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At least 235 records · Page 13

Stability analysis of large space structure control systems with delayed input

Large space structural systems, due to their inherent flexibility and low mass to area ratio, are represented by large dimensional mathematical models. For implementation of the control laws for such systems a finite amount of time is required to evaluate the control signals; and this time delay may cause instability in the closed loop control system that was previously designed without taking the input delay into consideration. The stability analysis of a simple harmonic oscillator representing the equation of a single mode as a function of delay time is treated analytically and verified numerically. The effect of inherent damping on the delay is also analyzed. The control problem with delayed input is also formulated in the discrete time domain.

Reddy, A. S. S. R.↗

Stability analysis of large space structure control systems with delayed input

Large space structural systems, due to their inherent flexibility and low mass to area ratio, are represented by large dimensional mathematical models. For implementation of the control laws for such systems a finite amount of time is required to evaluate the control signals; and this time delay may cause instability in the closed loop control system that was previously designed without taking the input delay into consideration. The stability analysis of a simple harmonic oscillator representing the equation of a single mode as a function of delay time is analyzed analytically and verified numerically. The effect of inherent damping on the delay is also analyzed. The control problem with delayed input is also formulated in the discrete time domain.

Reddy, A. S. S. R.↗

Communications interface for wireless communications headset

A universal interface adapter circuit interfaces, for example, a wireless communications headset with any type of communications system, including those that require push-to-talk (PTT) signaling. The interface adapter is comprised of several main components, including an RF signaling receiver, a microcontroller and associated circuitry for decoding and processing the received signals, and programmable impedance matching and line interfacing circuitry for interfacing a wireless communications headset system base to a communications system. A signaling transmitter, which is preferably portable (e.g., handheld), is employed by the wireless headset user to send signals to the signaling receiver. In an embodiment of the invention directed specifically to push-to-talk (PTT) signaling, the wireless headset user presses a button on the signaling transmitter when they wish to speak. This sends a signal to the microcontroller which decodes the signal and recognizes the signal as being a PTT request. In response, the microcontroller generates a control signal that closes a switch to complete a voice connection between the headset system base and the communications system so that the user can communicate with the communications system. With this arrangement, the wireless headset can be interfaced to any communications system that requires PTT signaling, without modification of the headset device. In addition, the interface adapter can also be configured to respond to or deliver any other types of signals, such as dual-tone-multiple-frequency (DTMF) tones, and on/off hook signals. The present invention is also scalable, and permits multiple wireless users to operate independently in the same environment through use of a plurality of the interface adapters.

Seibert, Marc A.↗

Visualizing Vehicle Acceleration and Braking Energy at Intersections along a Major Traffic Corridor

Automobiles approaching a controlled intersection need to brake and come to a full stop when the signal transitions from green to red, and the vehicle must later accelerate to normal speeds after the signal changes back to green. These stops and starts associated with normal signal changes lead to unnecessary energy consumption and vehicle emissions. Previous studies have revealed that the optimization of traffic intersections' signal controls and coordination facilitates smoother traffic flows with reduced stop-and-go driving, which can significantly reduce traffic congestion and unnecessary fuel waste. This paper presents an interactive visual analytics dashboard that allows transportation planners to explore and analyze energy consumption patterns resulting from temporally varying traffic signal phases at multiple intersections along a major transportation corridor using traffic simulation outputs. The visual dashboard is implemented as an accessible and responsive web application and employs a combination of visualization techniques to cover multiple aspects of vehicle acceleration and braking at multiple adjacent intersections along a corridor. The paper presents a case study of a simulated traffic scenario on the Shallowford Road traffic corridor located in Chattanooga, Tennessee to demonstrate the capability of the visual dashboard.

Xu, Haowen↗

Investigation of a stall deterrent system utilizing an acoustic stall sensor

A simple rugged acoustic stall sensor which has an output proportional to angle of attack near wing stall has been evaluated on a Cessna 319 aircraft. A sensor position has been found on the wing where the sensor output is only slightly affected by engine power level, yaw angle, flap position and wing roughness. The NASA LRC General Aviation Simulator has been used to evaluate the acoustic sensor output as a control signal for active stall deterrent systems. It has been found that a simple control algorithm is sufficient for stall deterrence.

Bennett, A. G.↗

Neuromorphic learning of continuous-valued mappings from noise-corrupted data. Application to real-time adaptive control

The ability of feed-forward neural network architectures to learn continuous valued mappings in the presence of noise was demonstrated in relation to parameter identification and real-time adaptive control applications. An error function was introduced to help optimize parameter values such as number of training iterations, observation time, sampling rate, and scaling of the control signal. The learning performance depended essentially on the degree of embodiment of the control law in the training data set and on the degree of uniformity of the probability distribution function of the data that are presented to the net during sequence. When a control law was corrupted by noise, the fluctuations of the training data biased the probability distribution function of the training data sequence. Only if the noise contamination is minimized and the degree of embodiment of the control law is maximized, can a neural net develop a good representation of the mapping and be used as a neurocontroller. A multilayer net was trained with back-error-propagation to control a cart-pole system for linear and nonlinear control laws in the presence of data processing noise and measurement noise. The neurocontroller exhibited noise-filtering properties and was found to operate more smoothly than the teacher in the presence of measurement noise.

Troudet, Terry↗

Relationships between digital signal processing and control and estimation theory

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

Willsky, A. S.↗

A frequency division multiplex technique for transmitting commands

Reliable random access multiplexer is controlled and operated over two twisted-pair telephone lines at distances of 5.6 to 8.0 km with control signals of less than 10 volts rms. Technique adapts to any process or environmental control system where data source is necessary.

Brey, H.↗

Control conditioning

A system includes control circuitry configured to control an output signal. The control circuitry and/or various other sources of undesirable signal components may corrupt the control signal used by the control circuitry to correct the output signal. Conditioning circuitry may effect current-domain repair on the control circuitry by providing feedback-based conditioning actuation, including comparator overdrive, to the control circuitry.

Avestruz, Al-Thaddeus↗

Computer-controlled vibration testing

System features quickly achieved steady state, increased accuracy of spectrum definition, and true Gaussian amplitude distribution of resulting signals. Controlled shock-tests might also be tried with this system.

Chapman, C. P.↗

Modified hybrid control of robot manipulators for high precision assembly operations

This paper is concerned with applications of robot manipulators in high precision assembly tasks that can be successfully performed by employing a hybrid control scheme that independently controls force and position. A traditional hybrid control scheme is implemented in Cartesian space. In the modified hybrid control scheme introduced in this paper, the error driven control signals are expressed in joint space. This paper studies the implementation of the modified hybrid control scheme on a two-degree-of-freedom robot manipulator with a closed-kinematic chain mechanism. The performance of the traditional and modified hybrid control schemes is comparatively evaluated by computer simulation in terms of computation time and accuracy for several study cases.

Nguyen, Charles C.↗

Adaptive Strategies for Controls of Flexible Arms

An adaptive controller for a modern manipulator has been designed based on asymptotical stability via the Lyapunov criterion with the output error between the system and a reference model used as the actuating control signal. Computer simulations were carried out to test the design. The combination of the adaptive controller and a system vibration and mode shape estimator show that the flexible arm should move along a pre-defined trajectory with high-speed motion and fast vibration setting time. An existing computer-controlled prototype two link manipulator, RALF (Robotic Arm, Large Flexible), with a parallel mechanism driven by hydraulic actuators was used to verify the mathematical analysis. The experimental results illustrate that assumed modes found from finite element techniques can be used to derive the equations of motion with acceptable accuracy. The robust adaptive (modal) control is implemented to compensate for unmodelled modes and nonlinearities and is compared with the joint feedback control in additional experiments. Preliminary results show promise for the experimental control algorithm.

Yuan, Bau-San↗

Decoupling Control For Oblique-Wing Airplane

Technical memorandum proposes procedure for mathematical synthesis of control signals proportional to commanded deflections of rudder, elevators, and ailerons of oblique-wing airplane. Procedure designed to generate signals compensating for aerodynamical and inertial cross-coupling among yawing, pitching, and rolling motions. Control interactions decoupled by feedforward and feedback.

Kempel, Robert W.↗

Forward sensitivity analysis and mode dependent control for closure modeling of Galerkin systems

Model reduction by projection-based approaches is often associated with losing some of the important features that contribute towards the dynamics of the retained scales. As a result, a mismatch occurs between the predicted trajectories of the original system and the truncated one. We put forth a framework to apply a continuous time control signal in the latent space of the reduced order model (ROM) to account for the effect of truncation. We set the control input using parameterized models by following energy transfer principles. Our methodology relies on observing the system behavior in the physical space and using the projection operator to restrict the feedback signal into the latent space. Then, we leverage the forward sensitivity method (FSM) to derive relationships between the feedback and the desired mode-dependent control. We test the performance of the proposed approach using two test cases, corresponding to viscous Burgers and vortex merger problems at high Reynolds number. Results show that the ROM trajectory with the applied FSM control closely matches its target values in both the data-dense and data-sparse regimes.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Evaluation of Fairchild's Gate Drive Optocoupler, Type FOD3150, Under Wide Temperature Operation

An optocoupler is a semiconductor device that is used to transfer a signal between different parts of a circuit that need to be electrically isolated from one another - for example, where a high voltage is to be switched with a low voltage control signal. Optocouplers often can be used in place of relays. These optocouplers utilize an infrared LED (light emitting diode) and a photodetector such as a silicon controlled rectifier or photosensitive silicon diode for the transfer of the electronic signal between components of a circuit by means of a short optical transmission channel. For maximum coupling, the wave-length responses of the LED and the detector should be very similar. In switch-mode power supply applications, optocouplers offer advantages over transformers by virtue of simpler circuit design, reduced weight, and DC coupling capability. The effects of extreme temperature exposure and thermal cycling on the performance of a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) optocoupler, Fairchild FOD3150, were evaluated in this work. This 1.0 A output current, high noise immunity gate drive optocoupler utilizes an aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) LED, is capable of driving most 800V/20A IGBT/MOSFETs, and is suited for fast switching in motor control inverter applications and high performance power systems. Some of the specifications of the isolator chip are listed. The device was evaluated in terms of output response, output rise (t(sub r)) and fall times (t(sub f)), and propagation delays (using a 50% level between input and output during low to high (t(sub PLH)) and high to low (t(sub PLH)) transitions). The output supply current was also obtained. These parameters were recorded at various test temperatures between -190 C and +110 C.

Patterson, Richard↗

Predictive controller and estimator for NASA Deep Space Network antennas

A new design procedure is presented for a predictive controller that significantly improves antenna tracking performance. The predictive controller uses future values of the stored output command to generate the control signal. For antennas tracking stars or spacecraft, these values are known in advance, hence the predictive control scheme is easily implemented in this case. The predictive controller is designed for tracking control of the the NASA/JPL 70-m antenna. On-axis tracking is considered, where the output is taken on the encoder, or tachometer. Simulation results show a significant improvement in performance over the LQ controller.

Gawronski, W.↗

Calcium and signal transduction in plants

Environmental and hormonal signals control diverse physiological processes in plants. The mechanisms by which plant cells perceive and transduce these signals are poorly understood. Understanding biochemical and molecular events involved in signal transduction pathways has become one of the most active areas of plant research. Research during the last 15 years has established that Ca2+ acts as a messenger in transducing external signals. The evidence in support of Ca2+ as a messenger is unequivocal and fulfills all the requirements of a messenger. The role of Ca2+ becomes even more important because it is the only messenger known so far in plants. Since our last review on the Ca2+ messenger system in 1987, there has been tremendous progress in elucidating various aspects of Ca(2+) -signaling pathways in plants. These include demonstration of signal-induced changes in cytosolic Ca2+, calmodulin and calmodulin-like proteins, identification of different Ca2+ channels, characterization of Ca(2+) -dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) both at the biochemical and molecular levels, evidence for the presence of calmodulin-dependent protein kinases, and increased evidence in support of the role of inositol phospholipids in the Ca(2+) -signaling system. Despite the progress in Ca2+ research in plants, it is still in its infancy and much more needs to be done to understand the precise mechanisms by which Ca2+ regulates a wide variety of physiological processes. The purpose of this review is to summarize some of these recent developments in Ca2+ research as it relates to signal transduction in plants.

NASA Program Space Biology↗