gedzberg, Katie; Gruda, Maryann; Reinhardt, David; Rodriguez, Efrain

2017-08-01

A system has been developed to electronically tag and track test tubes used in biorepositories. The system is based on a light-activated microtransponder, also known as a "p-Chip." One of the pressing problems with storing and retrieving biological samples at low temperatures is the difficulty of reliably reading the identification (ID) number that links each storage tube with the database containing sample details. Commonly used barcodes are not always reliable at low temperatures because of poor adhesion of the label to the test tube and problems with reading under conditions of frost and ice accumulation. Traditional radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are not cost effective and are too large for this application. The system described herein consists of the p-Chip, p-Chip-tagged test tubes, two ID readers (for single tubes or for racks of tubes), and software. We also describe a robot that is configured for retrofitting legacy test tubes in biorepositories with p-Chips while maintaining the temperature of the sample below -50°C at all times. The main benefits of the p-Chip over other RFID devices are its small size (600 × 600 × 100 μm) that allows even very small tubes or vials to be tagged, low cost due to the chip's unitary construction, durability, and the ability to read the ID through frost and ice.

Complex and Simple Clinical Reaction Times Are Associated with Gait, Balance, and Major Fall Injury in Older Subjects with Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

PubMed Central

Richardson, James K.; Eckner, James T.; Allet, Lara; Kim, Hogene; Ashton-Miller, James

2016-01-01

Objective To identify relationships between complex and simple clinical measures of reaction time (RTclin), and indicators of balance in older subjects with and without diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Design Prospective cohort design. Complex RTclin Accuracy, Simple RTclin Latency, and their ratio were determined using a novel device in 42 subjects (age = 69.1 ± 8.3 yrs), 26 with DPN and 16 without. Dependent variables included unipedal stance time (UST), step width variability and range on an uneven surface, and major fall-related injury over 12 months. Results In the DPN subjects the ratio of Complex RTclin Accuracy:Simple RTclin Latency was strongly associated with longer UST (r/p = .653/.004), and decreased step width variability and range (r/p = −.696/.001 and −.782/<.001, respectively) on an uneven surface. Additionally, the two DPN subjects sustaining major injuries had lower Complex RTclin Accuracy:Simple: RTclin Latency than those without. Conclusions The ratio of Complex RTclin Accuracy:Simple RTclin Latency is a potent predictor of UST and frontal plane gait variability in response to perturbations, and may predict major fall injury in older subjects with DPN. These short latency neurocognitive measures may compensate for lower limb neuromuscular impairments, and provide a more comprehensive understanding of balance and fall risk. PMID:27552354

Absolute position calculation for a desktop mobile rehabilitation robot based on three optical mouse sensors.

PubMed

Zabaleta, Haritz; Valencia, David; Perry, Joel; Veneman, Jan; Keller, Thierry

2011-01-01

ArmAssist is a wireless robot for post stroke upper limb rehabilitation. Knowing the position of the arm is essential for any rehabilitation device. In this paper, we describe a method based on an artificial landmark navigation system. The navigation system uses three optical mouse sensors. This enables the building of a cheap but reliable position sensor. Two of the sensors are the data source for odometry calculations, and the third optical mouse sensor takes very low resolution pictures of a custom designed mat. These pictures are processed by an optical symbol recognition algorithm which will estimate the orientation of the robot and recognize the landmarks placed on the mat. The data fusion strategy is described to detect the misclassifications of the landmarks in order to fuse only reliable information. The orientation given by the optical symbol recognition (OSR) algorithm is used to improve significantly the odometry and the recognition of the landmarks is used to reference the odometry to a absolute coordinate system. The system was tested using a 3D motion capture system. With the actual mat configuration, in a field of motion of 710 × 450 mm, the maximum error in position estimation was 49.61 mm with an average error of 36.70 ± 22.50 mm. The average test duration was 36.5 seconds and the average path length was 4173 mm.

40 CFR 280.42 - Requirements for hazardous substance UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) TECHNICAL STANDARDS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUIREMENTS FOR OWNERS AND... effective corrective action technologies, health risks, and chemical and physical properties of the stored...

Emergencias

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Aprenda cómo usted puede prepararse y recuperarse de los desastres naturales como los huracanes y las inundaciones, aceite informe y derrames de sustancias peligrosas, y cómo la EPA responde a derramar emergencia.

Positioning challenges in reconfigurable semi-autonomous robotic NDE inspection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierce, S. Gareth; Dobie, Gordon; Summan, Rahul; Mackenzie, Liam; Hensman, James; Worden, Keith; Hayward, Gordon

2010-03-01

This paper describes work conducted into mobile, wireless, semi-autonomous NDE inspection robots developed at The University of Strathclyde as part of the UK Research Centre for Non Destructive Evaluation (RCNDE). The inspection vehicles can incorporate a number of different NDE payloads including ultrasonic, eddy current, visual and magnetic based payloads, and have been developed to try and improve NDE inspection techniques in challenging inspection areas (for example oil, gas, and nuclear structures). A significant research challenge remains in the accurate positioning and guidance of such vehicles for real inspection tasks. Employing both relative and absolute position measurements, we discuss a number of approaches to position estimation including Kalman and particle filtering. Using probabilistic approaches enables a common mathematical framework to be employed for both positioning and data fusion from different NDE sensors. In this fashion the uncertainties in both position and defect identification and classification can be dealt with using a consistent approach. A number of practical constraints and considerations to different precision positioning techniques are discussed, along with NDE applications and the potential for improved inspection capabilities by utilising the inherent reconfigurable capabilities of the inspection vehicles.

Automating CapCom Using Mobile Agents and Robotic Assistants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clancey, William J.; Sierhuis, Maarten; Alena, Richard L.; Graham, Jeffrey S.; Tyree, Kim S.; Hirsh, Robert L.; Garry, W. Brent; Semple, Abigail; Shum, Simon J. Buckingham; Shadbolt, Nigel;

Potential Collaborative Research topics with Korea’s Agency for Defense Development

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

Farrar, Charles R.; Todd, Michael D.

2012-08-23

This presentation provides a high level summary of current research activities at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)-University of California Jacobs School of Engineering (UCSD) Engineering Institute that will be presented at Korea's Agency for Defense Development (ADD). These research activities are at the basic engineering science level with different level of maturity ranging from initial concepts to field proof-of-concept demonstrations. We believe that all of these activities are appropriate for collaborative research activities with ADD subject to approval by each institution. All the activities summarized herein have the common theme that they are multi-disciplinary in nature and typically involvedmore » the integration of high-fidelity predictive modeling, advanced sensing technologies and new development in information technology. These activities include: Wireless Sensor Systems, Swarming Robot sensor systems, Advanced signal processing (compressed sensing) and pattern recognition, Model Verification and Validation, Optimal/robust sensor system design, Haptic systems for large-scale data processing, Cyber-physical security for robots, Multi-source energy harvesting, Reliability-based approaches to damage prognosis, SHMTools software development, and Cyber-physical systems advanced study institute.« less

Performance on physical function tests and the risk of fractures and admissions: Findings from a national health screening of 557,648 community-dwelling older adults.

PubMed

Chun, So Hyun; Cho, Belong; Yang, Hyung-Kook; Ahn, Eunmi; Han, Min Kyu; Oh, Bumjo; Shin, Dong Wook; Son, Ki Young

Falls and fractures in older adults are often preventable, yet remain major health concerns as comprehensive physical function assessment may not be readily available. This study investigated whether simple timed up and go test (TUG) and unipedal stance test (UST) are effective in identifying people with an increased risk of fractures, femoral fractures, or admissions due to femoral fractures. Community-dwelling Korean older adults aged 66 years participated in the Korean National Screening Program for the Transitional Ages (n=557,648) between 2007 and 2010. Overall fractures, femoral fractures, and admissions due to femoral fracture during this period were outcome measures. The outcome measures were overall fractures, femoral fractures, and admissions due to femoral fracture after the health screening. The associations between inferior physical function test results and outcome measures were evaluated. A total of 523,502 subjects were followed-up for a mean period of 1.42 years, which resulted in 12,965 subjects with any fractures. Fracture data were retrieved from medical claims record. Subjects who performed poorly on one or both of the two physical function tests experienced higher number of overall fractures (aHR 1.21, 95% CI: 1.16-1.26), femoral fractures (aHR 1.80, 95% CI: 1.59-2.17), and admissions due to femoral fractures (aHR 1.85, 95% CI: 1.55-2.22) as compared to subjects with normal results on both tests. Combining TUG and UST was not superior to performing UST alone in predicting the increased risk of overall fractures (p=0.347), femoral fractures (p=0.402) or admissions due to femoral fractures (p=0.774). Poor performance on physical performance tests is associated with a higher risk of overall fractures, femoral fractures and admissions due to femoral fractures. The TUG and UST can be used to identify community-dwelling older individuals who are more vulnerable to fractures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Standard Test Procedures for Evaluating Various Leak Detection Methods

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn about protocols that testers could use to demonstrate that an individual release detection equipment type could meet the performance requirements noted in the federal UST requirements for detecting leaks.

Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In 1986, Congress created the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund to address releases from federally regulated underground storage tanks (USTs) by amending Subtitle I of the Solid Waste Disposal Act.

Skull Radiography

MedlinePlus

... at www.asrt.org. Revised and updated 2009. Lo que usted necesita saber acerca de... Radiografia de ... del cráneo se toman cuando es necesario ver los senos, los huesos faciales o de la mandíbula. ...

Upper Extremity Radiography

MedlinePlus

... at www.asrt.org. Revised and updated 2009. Lo que usted necesita saber acerca de... Radiografia de ... llamar a las imágenes de rayos X de los dedos, manos, muñecas, codos, antebrazos u hombros. Estos ...

40 CFR 280.20 - Performance standards for new UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... protected in the following manner: (i) The tank is coated with a suitable dielectric material; (ii) Field... suitable dielectric material; (ii) Field-installed cathodic protection systems are designed by a corrosion...

40 CFR 280.20 - Performance standards for new UST systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... protected in the following manner: (i) The tank is coated with a suitable dielectric material; (ii) Field... suitable dielectric material; (ii) Field-installed cathodic protection systems are designed by a corrosion...

40 CFR 280.31 - Operation and maintenance of corrosion protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... protection. All owners and operators of steel UST systems with corrosion protection must comply with the... according to another reasonable time frame established by the implementing agency; and (2) Inspection...

40 CFR 280.31 - Operation and maintenance of corrosion protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... protection. All owners and operators of steel UST systems with corrosion protection must comply with the... according to another reasonable time frame established by the implementing agency; and (2) Inspection...

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

Not Available

The Adrian Municipal Well Field site is in Adrian, Nobles County, Minnesota, a city which relies solely on ground water for its municipal water supply. In 1983 the State detected VOC contamination in two of the six wells at the site, and by 1985 the city had replaced the VOC-contaminated wells with two new wells. Subsequent ground water sampling indicated that petroleum releases from underground storage tanks (UST) are sources for soil and ground water contamination. Although ground water contaminant concentrations exceed Federal and State drinking water and surface water standards, no further action will be taken by the Superfundmore » program because the program does not have the authority to address clean up of petroleum releases. EPA will, however, formally transfer the site to its UST program in October 1989 for further action. There are no costs associated with this remedial action.« less

Comparison of Smoking and Khat Chewing Habits between Medical and Non-Medical Female Students at UST, Sana'a, Yemen.

PubMed

Kubas, Mohammed Abdullah; Wadi, Majed

2015-01-01

Smoking is a worldwide problem that kills millions of people. Women smoke much lower than males but the numbers of smoker women are growing up. The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of smoking and khat chewing in medical and non-medical female students at University of Science and Technology (UST), Sana'a, Yemen. We used self-administrated questionnaire to collect cross-sectional data from a randomly selected sample of medical and non-medical female students of UST in 2012-2013. Overall, 480 students completed and returned the questionnaire, of them medical students represented 50% of them. The prevalence of smoking was significantly low among female medical students (P=0.045), however, not significantly difference was found between medical and non-medical female students in khat chewing habits (P=0.083). Non-smoker medical female students who tried smoking (45.6%) were significantly lower than non-medical students (54.4%), and curiosity was the main reason for trying smoking. Water pipe was the most common type of smoking among smoker students (78.6%). Out of 26 female students who smoke and chew khat, 18 students reported that they smoke more while they chew khat. Our study highlights the need for increased health education, awareness, and knowledge of the risks of smoking and particularly khat chewing to reduce these habits among female university students especially in non-medical female students.

Hybrid-modality ocular imaging using a clinical ultrasound system and nanosecond pulsed laser.

PubMed

Lim, Hoong-Ta; Matham, Murukeshan Vadakke

2015-07-01

Hybrid optical modality imaging is a special type of multimodality imaging significantly used in the recent past in order to harness the strengths of different imaging methods as well as to furnish complementary information beyond that provided by any individual method. We present a hybrid-modality imaging system based on a commercial clinical ultrasound imaging (USI) system using a linear array ultrasound transducer (UST) and a tunable nanosecond pulsed laser as the source. The integrated system uses photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and USI for ocular imaging to provide the complementary absorption and structural information of the eye. In this system, B-mode images from PAI and USI are acquired at 10 Hz and about 40 Hz, respectively. A linear array UST makes the system much faster compared to other ocular imaging systems using a single-element UST to form B-mode images. The results show that the proposed instrumentation is able to incorporate PAI and USI in a single setup. The feasibility and efficiency of this developed probe system was illustrated by using enucleated pig eyes as test samples. It was demonstrated that PAI could successfully capture photoacoustic signals from the iris, anterior lens surface, and posterior pole, while USI could accomplish the mapping of the eye to reveal the structures like the cornea, anterior chamber, lens, iris, and posterior pole. This system and the proposed methodology are expected to enable ocular disease diagnostic applications and can be used as a preclinical imaging system.

Biotemplated flagellar nanoswimmers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali, Jamel; Cheang, U. Kei; Darvish, Armin; Kim, Hoyeon; Kim, Min Jun

2017-11-01

In this article, a porous hollow biotemplated nanoscale helix that can serve as a low Reynolds number robotic swimmer is reported. The nanorobot utilizes repolymerized bacterial flagella from Salmonella typhimurium as a nanotemplate for biomineralization. We demonstrate the ability to generate templated nanotubes with distinct helical geometries by using specific alkaline pH values to fix the polymorphic form of flagellar templates. Using uniform rotating magnetic fields to mimic the motion of the flagellar motor, we explore the swimming characteristics of these silica templated flagella and demonstrate the ability to wirelessly control their trajectories. The results suggest that the biotemplated nanoswimmer can be a cost-effective alternative to the current top-down methods used to produce helical nanorobots.

Noncontact manipulation using a transversely magnetized rolling robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tung, Hsi-Wen; Peyer, Kathrin E.; Sargent, David F.; Nelson, Bradley J.

2013-09-01

A type of magnetic, wireless microrobot has been designed for non-contact manipulation of micro-objects in liquids. The agent, named the RodBot, has typical dimensions of 300 μm × 60 μm × 50 μm. The RodBot is transversely magnetized and rolls around its long axis on a surface in a rotating external magnetic field. In liquid environments, the RodBot generates a rising flow in front of it and a vortex above its body. The flow and vortex are efficient for picking-up and trapping micro-objects of sizes ranging from microns to one millimeter. In viscous solutions, a RodBot can transport objects many times its own size and weight.

NASA Tech Briefs, November 2007

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2007-01-01

Topics include: Wireless Measurement of Contact and Motion Between Contact Surfaces; Wireless Measurement of Rotation and Displacement Rate; Portable Microleak-Detection System; Free-to-Roll Testing of Airplane Models in Wind Tunnels; Cryogenic Shrouds for Testing Thermal-Insulation Panels; Optoelectronic System Measures Distances to Multiple Targets; Tachometers Derived From a Brushless DC Motor; Algorithm-Based Fault Tolerance for Numerical Subroutines; Computational Support for Technology- Investment Decisions; DSN Resource Scheduling; Distributed Operations Planning; Phase-Oriented Gear Systems; Freeze Tape Casting of Functionally Graded Porous Ceramics; Electrophoretic Deposition on Porous Non- Conductors; Two Devices for Removing Sludge From Bioreactor Wastewater; Portable Unit for Metabolic Analysis; Flash Diffusivity Technique Applied to Individual Fibers; System for Thermal Imaging of Hot Moving Objects; Large Solar-Rejection Filter; Improved Readout Scheme for SQUID-Based Thermometry; Error Rates and Channel Capacities in Multipulse PPM; Two Mathematical Models of Nonlinear Vibrations; Simpler Adaptive Selection of Golomb Power-of- Two Codes; VCO PLL Frequency Synthesizers for Spacecraft Transponders; Wide Tuning Capability for Spacecraft Transponders; Adaptive Deadband Synchronization for a Spacecraft Formation; Analysis of Performance of Stereoscopic-Vision Software; Estimating the Inertia Matrix of a Spacecraft; Spatial Coverage Planning for Exploration Robots; and Increasing the Life of a Xenon-Ion Spacecraft Thruster.

Extraction and Analysis of Respiratory Motion Using Wearable Inertial Sensor System during Trunk Motion

PubMed Central

Gaidhani, Apoorva; Moon, Kee S.; Ozturk, Yusuf; Lee, Sung Q.; Youm, Woosub

2017-01-01

Respiratory activity is an essential vital sign of life that can indicate changes in typical breathing patterns and irregular body functions such as asthma and panic attacks. Many times, there is a need to monitor breathing activity while performing day-to-day functions such as standing, bending, trunk stretching or during yoga exercises. A single IMU (inertial measurement unit) can be used in measuring respiratory motion; however, breathing motion data may be influenced by a body trunk movement that occurs while recording respiratory activity. This research employs a pair of wireless, wearable IMU sensors custom-made by the Department of Electrical Engineering at San Diego State University. After appropriate sensor placement for data collection, this research applies principles of robotics, using the Denavit-Hartenberg convention, to extract relative angular motion between the two sensors. One of the obtained relative joint angles in the “Sagittal” plane predominantly yields respiratory activity. An improvised version of the proposed method and wearable, wireless sensors can be suitable to extract respiratory information while performing sports or exercises, as they do not restrict body motion or the choice of location to gather data. PMID:29258214

An artificial neural network architecture for non-parametric visual odometry in wireless capsule endoscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dimas, George; Iakovidis, Dimitris K.; Karargyris, Alexandros; Ciuti, Gastone; Koulaouzidis, Anastasios

2017-09-01

Wireless capsule endoscopy is a non-invasive screening procedure of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract performed with an ingestible capsule endoscope (CE) of the size of a large vitamin pill. Such endoscopes are equipped with a usually low-frame-rate color camera which enables the visualization of the GI lumen and the detection of pathologies. The localization of the commercially available CEs is performed in the 3D abdominal space using radio-frequency (RF) triangulation from external sensor arrays, in combination with transit time estimation. State-of-the-art approaches, such as magnetic localization, which have been experimentally proved more accurate than the RF approach, are still at an early stage. Recently, we have demonstrated that CE localization is feasible using solely visual cues and geometric models. However, such approaches depend on camera parameters, many of which are unknown. In this paper the authors propose a novel non-parametric visual odometry (VO) approach to CE localization based on a feed-forward neural network architecture. The effectiveness of this approach in comparison to state-of-the-art geometric VO approaches is validated using a robotic-assisted in vitro experimental setup.

Supervisory control of mobile sensor networks: math formulation, simulation, and implementation.

PubMed

Giordano, Vincenzo; Ballal, Prasanna; Lewis, Frank; Turchiano, Biagio; Zhang, Jing Bing

2006-08-01

This paper uses a novel discrete-event controller (DEC) for the coordination of cooperating heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (WSNs) containing both unattended ground sensors (UGSs) and mobile sensor robots. The DEC sequences the most suitable tasks for each agent and assigns sensor resources according to the current perception of the environment. A matrix formulation makes this DEC particularly useful for WSN, where missions change and sensor agents may be added or may fail. WSN have peculiarities that complicate their supervisory control. Therefore, this paper introduces several new tools for DEC design and operation, including methods for generating the required supervisory matrices based on mission planning, methods for modifying the matrices in the event of failed nodes, or nodes entering the network, and a novel dynamic priority assignment weighting approach for selecting the most appropriate and useful sensors for a given mission task. The resulting DEC represents a complete dynamical description of the WSN system, which allows a fast programming of deployable WSN, a computer simulation analysis, and an efficient implementation. The DEC is actually implemented on an experimental wireless-sensor-network prototyping system. Both simulation and experimental results are presented to show the effectiveness and versatility of the developed control architecture.

Directions for rf-controlled intelligent microvalve

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enderling, Stefan; Varadan, Vijay K.; Abbott, Derek

2001-03-01

In this paper, we consider the novel concept of a Radio Frequency (RF) controllable microvalve for different medical applications. Wireless communication via a Surface Acoustic Wave Identification-mark (SAW ID-tag) is used to control, drive and locate the microvalve inside the human body. The energy required for these functions is provided by RF pulses, which are transmitted to the valve and back by a reader/transmitter system outside of the body. These RF bursts are converted into Surface Acoustic Waves (SAWs), which propagate along the piezoelectric actuator material of the microvalve. These waves cause deflections, which are employed to open and close the microvalve. We identified five important areas of application of the microvalve in biomedicine: 1) fertility control; 2) artificial venous valves; 3) flow cytometry; 4) drug delivery and 5) DNA mapping.

National positioning, navigation, and timing architecture : implementation plan.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-04-01

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration (ASD/NII) and the : Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy (UST/P) sponsored a National Positioning, : Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Architecture Study to provide mor...

State and Territorial Underground Storage Tank Regulations: Compliance Deadlines for Major Provisions

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Review compliance deadlines for major provisions of the 2015 federal UST requirements, in the 15 states that have updated their state underground storage tank regulations to incorporate the revised requirements.

Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Underground Storage Tanks (USTs)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 significantly affected federal and state underground storage tank programs, required major changes to the programs, and is aimed at reducing underground storage tank releases to our environment.

Next generation cooled long range thermal sights with minimum size, weight, and power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Breiter, R.; Ihle, T.; Wendler, J.; Rühlich, I.; Ziegler, J.

2013-06-01

Situational awareness and precise targeting at day, night and severe weather conditions are key elements for mission success in asymmetric warfare. To support these capabilities for the dismounted soldier, AIM has developed a family of stand-alone thermal weapon sights based on high performance cooled IR-modules which are used e.g. in the infantryman of the future program of the German army (IdZ). The design driver for these sights is a long ID range <1500m for the NATO standard target to cover the operational range of a platoon with the engagement range of .50 cal rifles, 40mm AGLs or for reconnaissance tasks. The most recent sight WBZG has just entered into serial production for the IdZ enhanced system of the German army with additional capabilities like a wireless data link to the soldier backbone computer. Minimum size, weight and power (SWaP) are most critical requirements for the dismounted soldiers' equipment and sometimes push a decision towards uncooled equipment with marginal performance referring to the outstanding challenges in current asymmetric warfare, e.g. the capability to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants in adequate ranges. To provide the uncompromised e/o performance with SWaP parameters close to uncooled, AIM has developed a new thermal weapon sight based on high operating temperature (HOT) MCT MWIR FPAs together with a new low power single piston stirling cooler. In basic operation the sight is used as a clip-on in front of the rifle scope. An additional eyepiece for stand-alone targeting with e.g. AGLs or a biocular version for relaxed surveillance will be available. The paper will present details of the technologies applied for such long range cooled sights with size, weight and power close to uncooled.

A Robust High-Accuracy Ultrasound Indoor Positioning System Based on a Wireless Sensor Network.

PubMed

Qi, Jun; Liu, Guo-Ping

2017-11-06

This paper describes the development and implementation of a robust high-accuracy ultrasonic indoor positioning system (UIPS). The UIPS consists of several wireless ultrasonic beacons in the indoor environment. Each of them has a fixed and known position coordinate and can collect all the transmissions from the target node or emit ultrasonic signals. Every wireless sensor network (WSN) node has two communication modules: one is WiFi, that transmits the data to the server, and the other is the radio frequency (RF) module, which is only used for time synchronization between different nodes, with accuracy up to 1 μ s. The distance between the beacon and the target node is calculated by measuring the time-of-flight (TOF) for the ultrasonic signal, and then the position of the target is computed by some distances and the coordinate of the beacons. TOF estimation is the most important technique in the UIPS. A new time domain method to extract the envelope of the ultrasonic signals is presented in order to estimate the TOF. This method, with the envelope detection filter, estimates the value with the sampled values on both sides based on the least squares method (LSM). The simulation results show that the method can achieve envelope detection with a good filtering effect by means of the LSM. The highest precision and variance can reach 0.61 mm and 0.23 mm, respectively, in pseudo-range measurements with UIPS. A maximum location error of 10.2 mm is achieved in the positioning experiments for a moving robot, when UIPS works on the line-of-sight (LOS) signal.

Modification of a Limbed Robot to Favor Climbing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Okon, Avi; Kennedy, Brett; Garrett, Michael; Magnone, Lee

2006-01-01

The figure shows the LEMUR IIb, which is a modified version of the LEMUR II the second generation of the Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot (LEMUR). Except as described below, the LEMUR IIb hardware is mostly the same as that of the LEMUR II. The IIb and II versions differ in their kinematic configurations and characteristics associated with their kinematic configurations. The differences are such that relative to the LEMUR II, the LEMUR IIb is simpler and is better suited to climbing on inclined surfaces. The first-generation LEMUR, now denoted the LEMUR I, was described in Six-Legged Experimental Robot (NPO-20897), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 25, No. 12 (December 2001), page 58. The LEMUR II was described in Second-Generation Six-Limbed Experimental Robot (NPO-35140) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 28, No. 11 (November 2004), page 55. To recapitulate: the LEMUR I and LEMUR II were six-legged or sixlimbed robots for demonstrating robotic capabilities for assembly, maintenance, and inspection. They were designed to be capable of walking autonomously along a truss structure toward a mechanical assembly at a prescribed location. They were equipped with stereoscopic video cameras and image-data-processing circuitry for navigation and mechanical operations. They were also equipped with wireless modems, through which they could be commanded remotely. Upon arrival at a mechanical assembly, the LEMUR I would perform simple mechanical operations by use of one or both of its front legs (or in the case of the LEMUR II, any of its limbs could be used to perform mechanical operations). Either LEMUR could also transmit images to a host computer. The differences between the LEMUR IIb and the LEMUR II are the following: Whereas the LEMUR II had six limbs, the LEMUR IIb has four limbs. This change has reduced both the complexity and mass of the legs and of the overall robot. Whereas each limb of the LEMUR II had four degrees of freedom (DOFs), each limb of the LEMUR IIb has three DOFs. This change has also reduced both complexity and mass. Notwithstanding the decrease in the number of DOFs, the three remaining DOFs are configured to provide greater dexterity for motion along a surface. To extend reach, the limbs of the LEMUR IIb are 25 percent longer than those of the LEMUR II. Additional benefits stemming from the modifications are that the robot body supported by the limbs is now less massive and its center of gravity is now closer to the surface along which the robot is to move. These benefits have been obtained without sacrificing load-carrying capacity. Hence, overall, the LEMUR IIb is a more adept climber.

NASA Tech Briefs, February 2004

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

Topics include: Simulation Testing of Embedded Flight Software; Improved Indentation Test for Measuring Nonlinear Elasticity; Ultraviolet-Absorption Spectroscopic Biofilm Monitor; Electronic Tongue for Quantitation of Contaminants in Water; Radar for Measuring Soil Moisture Under Vegetation; Modular Wireless Data-Acquisition and Control System; Microwave System for Detecting Ice on Aircraft; Routing Algorithm Exploits Spatial Relations; Two-Finger EKG Method of Detecting Evasive Responses; Updated System-Availability and Resource-Allocation Program; Routines for Computing Pressure Drops in Venturis; Software for Fault-Tolerant Matrix Multiplication; Reproducible Growth of High-Quality Cubic-SiC Layers; Nonlinear Thermoelastic Model for SMAs and SMA Hybrid Composites; Liquid-Crystal Thermosets, a New Generation of High-Performance Liquid-Crystal Polymers; Formulations for Stronger Solid Oxide Fuel-Cell Electrolytes; Simulation of Hazards and Poses for a Rocker-Bogie Rover; Autonomous Formation Flight; Expandable Purge Chambers Would Protect Cryogenic Fittings; Wavy-Planform Helicopter Blades Make Less Noise; Miniature Robotic Spacecraft for Inspecting Other Spacecraft; Miniature Ring-Shaped Peristaltic Pump; Compact Plasma Accelerator; Improved Electrohydraulic Linear Actuators; A Software Architecture for Semiautonomous Robot Control; Fabrication of Channels for Nanobiotechnological Devices; Improved Thin, Flexible Heat Pipes; Miniature Radioisotope Thermoelectric Power Cubes; Permanent Sequestration of Emitted Gases in the Form of Clathrate Hydrates; Electrochemical, H2O2-Boosted Catalytic Oxidation System; Electrokinetic In Situ Treatment of Metal-Contaminated Soil; Pumping Liquid Oxygen by Use of Pulsed Magnetic Fields; Magnetocaloric Pumping of Liquid Oxygen; Tailoring Ion-Thruster Grid Apertures for Greater Efficiency; and Lidar for Guidance of a Spacecraft or Exploratory Robot.

Current state of micro-robots/devices as substitutes for screening colonoscopy: assessment based on technology readiness levels.

PubMed

Tapia-Siles, Silvia C; Coleman, Stuart; Cuschieri, Alfred

2016-02-01

Previous reports have described several candidates, which have the potential to replace colonoscopy, but to date, there is still no device capable of fully replacing flexible colonoscopy in the management of colonic disorders and for mass adult population screening for asymptomatic colorectal cancer. NASA developed the TRL methodology to describe and define the stages of development before use and marketing of any device. The definitions of the TRLS used in the present review are those formulated by "The US Department of Defense Technology Readiness Assessment Guidance" but adapted to micro-robots for colonoscopy. All the devices included are reported in scientific literature. They were identified by a systematic search in Web of Science, PubMed and IEEE Xplore amongst other sources. Devices that clearly lack the potential for full replacement of flexible colonoscopy were excluded. The technological salient features of all the devices included for assessment are described briefly, with particular focus on device propulsion. The devices are classified according to the TRL criteria based on the reported information. An analysis is next undertaken of the characteristics and salient features of the devices included in the review: wireless/tethered devices, data storage-transmission and navigation, additional functionality, residual technology challenges and clinical and socio-economical needs. Few devices currently possess the required functionality and performance to replace the conventional colonoscopy. The requirements, including functionalities which favour the development of a micro-robot platform to replace colonoscopy, are highlighted.

First series of total robotic hysterectomy (TRH) using new integrated table motion for the da Vinci Xi: feasibility, safety and efficacy.

PubMed

Giannini, Andrea; Russo, Eleonora; Mannella, Paolo; Palla, Giulia; Pisaneschi, Silvia; Cecchi, Elena; Maremmani, Michele; Morelli, Luca; Perutelli, Alessandra; Cela, Vito; Melfi, Franca; Simoncini, Tommaso

2017-08-01

To present the first case series of total robotic hysterectomy (TRH), using integrated table motion (ITM), which is a new feature comprising a unique operating table by Trumpf Medical that communicates wirelessly with the da Vinci Xi surgical system. ITM has been specifically developed to improve multiquadrant robotic surgery such as that conducted in colorectal surgery. Between May and October 2015, a prospective post-market study was conducted on ITM in the EU in 40 cases from different specialties. The gynecological study group comprised 12 patients. Primary endpoints were ITM feasibility, safety and efficacy. Ten patients underwent TRH. Mean number of ITM moves was three during TRH; there were 31 instances of table moves in the ten procedures. Twenty-eight of 31 ITM moves were made to gain internal exposure. The endoscope remained inserted during 29 of the 31 table movements (94%), while the instruments remained inserted during 27 of the 31 moves (87%). No external instrument collisions or other problems related to the operating table were noted. There were no ITM safety-related observations and no adverse events. This preliminary study demonstrated the feasibility, safety and efficacy of ITM for the da Vinci Xi surgical system in TRH. ITM was safe, with no adverse events related to its use. Further studies will be useful to define the real role and potential benefit of ITM in gynecological surgery.

National Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Architecture Study Final Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-09-01

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration (ASD/NII) and the Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy (UST/P) sponsored a National Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Architecture Study to "provide more effe...

Technical Guide for Addressing Petroleum Vapor Intrusion at Leaking Underground Storage Tank Sites

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Review technical information for personnel EPA and implementing agencies for investigating and assessing petroleum vapor intrusion (PVI) at sites where petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) have been released from underground storage tanks (USTs).

Mitigating contaminant transport in utility installation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-01-01

In recent years, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has experienced problems with various forms of contamination (primarily from underground storage tanks, USTs) migrating into its right-of-way. In many cases VDOT has had to install cul...

Genome sequence of the pink–pigmented marine bacterium Loktanella hongkongensis type strain (UST950701–009PT), a representative of the Roseobacter group

DOE PAGES

Lau, Stanley CK; Riedel, Thomas; Fiebig, Anne; ...

2015-08-11

Loktanella hongkongensis UST950701-009PT is a Gram-negative, non-motile and rod-shaped bacterium isolated from a marine biofilm in the subtropical seawater of Hong Kong. When growing as a monospecies biofilm on polystyrene surfaces, this bacterium is able to induce larval settlement and metamorphosis of a ubiquitous polychaete tubeworm Hydroides elegans. The inductive cues are low-molecular weight compounds bound to the exopolymeric matrix of the bacterial cells. In the present study we describe the features of L. hongkongensis strain DSM 17492T together with its genome sequence and annotation and novel aspects of its phenotype. The 3,198,444 bp long genome sequence encodes 3104 protein-codingmore » genes and 57 RNA genes. Lastly, the two unambiguously identified extrachromosomal replicons contain replication modules of the RepB and the Rhodobacteraceae-specific DnaA-like type, respectively.« less

Genome sequence of the pink-pigmented marine bacterium Loktanella hongkongensis type strain (UST950701-009P(T)), a representative of the Roseobacter group.

PubMed

Lau, Stanley Ck; Riedel, Thomas; Fiebig, Anne; Han, James; Huntemann, Marcel; Petersen, Jörn; Ivanova, Natalia N; Markowitz, Victor; Woyke, Tanja; Göker, Markus; Kyrpides, Nikos C; Klenk, Hans-Peter; Qian, Pei-Yuan

2015-01-01

Loktanella hongkongensis UST950701-009P(T) is a Gram-negative, non-motile and rod-shaped bacterium isolated from a marine biofilm in the subtropical seawater of Hong Kong. When growing as a monospecies biofilm on polystyrene surfaces, this bacterium is able to induce larval settlement and metamorphosis of a ubiquitous polychaete tubeworm Hydroides elegans. The inductive cues are low-molecular weight compounds bound to the exopolymeric matrix of the bacterial cells. In the present study we describe the features of L. hongkongensis strain DSM 17492(T) together with its genome sequence and annotation and novel aspects of its phenotype. The 3,198,444 bp long genome sequence encodes 3104 protein-coding genes and 57 RNA genes. The two unambiguously identified extrachromosomal replicons contain replication modules of the RepB and the Rhodobacteraceae-specific DnaA-like type, respectively.

Predicting nonstationary flood frequencies: Evidence supports an updated stationarity thesis in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luke, Adam; Vrugt, Jasper A.; AghaKouchak, Amir; Matthew, Richard; Sanders, Brett F.

2017-07-01

Nonstationary extreme value analysis (NEVA) can improve the statistical representation of observed flood peak distributions compared to stationary (ST) analysis, but management of flood risk relies on predictions of out-of-sample distributions for which NEVA has not been comprehensively evaluated. In this study, we apply split-sample testing to 1250 annual maximum discharge records in the United States and compare the predictive capabilities of NEVA relative to ST extreme value analysis using a log-Pearson Type III (LPIII) distribution. The parameters of the LPIII distribution in the ST and nonstationary (NS) models are estimated from the first half of each record using Bayesian inference. The second half of each record is reserved to evaluate the predictions under the ST and NS models. The NS model is applied for prediction by (1) extrapolating the trend of the NS model parameters throughout the evaluation period and (2) using the NS model parameter values at the end of the fitting period to predict with an updated ST model (uST). Our analysis shows that the ST predictions are preferred, overall. NS model parameter extrapolation is rarely preferred. However, if fitting period discharges are influenced by physical changes in the watershed, for example from anthropogenic activity, the uST model is strongly preferred relative to ST and NS predictions. The uST model is therefore recommended for evaluation of current flood risk in watersheds that have undergone physical changes. Supporting information includes a MATLAB® program that estimates the (ST/NS/uST) LPIII parameters from annual peak discharge data through Bayesian inference.

The Ust'-Kamchatsk "Tsunami Earthquake" of 13 April 1923: A Slow Event and a Probable Landslide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salaree, A.; Okal, E.

2016-12-01

Among the "tsunami earthquakes" having generated a larger tsunami than expected from their seismic magnitudes, the large aftershock of the great Kamchatka earthquake of 1923 remains an intriguing puzzle since waves reaching 11 m were reported by Troshin & Diagilev (1926), in the vicinity of the mouth of the Kamchatka River near the coastal settlement of Ust'-Kamchatsk. Our relocation attempts based on ISS-listed travel times would put the earthquake epicenter in Ozernoye Bay, North of the Kamchatka Peninsula, suggesting that it was triggered by stress transfer beyond the plate junction at the Kamchatka corner. Mantle magnitudes obtained from Golitsyn records at De Bilt suggest a long-period moment of 2-3 times 1027 dyn*cm, with a strong increase of moment with period, suggestive of a slow source. However, tsunami simulations based on resulting models of the earthquake source, both North and South of the Kamchatka Peninsula, fail to account for the reported run-up values. On the other hand, the model of an underwater landslide, which would have been triggered by the earthquake, can explain the general amplitude and distribution of reported run-up. This model is supported by the presence of steep bathymetry offshore of Ust'-Kamchatsk, near the area of discharge of the Kamchatka River, and the abundance of subaerial landslides along the nearby coasts of the Kamchatka Peninsula. While the scarcity of scientific data for this ancient earthquake, and of historical reports in a sparsely populated area, keep this interpretation tentative, this study contributes to improving our knowledge of the challenging family of "tsunami earthquakes".

The National LUST Cleanup Backlog: A Study of Opportunities

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

To understand the makeup of UST releases remaining and why the pace of cleanups is slowing, EPA undertook a two-phase, data-driven analysis of the cleanups remaining as of 2006 (Phase 1) and 2009 (Phase 2).

40 CFR 281.37 - Financial responsibility for UST systems containing petroleum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... action and third-party claims in a timely manner to protect human health and the environment; (2) Owners... and third-party claims in a timely manner to protect human health and the environment; (3) Owners and...

40 CFR 281.37 - Financial responsibility for UST systems containing petroleum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... action and third-party claims in a timely manner to protect human health and the environment; (2) Owners... and third-party claims in a timely manner to protect human health and the environment; (3) Owners and...

40 CFR 281.37 - Financial responsibility for UST systems containing petroleum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... action and third-party claims in a timely manner to protect human health and the environment; (2) Owners... and third-party claims in a timely manner to protect human health and the environment; (3) Owners and...

TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK CLOSURE

EPA Science Inventory

The overall objective of the study was to develop a deeper understanding of UST residuals at closure: their quantities, origins, physical/chemical properties, ease of removal by various cleaning methods, and their environmental mobility and persistence. The investigation covered ...

Anticipating Environmental Impacts of Future Fuels

EPA Science Inventory

Automotive fuels are composed of hundreds of compounds and the formulations aren’t uniform; they vary geographically and seasonally and sometimes specifically in response to regulatory requirements. As a result, very few state underground storage tank (UST) regulators know what i...

Comparison of sound speed measurements on two different ultrasound tomography devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sak, Mark; Duric, Neb; Littrup, Peter; Bey-Knight, Lisa; Sherman, Mark; Gierach, Gretchen; Malyarenko, Antonina

2014-03-01

Ultrasound tomography (UST) employs sound waves to produce three-dimensional images of breast tissue and precisely measures the attenuation of sound speed secondary to breast tissue composition. High breast density is a strong breast cancer risk factor and sound speed is directly proportional to breast density. UST provides a quantitative measure of breast density based on three-dimensional imaging without compression, thereby overcoming the shortcomings of many other imaging modalities. The quantitative nature of the UST breast density measures are tied to an external standard, so sound speed measurement in breast tissue should be independent of specific hardware. The work presented here compares breast sound speed measurement obtained with two different UST devices. The Computerized Ultrasound Risk Evaluation (CURE) system located at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Michigan was recently replaced with the SoftVue ultrasound tomographic device. Ongoing clinical trials have used images generated from both sets of hardware, so maintaining consistency in sound speed measurements is important. During an overlap period when both systems were in the same exam room, a total of 12 patients had one or both of their breasts imaged on both systems on the same day. There were 22 sound speed scans analyzed from each system and the average breast sound speeds were compared. Images were either reconstructed using saved raw data (for both CURE and SoftVue) or were created during the image acquisition (saved in DICOM format for SoftVue scans only). The sound speed measurements from each system were strongly and positively correlated with each other. The average difference in sound speed between the two sets of data was on the order of 1-2 m/s and this result was not statistically significant. The only sets of images that showed a statistical difference were the DICOM images created during the SoftVue scan compared to the SoftVue images reconstructed from the raw data. However, the discrepancy between the sound speed values could be easily handled by uniformly increasing the DICOM sound speed by approximately 0.5 m/s. These results suggest that there is no fundamental difference in sound speed measurement for the two systems and support combining data generated with these instruments in future studies.

Self-assembly of robotic micro- and nanoswimmers using magnetic nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheang, U. Kei; Kim, Min Jun

2015-03-01

Micro- and nanoscale robotic swimmers are very promising to significantly enhance the performance of particulate drug delivery by providing high accuracy at extremely small scales. Here, we introduce micro- and nanoswimmers fabricated using self-assembly of nanoparticles and control via magnetic fields. Nanoparticles self-align into parallel chains under magnetization. The swimmers exhibit flexibility under a rotating magnetic field resulting in chiral structures upon deformation, thereby having the prerequisite for non-reciprocal motion to move about at low Reynolds number. The swimmers are actuated wirelessly using an external rotating magnetic field supplied by approximate Helmholtz coils. By controlling the concentration of the suspended magnetic nanoparticles, the swimmers can be modulated into different sizes. Nanoscale swimmers are largely influenced by Brownian motion, as observed from their jerky trajectories. The microswimmers, which are roughly three times larger, are less vulnerable to the effects from Brownian motion. In this paper, we demonstrate responsive directional control of micro- and nanoswimmers and compare their respective diffusivities and trajectories to characterize the implications of Brownian disturbance on the motions of small and large swimmers. We then performed a simulation using a kinematic model for the magnetic swimmers including the stochastic nature of Brownian motion.

Unmanned ground vehicles for integrated force protection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carroll, Daniel M.; Mikell, Kenneth; Denewiler, Thomas

2004-09-01

The combination of Command and Control (C2) systems with Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) provides Integrated Force Protection from the Robotic Operation Command Center. Autonomous UGVs are directed as Force Projection units. UGV payloads and fixed sensors provide situational awareness while unattended munitions provide a less-than-lethal response capability. Remote resources serve as automated interfaces to legacy physical devices such as manned response vehicles, barrier gates, fence openings, garage doors, and remote power on/off capability for unmanned systems. The Robotic Operations Command Center executes the Multiple Resource Host Architecture (MRHA) to simultaneously control heterogeneous unmanned systems. The MRHA graphically displays video, map, and status for each resource using wireless digital communications for integrated data, video, and audio. Events are prioritized and the user is prompted with audio alerts and text instructions for alarms and warnings. A control hierarchy of missions and duty rosters support autonomous operations. This paper provides an overview of the key technology enablers for Integrated Force Protection with details on a force-on-force scenario to test and demonstrate concept of operations using Unmanned Ground Vehicles. Special attention is given to development and applications for the Remote Detection Challenge and Response (REDCAR) initiative for Integrated Base Defense.

Estimation of Human Arm Joints Using Two Wireless Sensors in Robotic Rehabilitation Tasks.

PubMed

Bertomeu-Motos, Arturo; Lledó, Luis D; Díez, Jorge A; Catalan, Jose M; Ezquerro, Santiago; Badesa, Francisco J; Garcia-Aracil, Nicolas

2015-12-04

This paper presents a novel kinematic reconstruction of the human arm chain with five degrees of freedom and the estimation of the shoulder location during rehabilitation therapy assisted by end-effector robotic devices. This algorithm is based on the pseudoinverse of the Jacobian through the acceleration of the upper arm, measured using an accelerometer, and the orientation of the shoulder, estimated with a magnetic angular rate and gravity (MARG) device. The results show a high accuracy in terms of arm joints and shoulder movement with respect to the real arm measured through an optoelectronic system. Furthermore, the range of motion (ROM) of 50 healthy subjects is studied from two different trials, one trying to avoid shoulder movements and the second one forcing them. Moreover, the shoulder movement in the second trial is also estimated accurately. Besides the fact that the posture of the patient can be corrected during the exercise, the therapist could use the presented algorithm as an objective assessment tool. In conclusion, the joints' estimation enables a better adjustment of the therapy, taking into account the needs of the patient, and consequently, the arm motion improves faster.

Massive stars and miniature robots: today's research and tomorrow's technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, William David

2013-03-01

This thesis documents the reduction of the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS) data set, whilst also describing the analysis for one of the serendipitous discoveries: the massive binary R139. This high-mass binary will provide an excellent future calibration point for stellar models, in part as it seems to defy certain expectations about its evolution. Out with the VFTS, a search for binary companions around a trio of B-type supergiants is presented. These stars are surrounded by nebulae that closely resemble the triple-ring structure associated with the poorly-understood SN1987A. Do these stars share a similar evolutionary fate? While strong evidence is found for periodic pulsations in one of the stars, there appears to be no indication of a short-period binary companion suggested in the literature. Gathering observations from a wide range of environments builds a fuller picture of massive stars, but the samples remain somewhat limited. The coming generation of extremely large telescopes will open new regions for studies like the VFTS. Fully utilising these remarkable telescopes will require many new technologies, and this thesis presents one such development project. For adaptive-optics corrected, multi-object instruments it will be necessary to position small pick-off mirrors in the telescope¿s focal plane to select the sub-fields on the sky. This could be most efficiently achieved if the mirrors were self-propelled, which has led to a miniature robot project called MAPS - the Micro Autonomous Positioning System. A number of robots have been built with a footprint of only 30 x 30mm. These wirelessly-controlled robots draw their power from the floor on which they operate and have shown the potential to be positioned to an accuracy of tens of microns. This thesis details much of the early design work and testing of the robots, and also the development of the camera imaging system used to determine the position of the robots. The MAPS project is ongoing and a number of the potential future tests, and avenues for new research, are discussed. This is a thesis that brings together an area of active astronomical research with cutting-edge technological development, highlighting how tomorrow's telescopes will be an essential tool to answer some of today's most puzzling research questions

User Privacy in RFID Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singelée, Dave; Seys, Stefaan

Wireless RFID networks are getting deployed at a rapid pace and have already entered the public space on a massive scale: public transport cards, the biometric passport, office ID tokens, customer loyalty cards, etc. Although RFID technology offers interesting services to customers and retailers, it could also endanger the privacy of the end-users. The lack of protection mechanisms being deployed could potentially result in a privacy leakage of personal data. Furthermore, there is the emerging threat of location privacy. In this paper, we will show some practical attack scenarios and illustrates some of them with cases that have received press coverage. We will present the main challenges of enhancing privacy in RFID networks and evaluate some solutions proposed in literature. The main advantages and shortcomings will be briefly discussed. Finally, we will give an overview of some academic and industrial research initiatives on RFID privacy.

16 CFR 455.5 - Spanish language sales.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... pueden darle a usted algunos derechos y hacer que el vendedor resuelva problemas graves que no fueron... implícitas” de acuerdo a la ley del estado pueden concederle derechos adicionales. EC29SE91.053 EC29SE91.054...

Fuel Storage Tanks at FAA Facilities: Order 1050.15A

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-04-30

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has over 4,000 fuel storage tanks (FST) in its : inventory. Most of these FSTs are underground storage tanks (UST) that contain fuel for : emergency backup generators providing secondary power to air navigati...

Paginas del estudiante de espanol (Study Pages for the Spanish Student)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carballo Picazo, Alfredo

1977-01-01

This Spanish lesson consists of an essay on the use of "usted" and "tu," followed by a series of exercises including questions on the text, vocabulary, grammar and the use of the subjunctive. (Text is in Spanish.) (CHK)

40 CFR 280.12 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986. Septic tank is a water-tight covered receptacle designed to... premises where stored; (c) Septic tank; (d) Pipeline facility (including gathering lines) regulated under... STANDARDS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUIREMENTS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST...

Self-localization for an autonomous mobile robot based on an omni-directional vision system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiang, Shu-Yin; Lin, Kuang-Yu; Chia, Tsorng-Lin

2013-12-01

In this study, we designed an autonomous mobile robot based on the rules of the Federation of International Robotsoccer Association (FIRA) RoboSot category, integrating the techniques of computer vision, real-time image processing, dynamic target tracking, wireless communication, self-localization, motion control, path planning, and control strategy to achieve the contest goal. The self-localization scheme of the mobile robot is based on the algorithms featured in the images from its omni-directional vision system. In previous works, we used the image colors of the field goals as reference points, combining either dual-circle or trilateration positioning of the reference points to achieve selflocalization of the autonomous mobile robot. However, because the image of the game field is easily affected by ambient light, positioning systems exclusively based on color model algorithms cause errors. To reduce environmental effects and achieve the self-localization of the robot, the proposed algorithm is applied in assessing the corners of field lines by using an omni-directional vision system. Particularly in the mid-size league of the RobotCup soccer competition, selflocalization algorithms based on extracting white lines from the soccer field have become increasingly popular. Moreover, white lines are less influenced by light than are the color model of the goals. Therefore, we propose an algorithm that transforms the omni-directional image into an unwrapped transformed image, enhancing the extraction features. The process is described as follows: First, radical scan-lines were used to process omni-directional images, reducing the computational load and improving system efficiency. The lines were radically arranged around the center of the omni-directional camera image, resulting in a shorter computational time compared with the traditional Cartesian coordinate system. However, the omni-directional image is a distorted image, which makes it difficult to recognize the position of the robot. Therefore, image transformation was required to implement self-localization. Second, we used an approach to transform the omni-directional images into panoramic images. Hence, the distortion of the white line can be fixed through the transformation. The interest points that form the corners of the landmark were then located using the features from accelerated segment test (FAST) algorithm. In this algorithm, a circle of sixteen pixels surrounding the corner candidate is considered and is a high-speed feature detector in real-time frame rate applications. Finally, the dual-circle, trilateration, and cross-ratio projection algorithms were implemented in choosing the corners obtained from the FAST algorithm and localizing the position of the robot. The results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is accurate, exhibiting a 2-cm position error in the soccer field measuring 600 cm2 x 400 cm2.

A Robust High-Accuracy Ultrasound Indoor Positioning System Based on a Wireless Sensor Network

PubMed Central

Qi, Jun; Liu, Guo-Ping

2017-01-01

This paper describes the development and implementation of a robust high-accuracy ultrasonic indoor positioning system (UIPS). The UIPS consists of several wireless ultrasonic beacons in the indoor environment. Each of them has a fixed and known position coordinate and can collect all the transmissions from the target node or emit ultrasonic signals. Every wireless sensor network (WSN) node has two communication modules: one is WiFi, that transmits the data to the server, and the other is the radio frequency (RF) module, which is only used for time synchronization between different nodes, with accuracy up to 1 μs. The distance between the beacon and the target node is calculated by measuring the time-of-flight (TOF) for the ultrasonic signal, and then the position of the target is computed by some distances and the coordinate of the beacons. TOF estimation is the most important technique in the UIPS. A new time domain method to extract the envelope of the ultrasonic signals is presented in order to estimate the TOF. This method, with the envelope detection filter, estimates the value with the sampled values on both sides based on the least squares method (LSM). The simulation results show that the method can achieve envelope detection with a good filtering effect by means of the LSM. The highest precision and variance can reach 0.61 mm and 0.23 mm, respectively, in pseudo-range measurements with UIPS. A maximum location error of 10.2 mm is achieved in the positioning experiments for a moving robot, when UIPS works on the line-of-sight (LOS) signal. PMID:29113126

Wireless power and data transmission strategies for next-generation capsule endoscopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puers, R.; Carta, R.; Thoné, J.

2011-05-01

Capsular endoscopy is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to traditional gastro-intestinal (GI) examination techniques. However, the breakthrough of these devices is hindered by the limited amount of power that can be stored in a tiny pill. Most commercial devices use two watch batteries that can only provide an average power of 25 mW for about 6 h, certainly not sufficient for advanced robotic features. A dedicated inductive powering system, operating at 1 MHz to limit the human body absorption, has been developed which was proven to support the transfer of over 300 mW. The system relies on a condensed set of orthogonal ferrite coils, embedded in the capsule, and an external unit based on a Helmholtz coil driven by a class E amplifier. Control data can be sent through the inductive link by modulating the power carrier, whereas a dedicated high data rate RF link is used to transfer the images from the capsule to the base station. Besides evaluating the compatibility with radio transmission, several demonstrators were assembled combining the wireless powering system with various locomotion strategies and LED illumination. This paper describes the design and implementation of the inductive powering system, its combination with data transmission techniques and the testing activity with other capsule-dedicated modules.

Fuel storage tanks at FAA facilities : Order 1050.15A : executive summary.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-04-30

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has over 4,000 fuel storage tanks (FST) in its inventory. Most of these FSTs are underground storage tanks (UST) that contain fuel for emergency backup generators providing secondary power to air navigational...

40 CFR 280.92 - Definition of terms.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... financial assurances. Petroleum marketing facilities include all facilities at which petroleum is produced... marketers or to the public. Petroleum marketing firms are all firms owning petroleum marketing facilities. Firms owning other types of facilities with USTs as well as petroleum marketing facilities are...

Former UST Site Reused as Greenspace and Access to Ancient Ceremonial Nikwasi Mound in North Carolina

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Read about a former underground storage tank site fronting on the Little Tennessee River in Franklin, NC that is now reused as an attractive greenspace with parking and Main Street access to the Nikwasi Mound.

In Situ Biodegradation of MTBE and TBA

EPA Science Inventory

Ground water at most UST spills sites in Kansas contains both MTBE and benzene, and both contaminants must be effectively treated to close the sites. Soil vacuum extraction, and air sparging are common treatment technologies in Kansas. The technologies supply oxygen to support ...

Automating CapCom Using Mobile Agents and Robotic Assistants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clancey, William J.; Sierhaus, Maarten; Alena, Richard L.; Berrios, Daniel; Dowding, John; Graham, Jeffrey S.; Tyree, Kim S.; Hirsh, Robert L.; Garry, W. Brent; Semple, Abigail

2005-01-01

We have developed and tested an advanced EVA communications and computing system to increase astronaut self-reliance and safety, reducing dependence on continuous monitoring and advising from mission control on Earth. This system, called Mobile Agents (MA), is voice controlled and provides information verbally to the astronauts through programs called personal agents. The system partly automates the role of CapCom in Apollo-including monitoring and managing EVA navigation, scheduling, equipment deployment, telemetry, health tracking, and scientific data collection. EVA data are stored automatically in a shared database in the habitat/vehicle and mirrored to a site accessible by a remote science team. The program has been developed iteratively in the context of use, including six years of ethnographic observation of field geology. Our approach is to develop automation that supports the human work practices, allowing people to do what they do well, and to work in ways they are most familiar. Field experiments in Utah have enabled empirically discovering requirements and testing alternative technologies and protocols. This paper reports on the 2004 system configuration, experiments, and results, in which an EVA robotic assistant (ERA) followed geologists approximately 150 m through a winding, narrow canyon. On voice command, the ERA took photographs and panoramas and was directed to move and wait in various locations to serve as a relay on the wireless network. The MA system is applicable to many space work situations that involve creating and navigating from maps (including configuring equipment for local topology), interacting with piloted and unpiloted rovers, adapting to environmental conditions, and remote team collaboration involving people and robots.

The Yo-Yo IR2 test: physiological response, reliability, and application to elite soccer.

PubMed

Oberacker, Lisa M; Davis, Shala E; Haff, G Gregory; Witmer, Chad A; Moir, Gavin L

2012-10-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of resistance training performed on either a stable or unstable surface on performance tests in female soccer players. Nineteen National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II female soccer players were assigned to either an unstable training group (UST: 19.0 ± 0.47 years; 1.69 ± 6.4 m; 67.8 ± 7.7 kg) or a stable training group (ST: 19.6 ± 0.49 years; 1.64 ± 3.2 m; 62.7 ± 6.27 kg). Player positions were distributed evenly between the groups. Both the groups followed a 5-week periodized resistance training program designed to develop maximum muscular strength. The groups performed the same exercises during each workout, with the UST performing 2 of the exercises in each session on an unstable surface. Pretraining and posttraining measures of straight-line sprint speed, planned and reactive agility, aerobic capacity, and countermovement vertical jump (CMJ) were taken. Significant main effects for time were reported for straight-line sprint speed, planned agility, and reactive agility with both groups demonstrating improvements during the posttraining testing session. The ST demonstrated a significant increase in CMJ during the posttraining session (change in mean: 0.04 m) in contrast to the decline demonstrated by the UST (change in mean: -0.01 m). Performing resistance training exercises on an unstable surface confers no advantage over traditional resistance training exercises for improving the speed, agility, and aerobic capacity of female soccer players. Furthermore, the use of an unstable surface may inhibit the effects of resistance training on vertical jump height, an important variable in soccer performance.

Increased Trunk Extension Endurance is Associated with Meaningful Improvement in Balance among Older Adults with Mobility Problems

PubMed Central

Suri, Pradeep; Kiely, Dan K.; Leveille, Suzanne G.; Frontera, Walter R.; Bean, Jonathan. F.

2011-01-01

Objective To determine if trunk extension endurance changes with training are associated with clinically meaningful improvements in balance among mobility-limited older adults. Design Longitudinal data from a randomized clinical trial. Setting Outpatient rehabilitation research center. Participants Community-dwelling older adults (N=64; mean age 75.9 y) with mobility limitations as defined by a score of 4 to 10 on the Short Physical Performance Battery. Interventions 16 weeks of progressive resistance training. Main Outcome Measures Outcomes were the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the Unipedal Stance Test (UST). Predictors included leg strength, leg power, trunk extension endurance and the product of heart rate and blood pressure (RPP) at the final stage of an exercise tolerance test. We performed an analysis of data from participants who completed 16 weeks of training using binary outcomes defined by a clinically meaningful change from baseline to completion of the intervention (CMC) (BBS= 4 units; UST= 5 seconds). The association of predictor variables with balance outcomes was examined separately and together in multivariate adjusted logistic regression models. Results Trunk extension endurance in seconds (1.04 [1.00– 1.09]) was independently associated with CMC on the BBS. Trunk extension endurance (1.02 [1.00– 1.03]) was independently associated with CMC on the UST. Other physical attributes were not associated with meaningful change in balance. Conclusions Improvements in trunk extension endurance were independently associated with clinically meaningful changes in balance in older adults. Leg strength, leg power, and RPP were not associated with CMC in balance. Poor trunk extension endurance may be a rehabilitative impairment worthy of further study as a modifiable factor linked to balance among older adults. PMID:21636073

Increased trunk extension endurance is associated with meaningful improvement in balance among older adults with mobility problems.

PubMed

Suri, Pradeep; Kiely, Dan K; Leveille, Suzanne G; Frontera, Walter R; Bean, Jonathan F

2011-07-01

To determine whether trunk extension endurance changes with training are associated with clinically meaningful improvements in balance among mobility-limited older adults. Longitudinal data from a randomized controlled trial. Outpatient rehabilitation research center. Community-dwelling older adults (N=64; mean age, 75.9y) with mobility limitations as defined by a score of 4 to 10 on the Short Physical Performance Battery. Sixteen weeks of progressive resistance training. Outcomes were the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the Unipedal Stance Time (UST). Predictors included leg strength, leg power, trunk extension endurance, and the product of heart rate and blood pressure (RPP) at the final stage of an exercise tolerance test. We performed an analysis of data from participants who completed 16 weeks of training by using binary outcomes defined by a clinically meaningful change (CMC) from baseline to completion of the intervention (BBS=4 units; UST=5s). The association of predictor variables with balance outcomes was examined separately and together in multivariate adjusted logistic regression models. Trunk extension endurance in seconds (1.04 [1.00-1.09]) was independently associated with CMC on the BBS. Trunk extension endurance (1.02 [1.00-1.03]) was independently associated with CMC on the UST. Other physical attributes were not associated with meaningful change in balance. Improvements in trunk extension endurance were independently associated with CMCs in balance in older adults. Leg strength, leg power, and RPP were not associated with CMC in balance. Poor trunk extension endurance may be a rehabilitative impairment worthy of further study as a modifiable factor linked to balance among older adults. Copyright © 2011 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Genome-wide scan of job-related exhaustion with three replication studies implicate a susceptibility variant at the UST gene locus

PubMed Central

Sulkava, Sonja; Ollila, Hanna M.; Ahola, Kirsi; Partonen, Timo; Viitasalo, Katriina; Kettunen, Johannes; Lappalainen, Maarit; Kivimäki, Mika; Vahtera, Jussi; Lindström, Jaana; Härmä, Mikko; Puttonen, Sampsa; Salomaa, Veikko; Paunio, Tiina

2013-01-01

Job-related exhaustion is the core dimension of burnout, a work-related stress syndrome that has several negative health consequences. In this study, we explored the molecular genetic background of job-related exhaustion. A genome-wide analysis of job-related exhaustion was performed in the GENMETS subcohort (n = 1256) of the Finnish population-based Health 2000 study. Replication analyses included an analysis of the strongest associations in the rest of the Health 2000 sample (n = 1660 workers) and in three independent populations (the FINRISK population cohort, n = 10 753; two occupational cohorts, total n = 1451). Job-related exhaustion was ascertained using a standard self-administered questionnaire (the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)-GS exhaustion scale in the Health 2000 sample and the occupational cohorts) or a single question (FINRISK). A variant located in an intron of UST, uronyl-2-sulfotransferase (rs13219957), gave the strongest statistical evidence in the initial genome-wide study (P = 1.55 × 10−7), and was associated with job-related exhaustion in all the replication sets (P < 0.05; P = 6.75 × 10−7 from the meta-analysis). Consistent with studies of mood disorders, individual common genetic variants did not have any strong effect on job-related exhaustion. However, the nominally significant signals from the allelic variant of UST in four separate samples suggest that this variant might be a weak risk factor for job-related exhaustion. Together with the previously reported associations of other dermatan/chondroitin sulfate genes with mood disorders, these results indicate a potential molecular pathway for stress-related traits and mark a candidate region for further studies of job-related and general exhaustion. PMID:23620144

An empirical comparison of several recent epistatic interaction detection methods.

PubMed

Wang, Yue; Liu, Guimei; Feng, Mengling; Wong, Limsoon

2011-11-01

Many new methods have recently been proposed for detecting epistatic interactions in GWAS data. There is, however, no in-depth independent comparison of these methods yet. Five recent methods-TEAM, BOOST, SNPHarvester, SNPRuler and Screen and Clean (SC)-are evaluated here in terms of power, type-1 error rate, scalability and completeness. In terms of power, TEAM performs best on data with main effect and BOOST performs best on data without main effect. In terms of type-1 error rate, TEAM and BOOST have higher type-1 error rates than SNPRuler and SNPHarvester. SC does not control type-1 error rate well. In terms of scalability, we tested the five methods using a dataset with 100 000 SNPs on a 64 bit Ubuntu system, with Intel (R) Xeon(R) CPU 2.66 GHz, 16 GB memory. TEAM takes ~36 days to finish and SNPRuler reports heap allocation problems. BOOST scales up to 100 000 SNPs and the cost is much lower than that of TEAM. SC and SNPHarvester are the most scalable. In terms of completeness, we study how frequently the pruning techniques employed by these methods incorrectly prune away the most significant epistatic interactions. We find that, on average, 20% of datasets without main effect and 60% of datasets with main effect are pruned incorrectly by BOOST, SNPRuler and SNPHarvester. The software for the five methods tested are available from the URLs below. TEAM: http://csbio.unc.edu/epistasis/download.php BOOST: http://ihome.ust.hk/~eeyang/papers.html. SNPHarvester: http://bioinformatics.ust.hk/SNPHarvester.html. SNPRuler: http://bioinformatics.ust.hk/SNPRuler.zip. Screen and Clean: http://wpicr.wpic.pitt.edu/WPICCompGen/. wangyue@nus.edu.sg.

Thyroid abnormality trend over time in northeastern regions of Kazakstan, adjacent to the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site: a case review of pathological findings for 7271 patients.

PubMed

Zhumadilov, Z; Gusev, B I; Takada, J; Hoshi, M; Kimura, A; Hayakawa, N; Takeichi, N

2000-03-01

From 1949 through 1989 nuclear weapons testing carried out by the former Soviet Union at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (SNTS) resulted in local fallout affecting the residents of Semipalatinsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Pavlodar regions of Kazakstan. To investigate the possible relationship between radiation exposure and thyroid gland abnormalities, we conducted a case review of pathological findings of 7271 urban and rural patients who underwent surgery from 1966-96. Of the 7271 patients, 761 (10.5%) were men, and 6510 (89.5%) were women. The age of the patients varied from 15 to 90 years. Overall, a diagnosis of adenomatous goiter (most frequently multinodular) was found in 1683 patients (63.4%) of Semipalatinsk region, in 2032 patients (68.6%) of Ust-Kamenogorsk region and in 1142 patients (69.0%) of Pavlodar region. In the period 1982-96, as compared before, there was a noticeable increase in the number of cases of Hashimoto's thyroiditis and thyroid cancer. Among histological forms of thyroid cancer, papillary (48.1%) and follicular (33.1%) predominated in the Semipalatinsk region. In later periods (1987-96), an increased frequency of abnormal cases occurred among patients less than 40 years of age, with the highest proportion among patients below 20 in Semipalatinsk and Ust-Kamenogorsk regions of Kazakstan. Given the positive findings of a significant cancer-period interaction, and a significant trend for the proportion of cancer to increase over time, we recommend more detailed and etiologic studies of thyroid disease among populations exposed to radiation fallout from the SNTS in comparison to non-exposed population.

Long range thermal weapon sights for the German future infantryman program IdZ

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Breiter, Rainer; Ihle, Tobias; Mauk, Karl-Heinz; Münzberg, Mario; Rode, Werner

2007-04-01

In December 2004 AIM started the series production of the HuntIR long range thermal weapon sight. The sight is fielded in the Germany Future Infantryman (IdZ) basic system and since that time in continuous service in various out of area missions with German participation. For very long identification ranges >1500m cooled technology still outperforms uncooled sights, even with respect to smaller size and lower weight because the typical F/1 design of uncooled systems overcompensates cooler weight for focal length >175mm. The HuntIR sight is therefore based on a cooled MWIR detection module for long range battlefield surveillance and target engagement. The device specifically is a perfect match to state of the art small arms like 0.50 cal sniper rifles or crew served weapons like the 40mm high velocity grenade machine gun (GMG) which provide engagement ranges >1500m and need an adequate sight performance beyond that. A recent modification of HuntIR was done to provide a wider field of view for improved situation awareness in urban operations and specifically to allow the engagement of the 40mm GMG in ranges between 250-1200m. The qualification tests of the sight by the German infantry were successfully completed mid 2006. To match the demand of the follow-up program IdZ-ES additional components have to be integrated. Most important are a laser range finder (LRF), 3 axis digital magnetic compass (DMC) and a wireless data link. LRF and DMC together with a highly sophisticated fire control computer provide improved first round hit probability, the DMC additionally improves the fire control in any case of steep trajectories or for pronounced ballistic trajectories to avoid any need to precisely level the GMG. This new sight is done under the brand name RangIR. An important additional feature is the interface for air burst ammunition (ABM). The optical distance is measured by the LRF, the fire control computer accurately evaluates the trajectory under the given angle, muzzle velocity, temperature and range conditions to define the time-of-flight. This fully integrated IR fire control system is available mid 2007. The development phase of the IdZES program is under contract, series deliveries expected in 2009. The RangIR will see some specific modifications for the link and a man machine interface to control the whole IdZ-ES system components ergonomically from the weapon with optimized power supply concepts to minimize the number of batteries, chargers etc.

UST CORRECTIVE ACTION TECHNOLOGIES: ENGINEERING DESIGN OF FREE PRODUCT RECOVERY SYSTEMS

EPA Science Inventory

The objective of this project was to develop a technical assistance document for assessment of subsurface hydrocarbon spills and for evaluating effects of well placement and pumping rates on separate phase plume control and on free product recovery. Procedures developed for estim...