Modeling concept for the infrastructure of autonomous logistic processes

Integrating self-health awareness in autonomous systems

We offer a standpoint that emotions are a necessary mechanism for autonomous control systems. By an autonomous controlled object we understand an object, that is controlled by a control system which is its on-board subsystem. The control system performs learning and control in one process. We develop a methodology of autonomous adaptive control (AAC), that allows us to construct a control system for a given controlled object. As the control goals we take the controlled object survival and the knowledge accumulation. As a whole these goals bring maximization of the controlled object lifetime. We suggest an emotions modeling mechanism (EM). We give the description of its functions and their implementation in AAC methodology. These functions are: (1) a compulsion of the control system for activity; (2) an appreciation of the CO current state at its quality; (3) an appreciation of the formed patterns and their usefulness for control goals; (4) an influence on tempo and depth of reasoning of decision making in current state; (5) providing the decision making subsystem with emotional appraisals of the recognized patterns; (6) providing transfer of information on patterns of emotional appraisals simultaneously with information on the patterns while the organism interacts with another organism.

This paper reports experiences and outcomes of designing and developing an agent-based, autonomous mission control system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Most UAVs are not truly autonomous or even unmanned but are more correctly termed 'uninhabited' or 'remotely piloted'. This paper explores two quite different approaches for adding autonomous control to an existing UAV. Both designs were implemented using an agent-based language. The first takes a fairly standard approach, adding a layer over the flight control system to control the mission. The second takes the human metaphor of agency more seriously and implements an autonomous controller based on a model of human decision making widely referenced in the military command and control literature. Implementing these two designs allowed a comparison of their relative strengths and weaknesses. Preliminary findings indicate both the feasibility and usefulness of a human cognitive modelling approach to providing autonomous UAV control but indicate a number of important considerations. This paper also reports on the successful first flight trials of the Codarra Avatar UAV under the mission control of the agent and discusses the future flight test program.

Basic study for realization of adaptation, evolution, and self-diagnosis on an artificial heart has been carried out by an autonomous distributed control system for an ultra-lightweight pulsatile VAD (volume of 285 ml and weight of 360 g). The autonomous distributed control system was build by 4 layers (input layer, measurement layer, control layer, output layer) and an object manager, which was realized on a l chip microcomputer (Hitachi, SH7044, Japan). The input and output layer are composed of ND, PIO, SIO for interface with the VAD. The measurement layer consists of 4 autonomous objects: current measurement, velocity measurement, position measurement, and timer. The control layer consists of 3 autonomous objects: position control, velocity control, and current control. The position and velocity control object are constructed by fuzzy inference algorism in order to build doctors' and engineers' knowledge into the VAD control. The object manager paces events on each object in order to maintain time series processes. The control system can he adapted to an axial flow VAD by exchanging the position measurement and position control object into a flow estimation and flow control object. In vitro experiment showed that The VAD was driven stably enough to maintain cardiac function by cooperation of independently operated each object like cells in the control system. In conclusion, the above results shows that the autonomous distributed control system promises suitability as a new superior artificial control system.

Analyzed the influence of main perturbation sources including non-spherical gravitational perturbation, atmospheric drag perturbation and third body gravitation perturbation to the satellite orbit, compensates the influence through the method that biased the semi-major axis and the inclination angle, which enhanced the orbital stability of satellite. Designed the satellite autonomous orbital control system, and discussed the method that through controlling the semi-major axis, the eccentricity and the inclination angle to complete the revisions to ascending node right ascension deviation and phase deviation. Finally through the simulation and the experiment of a satellite which running on nearly earth regression, circular orbit, simulation results indicated the system scheme satisfied the demand of satellite autonomous control

The synchronization of somatic motor outflow and sympathetic efferent activity during exercise has important functional consequences. For example, a certain degree of sympathetic vasoconstriction to active skeletal muscle vascular beds may be required to prevent an excessive decrease in vascular resistance during intense dynamic exercise involving a large skeletal muscle mass. Moreover, the redistribution of blood flow away from non-exercising vascular beds to contracting skeletal muscles is necessary to meet their increased metabolic demands. Historically, the nervous system has been separated arbitrarily into a volitional (somatic) and a reflex (autonomic) control system that does not necessitate volitional input (Koizumi & Brooks, 1972). However, during exercise this partition of the somatic and autonomic control systems is replaced by an overlapping control system that influences both somatic and sympathetic outflows in a parallel fashion. Previous work has suggested that the integration and co-ordination of the somatic and sympathetic motor responses during exercise were mediated by a supraspinal neural mechanism referred to as central command (Waldrop et al. 1996). However, there is an accumulating body of evidence, including papers on the role of the spinal cord in the regulation of sympathetic outflow (Weaver & Stein, 1989), suggesting that rhythmic neural activity destined for somatomotor and sympathetic outflows may be under the control of intrinsic neuronal circuitry in the spinal cord. In this issue of The Journal of Physiology, the paper by Chizh et al. (1998) demonstrates for the first time that some components of somatic motor and sympathetic neural outflows are synchronized by a spinal mechanism. The authors studied the relationship between sympathetic and somatic motor outflows from the thoraco-sacral spinal cord using an isolated trunk-hindquarters preparation of the adult mouse. They found that some of the activity in both somatic and sympathetic outflows was coupled. However, since there was also sympathetic neural activity that showed burst discharges in the absence of somatic motor activity, the spinal mechanism responsible for generating sympathetic burst activity was not the same mechanism that was responsible for somato-sympathetic coupling. Therefore, there remained spinal mechanisms that were capable of generating bursting activity independently of somatic and sympathetic activities. When NMDA was added to the perfusate to induce rhythmic somatic motor activity, a dose-dependent bursting pattern in sympathetic efferent and somatic motor nerves was evoked that was coupled at similar frequencies. Correlational analyses found a strong coherence between somatic motor outflow and sympathetic efferent discharge when triggered from peaks in somatic motor activity. However, this synchronization was not found when triggered from the peaks of sympathetic discharge. This finding led Chizh et al. (1998) to hypothesize that the generating mechanism responsible for somatic locomotor activity was the same mechanism responsible for coupling somatic outflow to sympathetic activity. These findings support the notion that the spinal cord possesses the necessary neuronal ‘machinery’ for generating and coupling sympathetic discharge with somatic motor outflow independently of supraspinal structures (i.e. the spinal rhythm generator represents a spinal central command). Important adjustments occur in the heart and blood vessels during exercise in order to provide the appropriate oxygen delivery to match the metabolic demand of contracting skeletal muscle. The coupling of somatic motor and sympathetic outflows is mediated by supraspinal neural mechanisms (supraspinal central command) in humans and animals (Fig. 1). In humans, intense intermittent static exercise produced a one-to-one synchronization of somatic motor activity with muscle sympathetic nerve activity that was purportedly directed to skeletal muscle vasculature (Victor et al. 1995). This synchronization persisted in the presence of both partial neuromuscular blockade (i.e. to increase central command) and after local anaesthetic block of the arm nerves to eliminate afferent feedback from skeletal muscle. Likewise, electrical and chemical stimulation of the hypothalamic locomotor region in decorticate cats after neuromuscular blockade evokes fictive locomotion that produces increases in arterial blood pressure (Waldrop et al. 1996) and synchronization of sympathetic nerve activity with hindlimb motor nerve activity (Hajduczok et al. 1991). And, as seen in humans, the synchronization of somatic motor activity and sympathetic discharge was unaffected by peripheral feedback mechanisms. These findings suggest that central command signals of supraspinal origin can regulate and co-ordinate sympathetic and somatomotor outflows during exercise. Figure 1 Synchronization of somatic motor outflow and sympathetic efferent activity during exercise is mediated by supraspinal and spinal mechanisms. The important work of Chizh et al. (1998) extends our understanding of the synchronization of somatic motor activity and sympathetic outflow by highlighting the role of a spinal somato-sympathetic generator (Fig. 1). Also, the coupling of somato-sympathetic neural outflows in the spinal cord may represent an exquisite mechanism to finely tune sympathetic discharge to the segmental level of somatic motor outflow during exercise. Finally, {fontsize the degree to which supraspinal central command signals influence the somato-sympathetic spinal generator needs to be studied to further our understanding of somato-sympathetic coupling during volitional exercise.

In this paper, we propose an autonomous Indoor lighting control system in which indoor lighting devices are autonomously controlled such that electricity bills are minimized in our daily life. Our focus is to utilize Passive Infrared (PIR) sensors to detect the presence of human being indoor and automatically to control indoor lighting electric devices. A control algorithm is also devised to control the whole system. We justify the proposed system by demonstrating specific applications in our everyday life. Cost survey and experimental results also demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed system in real life.

Hybrid control systems contain two distinct types of systems, continuous state and discrete-state, that interact with each other. Their study is essential in designing sequential supervisory controllers for continuous-state systems, and it is central in designing control systems with high degree of autonomy. After an introduction to intelligent autonomous control and its relation to hybrid control, models for the plant, controller, and interface are introduced. The interface contains memoryless mappings between the supervisor's symbolic domain and the plant's nonsymbolic state space. The simplicity and generality afforded by the assumed interface allows us to directly confront important system theoretic issues in the design of supervisory control systems. such as determinism, quasideterminism, and the relationship of hybrid system theory to the more mature theory of logical discrete event systems.

<div class="htmlview paragraph">The Columbus laboratory module, developed by Astrium Bremen as prime contractor and Alenia Spazio as co-prime, is the European contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) program and as such it will support, once in orbit, micro-gravity and space based research activities of the member states.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Columbus Environmental Control System (ECS) employs an Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) providing atmosphere pressure, cabin ventilation and temperature humidity control inside the module in conjunction with an autonomous Active Thermal Control System (ATCS) that provides the heat collection capability. The ATCS, based on software controlled water loop, provides also the cooling capability for Payloads and Subsystem equipment. The ECS is completed with the Passive Thermal Control System based on software controlled shell heating system plus passive fixtures such as Multi-Layers Insulation (MLI) blankets.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Generally, both, the Columbus ATCS as well as the ECLSS are qualified via simplified but representative tests and concluding analyses. Complete verification of the module thermal and environmental control design however, will be performed via analysis supported by ECS System Level Integrated Test as well as the predictions for flight.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">With respect to responsibility sharing, Alenia is responsible for all verification by test related to thermal/environmental aspects, i.e. Alenia will define the test requirements and cases to be performed via the establishment of a dedicated test specification. On the other side, definition and production of the test set-up as well as the performance of the test is assigned to the Columbus prime Astrium SI Bremen.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">In order to get confidence on the functional performance of the Columbus ECS and to validate the Integrated Overall Thermal Mathematical Model (IOTMM) on system level the module will be subjected to an Integrated System Test (IST).</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Purpose of the ECS IST is to provide the first verification of the thermal/environmental interrelation between the active cooling (ATCS) and environmental control system (ECLSS) hardware and software and to collect as much characteristic thermal data as possible for the validation of the flight configuration IOTMM. This test will represent the second and last test in series on the flight configuration of the Columbus module.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Previous tests, for verification of the functional interfaces of the ATCS and ECLSS, have been performed already in the frame of the Electrical Test Model (ETM) utilization. However, this test did not provide information on environmental and thermal parameters of the system but rather on the functional interrelations of the relevant units of the subsystems. Presently, the subject test will be performed in the integration hall of Astrium SI Bremen (Class 100.000 clean room conditions) and the pressurized shell is planned to be covered by the flight multi-layer insulation only located beneath the meteoroid debris panels (MDPS) of the module. However, in order to get as much as possible characteristic data of the system not only the test cases have to be selected very carefully but also additional test supporting equipment (TSE) has to be evaluated.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">The present paper summarizes the efforts generated to establish the Environmental/Thermal test in the frame of the system level IST of the Columbus module, describes the interrelation aspects of the thermal/environmental subsystem verification by test and analysis and presents the derived methodologies and expected results.</div>

Nowadays, the development of modern technologies in the transportation area has increased rapidly. The latest technology is focused on autonomous vehicles. The most important aspect in autonomous vehicle control systems is safety, smooth operation and comfort. It can be provided by the natural element which is from human behavior as a reference to the autonomous control system. This paper is briefly describing the human behavior during braking for autonomous electric vehicle (AEV) control system development. To obtain the human behaviour during accelerating and braking, two units of angle sensors were installed to the accelerator and brake pedal of an electric car to measure the angle of both pedals. Real-time speed is recorded by using a GPS unit. The experiment is focused on braking characteristic of the electric vehicle. It was carried out based on four different distances with fixed initial speed before braking action was recorded. A software interface was designed to display and control real-time speed and pedal angle value during operation.

Production planning and control (PPC) systems have to cope with rising complexity and dynamics that arise from a higher demand for individualized goods, short delivery times, a strict adherence to due dates and internal unexpected events, e.g. machine breakdowns or rush orders. Conventional production planning and control methods cannot handle unpredictable events and disturbances in a satisfactory manner because in practice the complexity of centralized architectures tends to grow rapidly with size, resulting in rapid deterioration of fault tolerance, adaptability and flexibility [8]. One approach to overcome these difficulties is to develop decentralized systems with autonomous control methods to reduce the complexity that has to be taken into account for rendering decisions [13].

Design concept of FPGA based hardware controller is proposed with basic modules for the development of power electronics applications. Also an autonomous decentralized control system for single phase UPS inverter with FPGA based hardware controller using software CPU core is described. Progress of FPGA technology makes it possible to include the software macro CPU core into the FPGA chip, a high flexibility can be realized for the construction of the control processor in power electronics application. But the basic modules for power electronics application are not enough in the environment of FPGA development platform. In this paper, several modules are presented for power electronics applications, and also proposed an autonomous distributed control system for single phase UPS inverter with FPGA based hardware controller using CPU core. The advantages of FPGA based hardware control system are discussed.

This paper aims to analyze the potential contributions of the organization principle autonomous co-operation and control to the innovation capabilities of logistics systems and their sub-systems like single organizations. Therefore, the concept of Complex Adaptive Logistics Systems (CALS) will be introduced and the essentiality of the heterogeneity of the elements within logistics systems for their innovation capabilities will be emphasized. One possible driver for homogeneity is the so-called dominant logic.

Autonomous and teleoperation control of a mobile robot

An Autonomous Reactivity Control system for improved fast reactor safety