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At least 73 records · Page 4

Adaptive Optimization for System Performance and Combined Bernstein Polynomial, Optimal Reciprocal Collision Avoidance, Differential Dynamic Programming for Trajectory Replanning and Collision Avoidance for UAM Vehicles

The emerging urban air mobility (UAM) sector in aerospace is driving development of unconventional multi-modal vehicle configurations and autonomous flight. The combination of multi-modal vehicle dynamics, complex environment, requirements to deal with flight contingencies in an efficient and safe manner, as well as necessity for precise trajectory following and performance, are the driving influence behind adaptive optimization for system performance. We are interested in trajectory optimization algorithm that would system parameter estimation and identifying the optimal switching time between modes of hybrid dynamical systems. This presentation discusses a parameterized optimal control trajectory optimization algorithm that is an extended and generalized version of Differential Dynamic Programming (DDP), titled Parameterized Differential Dynamic Programming (PDDP). DDP is an efficient trajectory optimization algorithm relying on second order approximations of a system’s dynamics and cost function and has recently been applied to optimize systems with time invariant parameters. Experiments are presented applying PDDP to solve model predictive control (MPC) and moving horizon estimation (MHE) tasks simultaneously. In particular, PDDP is used to determine the optimal transition point between flight regimes of a complex urban air mobility (UAM) class vehicle exhibiting multiple phases of flight and to identify and compensate for actuation faults.

optimization↗

Multiple interaction points in ghost collisions

The Ghost Collider makes use of unique “ghost” bunches, which are electrically neutral combinations of electrons and positrons within the same RF bucket, eliminates the beam-beam effects typically present at the interaction point (IP) in conventional colliders. This allows for the novel possibility of placing multiple interaction regions in series, achieving additive luminosity without introducing significant disruption. However, to get higher luminosity, the beta functions at the IP reaches millimeter scale, which in turn adds significant chromatic contribution to the collider. Correcting these chromatic effects is essential to maintain beam stability and ensure high luminosity during collider operation. By carefully adjusting the phase advance between two IRs that are placed in series, it becomes possible to cancel chromaticity globally, enabling stable collider operation while preserving high luminosity. In this paper we discuss the design of such IR/IRs to be used in a ghost collider.

Accelerator Physics↗

A Multi-Sensor Approach for Measuring Bird and Bat Collisions with Offshore Wind Turbines (Final Technical Report)

Collision of birds and bats with wind turbines is a conservation concern for both land-based and offshore wind projects. The fatality rates of birds and bats at land-based turbines are well documented. The measurement strategies on land focus on finding carcasses following collision, estimating the number of carcasses missed through searcher efficiency, carcass persistence trials and carcass fall distributions, and modeling statistically robust fatality rates. Few technologies have been developed to monitor offshore bird and bat collisions, and many that have been developed focused on detecting collisions with large birds. The few studies that have attempted to document collisions at offshore turbines do not account for smaller bodied animals or for collisions that might be missed, which prevents the calculation of statistically robust fatality rates. The overall goal of this report, A Multi-Sensor Approach for Measuring Bird and Bat Collisions with Offshore Wind Turbines (Project), was to develop an effective multi-sensor system for quantifying bird and bat collision rates, specifically for offshore wind facilities. The Project goal and resulting automated collision detection system was achieved through two major technological advancements: 1) refining The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research’s (TNO’s) existing WT-Bird® vibration sensing system, that had successfully detected large bird collisions during daytime, to allow for improved detection of smaller birds and bats during both daytime and nighttime hours and 2) improving image processing systems and developing and integrating machine learning algorithms to automatically detect and classify small and large bird and bat collisions with offshore turbines. This final technical report (FTR) summarizes Methods , Results , Conclusions , and Lessons Learned during each of the five Tasks identified for this research and development effort. This FTR includes summaries of the following: Task 1. Initial Engineering Tests to Improve WT-Bird® Task 2. Installation of WT‐Bird® on a Utility-scale Turbine at the National Wind Technology Center – National Renewable Energy Laboratory Task 3. Field Tests and Refinement of the Object Detection System Task 4. Validation of WT-Bird® on a Land-based Turbine Task 5. Preparation for the Implementation of WT-Bird® on an Offshore Turbine. This research and development effort documented successful improvement of the WT Bird® collision detection system to detect small birds and bats, and WT-Bird® is the first collision detection system to validate results compared to land-based post-construction monitoring. The collision trials provide estimates of missed targets that can be used to estimate fatality rates, a significant improvement relative to other offshore collision monitoring systems. Advances were made in developing an edge-processing solution to reduce data storage requirements, which is important if the system is deployed for long periods of time at offshore turbines. The improved WT-Bird® system also provides an important option for wind operators on land or offshore who need to document specific details about when collisions occur, particularly efforts to further research on bat impact minimization, or when standard fatality searches are impractical (e.g. offshore) or inadequate (e.g. challenging locations on land).

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Collision detection for spacecraft proximity operations

Collision Detection for Spacecraft Proximity Operations This thesis describes the development of a new collision detection algorithm to be used when two spacecraft are operating in the same vicinity. The two spacecraft are modelled as unions of convex polyhedra, where the polyhedron resulting from the union may be either convex or nonconvex. The relative motion of the two spacecraft is assumed to be such that one vehicle is moving with constant linear and angular velocity with respect to the other. The algorithm determines if a collision is possible and, if so, predicts the time when the collision will take place. The theoretical basis for the new collision detection algorithm is the C-function formulation of the configuration space approach recently introduced by researchers in robotics. Three different types of C-functions are defined that model the contacts between the vertices, edges, and faces of the polyhedra representing the two spacecraft. These C-functions are used to formulate three "collision" conditions. The first of these conditions limits the points representing potential collisions to the zeros of the C-functions. The new algorithm is fundamentally a search for the smallest zero of any C-function that satisfies the second and third collision conditions. The C-functions are shown to be transcendental functions of time for the assumed trajectory of the moving spacecraft. The zeros of these functions cannot be expressed in dosed form. Therefore, numerical search procedures are developed to find aLl of the zeros of a C-function in specified bounded intervals of time. These bounded intervals of time are found by examining the second and third collision conditions. The capabilities of the new algorithm are demonstrated for several example cases. These include examples of collisions determined by zeros of each of the three different types of C-functions. In addition to predicting the time of first contact of the polyhedra, the algorithm identifies the features of the two polyhedra that are touching at this time. The new collision detection algorithm is the first such algorithm that is capable of solving the collision detection problem exactly for the case where the moving object has constant linear and angular velocities. This is a significant improvement on previous collision detection algorithms described in the literature. In particular, the ability to handle constant angular velocity represents a more realistic type of rotational motion than those which have been used in other algorithms.

Robin M Vaughan↗

Nonequilibrium kinetic freeze-out properties in relativistic heavy ion collisions from energies employed at the RHIC beam energy scan to those available at the LHC

In this paper, we investigate the kinetic freeze-out properties in relativistic heavy ion collisions at different collision energies. We present a study of standard Boltzmann-Gibbs blast-wave (BGBW) fits and Tsallis blast-wave (TBW) fits performed on the transverse momentum spectra of identified hadrons produced in Au + Au collisions at collision energies of $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=$7.7 –200 GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), and in Pb + Pb collisions at collision energies of $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=$ 2.76 and 5.02 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The behavior of strange and multistrange particles is also investigated. We found that the TBW model describes data better than the BGBW one overall, and the contrast is more prominent as the collision energy increases as the degree of nonequilibrium of the produced system is found to increase. From TBW fits, the kinetic freeze-out temperature at the same centrality shows a weak dependence of collision energy between 7.7 and 39 GeV, while it decreases as collision energy continues to increase up to 5.02 TeV. The radial flow is found to be consistent with zero in peripheral collisions at RHIC energies but sizable at LHC energies and central collisions at all RHIC energies. We also observed that the strange hadrons, with higher temperature and similar radial flow, approach equilibrium more quickly from peripheral to central collisions than light hadrons. The dependence of temperature and flow velocity on nonequilibrium parameter (q - 1) is characterized by two second-order polynomials. Both a and dξ from the polynomials fit, related to the influence of the system bulk viscosity, increase toward lower RHIC energies.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Cooperative Collision Avoidance Step 1 - Technology Demonstration Flight Test Report. Revision 1

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Access 5 Project Office sponsored a cooperative collision avoidance flight demonstration program for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). This flight test was accomplished between September 21st and September 27th 2005 from the Mojave Airport, Mojave, California. The objective of these flights was to collect data for the Access 5 Cooperative Collision Avoidance (CCA) Work Package simulation effort, i.e., to gather data under select conditions to allow validation of the CCA simulation. Subsequent simulation to be verified were: Demonstrate the ability to detect cooperative traffic and provide situational awareness to the ROA pilot; Demonstrate the ability to track the detected cooperative traffic and provide position information to the ROA pilot; Demonstrate the ability to determine collision potential with detected cooperative traffic and provide notification to the ROA pilot; Demonstrate that the CCA subsystem provides information in sufficient time for the ROA pilot to initiate an evasive maneuver to avoid collision; Demonstrate an evasive maneuver that avoids collision with the threat aircraft; and lastly, Demonstrate the ability to assess the adequacy of the maneuver and determine that the collision potential has been avoided. The Scaled Composites, LLC Proteus Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) was chosen as the test platform. Proteus was manned by two on-board pilots but was also capable of being controlled from an Air Vehicle Control Station (AVCS) located on the ground. For this demonstration, Proteus was equipped with cooperative collision sensors and the required hardware and software to place the data on the downlink. Prior to the flight phase, a detailed set of flight test scenarios were developed to address the flight test objectives. Two cooperative collision avoidance sensors were utilized for detecting aircraft in the evaluation: Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System-II (TCAS-II) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B). A single intruder aircraft was used during all the flight testing, a NASA Gulfstream III (G-III). During the course of the testing, six geometrically different near-collision scenarios were evaluated. These six scenarios were each tested using various combinations of sensors and collision avoidance software. Of the 54 planned test points 49 were accomplished successfully. Proteus flew a total of 21.5 hours during the testing and the G-III flew 19.8 hours. The testing fully achieved all flight test objectives. The Flight IPT performed an analysis to determine the accuracy of the simulation model used to predict the location of the host aircraft downstream during an avoidance maneuver. The data collected by this flight program was delivered to the Access 5 Cooperative Collision Avoidance (CCA) Work Package Team who was responsible for reporting on their analysis of this flight data.

Trongale, Nicholas A.↗