Prototyping low-cost automatic weather stations for natural disaster monitoring

Weather events put human lives at risk mostly when people might occupy areas susceptible to natural disasters.Deploying Professional Weather Stations(PWS)in vulnerable areas is key for monitoring weather with reliable measurements.However,such professional instrumentation is notably expensive while remote sensing from a number of stations is paramount.This imposes challenges on the large-scale weather station deployment for broad monitoring from large observation networks such as in Cemaden—The Brazilian National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters.In this context,in this paper,we propose a Low-Cost Automatic Weather Station(LCAWS)system developed from Commercial Off-The-Shelf(COTS)and open-source Internet of Things(IoT)technologies,which provides measurements as reliable as a reference PWS for natural disaster monitoring.When being automatic,LCAWS is a stand-alone photovoltaic system connected wirelessly to the Internet in order to provide real-time reliable end-to-end weather measurements.To achieve data reliability,we propose an intelligent sensor calibration method to correct measures.From a 30-day uninterrupted observation with sampling in minute resolution,we show that the calibrated LCAWS sensors have no statistically significant differences from the PWS measurements.As such,LCAWS has opened opportunities for reducing maintenance costs in Cemaden's observational network.

Desktop calibration of automatic transmission for passenger vehicle

Desktop calibration of automatic transmission(AT) is a method which can reduce cost, enhance efficiency and shorten the development periods of a vehicle effectively. We primary introduced the principle and approach of desktop calibration of AT based on the condition of coupling characteristics between engine and torque converter and obtained right point exactly. It is shown to agree with experimental measurements reasonably well. It was used in different applications abroad based on AT technology and achieved a good performance of the vehicle compared with traditional AT technology which primary focuses on the drivability, performance and fuel consumption.

Searching for an Optimized Single-objective Function Matching Multiple Objectives with Automatic Calibration of Hydrological Models

In the calibration of hydrological models, evaluation criteria are explicitly and quantitatively defined as single-or multi-objective functions when utilizing automatic calibration approaches.In most previous studies, there is a general opinion that no single-objective function can represent all important characteristics of even one specific hydrological variable(e.g., streamflow).Thus hydrologists must turn to multi-objective calibration.In this study, we demonstrated that an optimized single-objective function can compromise multi-response modes(i.e., multi-objective functions) of the hydrograph, which is defined as summation of a power function of the absolute error between observed and simulated streamflow with the exponent of power function optimized for specific watersheds.The new objective function was applied to 196 model parameter estimation experiment(MOPEX) watersheds across the eastern United States using the semi-distributed Xinanjiang hydrological model.The optimized exponent value for each watershed was obtained by targeting four popular objective functions focusing on peak flows, low flows, water balance, and flashiness, respectively.Results showed that the optimized single-objective function can achieve a better hydrograph simulation compared to the traditional single-objective function Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient for most watersheds, and balance high flow part and low flow part of the hydrograph without substantial differences compared to multi-objective calibration.The proposed optimal single-objective function can be practically adopted in the hydrological modeling if the optimal exponent value could be determined a priori according to hydrological/climatic/landscape characteristics in a specific watershed.

Contact High-Temperature Strain Automatic Calibration and Precision Compensation Research

Automated control and calibration are important components in industrial process and in artificial intelligence system and robotics.In order to solve the problem of contact high-temperature strain precision measurement,this paper established an automatic calibration device for high-temperature strain gauges.The temperature of the high-temperature furnace is automatically controlled by the temperature control device.The electric cylinder is driven by the servo motor to apply the load to the calibration beam.The output signal of the high-temperature strain gauge,the thermocouple signal,and the displacement signal of the grating ruler are collected at the same time.The deformation measurement results obtained after temperature correction are used to calculate the theoretical mechanical strain,which are fed back to control the loading action to complete the automatic calibration process.Based on the above calibration device,the hightemperature strain measurement accuracy correction software is developed to calibrate the high-temperature strain gauge with multiparameters,and the curves of sensitivity coefficient,thermal output,zero drift,and creep characteristics with temperature are obtained,and a strain measurement accuracy compensation model is established.The high-temperature strain measurement experiment is carried out to verify that the modified model can meet the requirements in each temperature range.

Design of Automatic Batch Calibration and Correction System for IMU

Thanks to its light weight,low power consumption,and low price,the inertial measurement units(IMUs)have been widely used in civil and military applications such as autopilot,robotics,and tactical weapons.The calibration is an essential procedure before the IMU is put in use,which is generally used to estimate the error parameters such as the bias,installation error,scale factor of the IMU.Currently,the manual one-by-one calibration is still the mostly used manner,which is low in efficiency,time-consuming,and easy to introduce mis-operation.Aiming at this issue,this paper designs an automatic batch calibration method for a set of IMUs.The designed automatic calibration master controller can control the turntable and the data acquisition system at the same time.Each data acquisition front-end can complete data acquisition of eight IMUs one time.And various scenarios of experimental tests have been carried out to validate the proposed design,such as the multi-position tests,the rate tests and swaying tests.The results illustrate the reliability of each function module and the feasibility automatic batch calibration.Compared with the traditional calibration method,the proposed design can reduce errors caused by the manual calibration and greatly improve the efficiency of IMU calibration.

Automatic calibration for wobble errors in shallow water multibeam bathymetries

The wobble errors caused by the imperfect integration of motion sensors and transducers in multibeam echo-sounder systems(MBES)manifest as high-frequency wobbles in swaths and hinder the accurate expression of high-resolution seabed micro-topography under a dynamic marine environment.There are many types of wobble errors with certain coupling among them.However,those current calibration methods ignore the coupling and are mainly manual adjustments.Therefore,we proposed an automatic calibration method with the coupling.First,given the independence of the transmitter and the receiver,the traditional georeferenced model is modified to improve the accuracy of footprint reduction.Secondly,based on the improved georeferenced model,the calibration model associated with motion scale,time delay,yaw misalignment,lever arm errors,and soundings is constructed.Finally,the genetic algorithm(GA)is used to search dynamically for the optimal estimation of the corresponding error parameters to realize the automatic calibration of wobble errors.The simulated data show that the accuracy of the calibrated data can be controlled within 0.2%of the water depth.The measured data show that after calibration,the maximum standard deviation of the depth is reduced by about 5.9%,and the mean standard deviation of the depth is reduced by about 11.2%.The proposed method has significance in the precise calibration of dynamic errors in shallow water multibeam bathymetrie s.

An Automatic Optimization Technique for the Calibration of a Physically Based Hydrological Rainfall-Runoff Model

Models are tools widely used in the prediction of hydrological phenomena. The present study aims to contribute to the implementation of an automatic optimization strategy of parameters for the calibration of a hydrological model based on the least action principle (HyMoLAP). The Downhill Simplex method is also known as the Nelder-Mead algorithm, which is a heuristic research method, is used to optimize the cost function on a given domain. The performance of the model is evaluated by the Nash Stucliffe Efficiency Index (NSE), the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), the coefficient of determination (R2), the Mean Absolute Error (MAE). A comparative estimation is conducted using the Nash-Sutcliffe Modeling Efficiency Index and the mean relative error to evaluate the performance of the optimization method. It appears that the variation in water balance parameter values is acceptable. The simulated optimization method appears to be the best in terms of lower variability of parameter values during successive tests. The quality of the parameter sets obtained is good enough to impact the performance of the objective functions in a minimum number of iterations. We have analyzed the algorithm from a technical point of view, and we have carried out an experimental comparison between specific factors such as the model structure and the parameter’s values. The results obtained confirm the quality of the model (NSE = 0.90 and 0.75 respectively in calibration and validation) and allow us to evaluate the efficiency of the Nelder-Mead algorithm in the automatic calibration of the HyMoLAP model. The developed hybrid automatic calibration approach is therefore one of the promising ways to reduce computational time in rainfall-runoff modeling.

QA/QC Procedures for <i>in-Situ</i>Calibration of a High Altitude Automatic Weather Station: The Case Study of the AWS Pyramid, 5050 m asl, Khumbu Valley, Nepal

In-situ calibrations of weather stations are usually performed by positioning standard instruments close to the station under calibration and comparing the obtained results. This procedure could be useful to evaluate the proper functioning of the monitoring equipments, but do not allowed the determination of a calibration curve that allow the corrections of the acquired parameters. Thus, the development of a dedicated facility for in-situ calibration of weather stations, enabling simultaneous generation of a wide range of temperatures and pressures could offer important improvements in this framework, particularly if this facility is applied to high mountains monitoring stations where the weather stations calibrations could be very difficult. This paper will present the calibration chamber developed in the framework of the EMRP-METEOMET (Metrology for Meteorology) Project, which aims is to bring metrological traceability to high altitude meteorological instruments and through this experience will provide a general overview on the importance of the application of this methodology at different levels.

Automatic calculation of the magnetometer zero offset using the interplanetary magnetic field based on the Wang-Pan method

The space-borne fluxgate magnetometer(FGM)requires regular in-flight calibration to obtain its zero offset.Recently,Wang GQ and Pan ZH(2021a)developed a new method for the zero offset calibration based on the properties of Alfvén waves.They found that an optimal offset line(OOL)exists in the offset cube for a pure Alfvén wave and that the zero offset can be determined by the intersection of at least two nonparallel OOLs.Because no pure Alfvén waves exist in the interplanetary magnetic field,calculation of the zero offset relies on the selection of highly Alfvénic fluctuation events.Here,we propose an automatic procedure to find highly Alfvénic fluctuations in the solar wind and calculate the zero offset.This procedure includes three parts:(1)selecting potential Alfvénic fluctuation events,(2)obtaining the OOL,and(3)determining the zero offset.We tested our automatic procedure by applying it to the magnetic field data measured by the FGM onboard the Venus Express.The tests revealed that our automatic procedure was able to achieve results as good as those determined by the Davis-Smith method.One advantage of our procedure is that the selection criteria and the process for selecting the highly Alfvénic fluctuation events are simpler.Our automatic procedure could also be applied to find fluctuation events for the Davis-Smith method.

一种应用于大尺寸测量系统的坐标系自动标定方法

针对现有方法在标定过程中过于繁琐的问题,提出了一种应用于大尺寸测量系统的坐标系全自动标定方法。该方法通过固定两个在测量单元局部坐标系已知坐标的测量节点作为标记靶,测量单元之间相互测量彼此的标记靶获得标记靶上的测量点在不同坐标系下的坐标值,利用这些坐标值建立三维几何约束,从而自动标定不同坐标系之间的坐标转换关系。借助于精密激光定位系统平台进行实验验证,结果表明,所提方法可以实现测量单元局部坐标系之间的自动标定,降低了坐标系标定过程中的人工成本。在距离测量单元布站区域约2 m,大小为5 000 mm×5 000 mm×500 mm的测量空间中长度测量的精度在0.46 mm/m以内,测试点三维坐标测量的标准偏差在0.026 mm以内,可以满足绝大部分工业测量的需求。该方法极大的提高了系统的标定效率,有望为具有自动标定功能的大尺寸测量设备的产品化提供新的理论基础。

基于LabVIEW的红外气体传感器自动批量标定测试系统

针对红外气体传感器在标定过程中存在效率低、工作量大、易出错等问题,设计了一种基于LabVIEW的红外气体传感器自动批量标定测试系统。系统由红外气体传感器、流量计、温湿度实验箱、采集板及上位机组成。采用LabVIEW编写软件程序,功能包括:参数设置、采集板和红外气体传感器的连通性测试、控制温箱和流量计实现定时保温和定时通入比例气体、采集红外气体传感器数据、自动标定、自动处理数据等。该软件编程采用多线程,保证各项功能同时进行,具有界面美观、运行速度快、稳定性强、可靠性高的优点。标定测试结果显示:系统结构紧凑,运行稳定且操作简单,该系统可高效并广泛应用在实际生活中的大批量红外传感器自动标定。

基于上位机的工业机器人磨头工具坐标系自动标定技术研究

将工业机器人自动标定引入制造领域,能够在需要更换执行工具时实现快速标定,提高效率。针对目前工业机器人工具坐标系需要人工操作示教器进行标定的情况,设计了一种基于上位机的机器人磨头工具坐标系自动标定系统。该系统通过上位机软件实现对FANUC M20iA/20M工业机器人磨头工具坐标系的自动标定,包括工具中心点位置标定和工具中心点姿态标定,降低了示教器的介入,减少了标定时间。工具中心点位置标定通过四点标定法求解末端连杆坐标系位姿数据,应用最小二乘法求解磨头工具坐标系位置,采用四元数表示法降低计算量;工具中心点姿态标定保持工具坐标系位姿不变,记录不同标定点的末端连杆坐标系数据,并设计关节运动控制模块、设置坐标系模块和位姿标定线性移动模块。上位机通过Socket与机器人通信联动,发送控制指令,实现自动标定过程控制。仿真与实验结果表明,所设计标定系统能够对磨头工具坐标系实现自动高精度标定,标定精度±0.3 mm,满足实际加工需求,为后续的工业机器人磨抛加工应用奠定了基础。

风机叶片角焊缝识别与跟踪视觉系统设计

工业风机具有叶轮结构和叶片型面复杂、加工精度要求高的特点,一直以来实现叶片自动化焊接是个难题。本文设计了由机器人本体、移动导轨和变位机组成的多轴联动机器人风机叶片焊接工作站,通过激光视觉传感器扫描定位焊缝位置实现高精度自动焊接。采用一种新的相机标定方法,计算特制标定板上标定点在图像坐标系和机器人坐标系下的位置得到标定矩阵。编写LoG滤波和形态学运算图像处理算法,消除反射光及噪音点,采用几何中心法和改进的灰度重心法得到亚像素级激光条纹中心点;通过RANSAC算法拟合直线,根据直线相交法得到焊缝特征点;最后根据手眼标定矩阵得到特征点的三维坐标,从而引导机器人实现自动焊接。焊接实验结果表明,焊缝成型良好,无明显缺陷,焊点位置误差控制在±1.5 mm以内,满足实际焊接工艺需求。

基于误差修正的光面塞规直径高精度自动检定

针对航空制造企业光面塞规大批量检定中存在的检定精度及效率低、人工操作烦琐等不足,提出一种基于机器视觉和激光测径相结合的光面塞规直径测量方法。由激光测径仪测量塞规直径,机器视觉模块同步检测塞规在测径仪光幕当中的姿态,并对测径仪测量值进行修正。同时,利用专用工装配合气浮运动机构实现多个塞规的自动切换及单个塞规的多位置自动测量。试验结果表明,该系统的重复测量标准差为0.16μm,与立光计测量值相比的绝对测量误差≤0.5μm,塞规单端测量时间≤45 s,能够满足生产中的常用光面塞规快速高精度检定要求。

基于机器视觉的钢水自动化取样

钢水分析是钢铁生产重要的过程控制环节。针对现有人工钢水取样危险系数高、工作环境恶劣,基于机器视觉的钢水自动化取样系统设计,采用机械臂完成钢水自动化取样。基于CCD获取的钢水样件图像,设计了分区特征提取算法,实现了图像坐标系下抓取位置及抓取方向的识别。通过摄像机标定、手眼标定、末端转轴映射函数,完成了图像坐标系下抓取位置、方向到机械臂基座坐标系下抓取位置、姿态的转化。实验验证了设计系统的有效性,针对直径6 mm、长度为50 mm的钢水样件把手,机械臂定位抓取位置偏差不高于2 mm,方向偏差不高于2°,精度满足应用需求。

汽车自动变速器换挡控制自动校准算法研究

为改善自动变速器的换挡特性,提出了一种基于模型的自动变速器离合器液压自动校准方法,实现离合器换挡参数的自动调整。该校准方法包括自动变速器仿真模型、车辆仿真分析算法和基于优化过程的自动校准算法,并在优化过程中进行迭代仿真和分析。以通电换挡为研究对象,仿真结果表明无论是通电升挡,还是通电降挡,该方法均能够有效地执行离合器液压曲线的基本映射,通过所提出的校准方法能够缩短实际车辆试验前的校准时间,提高自动变速器开发过程的效率。

明渠非标准断面法测流水位流量关系的率定及影响因素分析

为探究明渠非标准断面法测流的水位流量关系曲线的率定问题,以新疆第三师某团场25处渠道量水断面为研究对象,利用FlowTracker 2手持式声学多普勒流速仪进行了水位流量关系率定工作.根据实测结果,率定了各渠道量水断面的水位流量关系曲线,并对所率定出的曲线进行了符号检验、适线检验和偏离数值检验及误差分析,在此基础上,对流量拟合参数的影响因素进行了分析.结果表明:所率定的25处渠道量水断面中,14处具有稳定的水位流量关系,5处受回水影响、6处受渠道淤积影响为不稳定的水位流量关系;在渠道粗糙系数Ra、边坡系数m及坡降i相同的条件下,流量拟合参数与渠道底宽b总体上呈正相关;在渠道粗糙系数Ra、边坡系数m及底宽b相同的条件下,流量拟合参数与渠道坡降i总体上呈负相关.研究结果可以为灌区自动化量水设备测流准确性的校核提供参考依据.

用于温度传感器原位在线校准的水三相点自动复现控制系统

温度传感器在长时间温度测量中会出现性能漂移导致测量误差,为现场实时校准温度传感器实现长期稳定的高精度测量,需要基于国际温标ITS-90规定的温度固定点,对传感器进行无人自主原位校准。水三相点是水、冰、气三相平衡共存的温度点,其温度为国际温标中的0.01℃固定点,是对传感器进行校准的最常用的固定温度点。水三相点瓶是再现水三相点的关键装置。相较于传统的玻璃外壳水三相点瓶,金属外壳的水三相点瓶更为耐用,更适用于自动原位校准。为了实现水三相点的自动浮现,根据高纯水自发相变原理,设计了一种基于半导体帕尔贴效应快速稳定复现水三相点的自动控制系统及其控制方法。利用热电制冷器(TEC)和温度控制器为金属水三相点瓶提供过冷环境,在基于模型的制冷调度算法控制下,实现了较长时间保持稳定的水三相点状态。实验室测试表明,该控制系统可以在150 min内达到0.01℃的温坪,并保持稳定的三相点温度20 min及温度波动度±1 mK。温度原位在线自动校准系统可以为深海、深空及偏远地区的高精度温度测量提供校准服务。

基于C#的微波器件自动校准系统的设计与实现

针对校准时,微波器件存在人工操作量大、存在读数误差等问题,本文采用C#面向对象语言,设计了一款模块化自动校准软件。该软件采用SCPI命令控制仪器;基于ACCESS数据库,实现基本信息和数据的处理存储;将图形数据转化成二进制流实现测量图形导出。同时,运用Word文档自动生成原始记录和校准证书。试验表明:该软件运行稳定、数据处理准确,满足使用要求,可实现微波器件的自动校准,提高工作效率。