Dynamics Modeling and Simulation of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with Appendages

To provide a simulation system platform for designing and debugging a small autonomous underwater vehicle＇s （AUV） motion controller, a six-degree of freedom （6-DOF） dynamic model for AUV controlled by thruster and fins with appendages is examined. Based on the dynamic model, a simulation system for the AUV＇s motion is established. The different kinds of typical motions are simulated to analyze the motion performance and the maneuverability of the AUV. In order to evaluate the influences of appendages on the motion performance of the AUV, simulations of the AUV with and without appendages are performed and compared. The results demonstrate the AUV has good maneuverability with and without appendages.

PERFORMANCE SIMULATION OF VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH TRACTION DRIVE CVTS

A computer model for the performance simulation of vehicles equipped with traction drive continuously variable transmission （CVT） is presented. The model integrates the traction drive CVT subsystem into an existing overall vehicle system. The characteristics of engine output torque are formulated using neural networks, and torque converter is modeled using lookup tables. Component inputs and outputs are coupled in the dynamic equations and interfaces in the powertrain system. The model simulation can provide evaluation of vehicle performance in drivability, fuel economy and emission levels for various drive ranges prior to the prototyping of the vehicle. As a design tool, the model assists engineers in understanding the effect ofpowertrain components on vehicle performance and making decisions in the selection of key design parameters. The model is implemented in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. The performance simulation of a test vehicle is included as a numerical example to illustrate the effectiveness of the model.

A leveling mechanism for the platform based on booms-constraint control of aerial vehicle

In order to achieve an automatic leveling function for work platforms of aerial vehicles with mixed-booms( MAV) in full elevating domain,an auto-leveling mechanism for the platform is proposed based on a control method of booms-constraint,where mixed-boom structures and elevating characteristics are considered. Three models of constraint strategies include non-constraint model,elevating constraint model and lowering constraint model,which is designed to meet the leveling requirements in full working extent. Through the hydro-mechatronic unified modeling,a virtual prototype model is set up based on the auto-leveling mechanism,and leveling performances of the platform are studied during booms elevating to the maximum working height and extent. Simulation results show that the control method of booms-constraint can realize auto-leveling of the platform under two typical working conditions,meanwhile a leveling deviation appears at the constrained point,but the platform inclination is adjusted in the permissible range. The control method does not only restrict booms' freedom elevating to a certain extent,but also impacts the booms extending to the maximum working range. Experimental results verify that the auto-leveling mechanism based on booms-constraint control is valid and rational,which provides an effective technology approach for development of the platform leveling of MAV.

Prediction of Spatiotemporal Evolution of Urban Traffic Emissions Based on Taxi Trajectories

With the rapid increase of the amount of vehicles in urban areas,the pollution of vehicle emissions is becoming more and more serious.Precise prediction of the spatiotemporal evolution of urban traffic emissions plays a great role in urban planning and policy making.Most existing methods usually focus on estimating vehicle emissions at historical or current moments which cannot well meet the demands of future planning.Recent work has started to pay attention to the evolution of vehicle emissions at future moments using multiple attributes related to emissions,however,they are not effective and efficient enough in the combination and utilization of different inputs.To address this issue,we propose a joint framework to predict the future evolution of vehicle emissions based on the GPS trajectories of taxis with a multi-channel spatiotemporal network and the motor vehicle emission simulator(MOVES)model.Specifically,we first estimate the spatial distribution matrices with GPS trajectories through map-matching algorithms.These matrices can reflect the attributes related to the traffic status of road networks such as volume,speed and acceleration.Then,our multi-channel spatiotemporal network is used to efficiently combine three key attributes(volume,speed and acceleration)through the feature sharing mechanism and generate a precise prediction of them in the future period.Finally,we adopt an MOVES model to estimate vehicle emissions by integrating several traffic factors including the predicted traffic states,road networks and the statistical information of urban vehicles.We evaluate our model on the Xi′an taxi GPS trajectories dataset.Experiments show that our proposed network can effectively predict the temporal evolution of vehicle emissions.