Adaptive Control Based on Neural Networks for an Uncertain 2-DOF Helicopter System With Input Deadzone and Output Constraints

In this paper, a study of control for an uncertain2-degree of freedom(DOF) helicopter system is given. The2-DOF helicopter is subject to input deadzone and output constraints. In order to cope with system uncertainties and input deadzone, the neural network technique is introduced because of its capability in approximation. In order to update the weights of the neural network, an adaptive control method is utilized to improve the system adaptability. Furthermore, the integral barrier Lyapunov function(IBLF) is adopt in control design to guarantee the condition of output constraints and boundedness of the corresponding tracking errors. The Lyapunov direct method is applied in the control design to analyze system stability and convergence. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted to prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control based on the model of Quanser's 2-DOF helicopter.

Layering Precision Land Leveling and Furrow Irrigated Raised Bed Planting: Productivity and Input Use Efficiency of Irrigated Bread Wheat in Indo-Gangetic Plains

Stagnating yield and declining input use efficiency in irrigated wheat of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) coupled with diminishing availability of water for agriculture is a major concern of food security in South Asia. The objective of our study was to establish an understanding of how wheat yield and input use efficiency can be improved and how land leveling and crop establishment practices can be modified to be more efficient in water use through layering of precision-conservation crop management techniques. The “precision land leveling with raised bed” planting can be used to improve crop yield, water and nutrient use efficiency over the existing “traditional land leveling with flat” planting practices. We conducted a field experiment during 2002-2004 at Modipuram, India to quantify the benefits of alternate land leveling (precision land leveling) and crop establishment (furrow irrigated raised bed planting) techniques alone or in combination (layering precision-conservation) in terms of crop yield, water savings, and nutrient use efficiency of wheat production in IGP. The wheat yield was about 16.6% higher with nearly 50% less irrigation water with layering precision land leveling and raised bed planting compared to traditional practices (traditional land leveling with flat planting). The agronomic (AE) and uptake efficiency (UE) of N, P and K were significantly improved under precision land leveling with raised bed planting technique compared to other practices.

Coral Ba/Ca and Mn/Ca Ratios as Proxies of Precipitation and Terrestrial Input at the Eastern Offshore Area of Hainan Island

Geochemical ratios in coral reef skeletons could be used as proxies to reconstruct past climatological and environmental records in data-poor regions. Using a 103-year data set(1902 to 2005), the annual variations in Ba/Ca and Mn/Ca ratios of Porites lutea skeletons at an eastern offshore area of Hainan Island(19?12'28.4''N, 110?37'38.8''E) were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-optic emission spectrometry(ICP-OES). The analysis results showed that Ba/Ca ratios varied from a minimum of 3.120 μmol mol^(-1) in 1903 to a maximum of 10.064 μmol mol^(-1) in 1944, with an average of 5.256 μmol mol^(-1). Mn/Ca ratios varied from 0.206 to 5.708 μmol mol^(-1) with an annual average of 1.234 μmol mol^(-1), with peak values in 2001, 1964 and 1932, that correlated with strong rainfall events caused by typhoons. Variation in Ba/Ca and Mn/Ca ratios were compared with available river discharge and precipitation records, providing insight into past climatological events. Human activities and their indirect effects could impact the strength of the relationship between Ba/Ca and Mn/Ca ratios and observed precipitation and terrestrial input in the future.

Quantifying the thermal damping effect in underground vertical shafts using the nonlinear autoregressive with external input(NARX) algorithm

As air descends the intake shaft, its infrastructure, lining and the strata will emit heat during the night when the intake air is cool and, on the contrary, will absorb heat during the day when the temperature of the air becomes greater than that of the strata. This cyclic phenomenon, also known as the "thermal damping effect" will continue throughout the year reducing the effect of surface air temperature variation. The objective of this paper is to quantify the thermal damping effect in vertical underground airways. A nonlinear autoregressive time series with external input(NARX) algorithm was used as a novel method to predict the dry-bulb temperature(Td) at the bottom of intake shafts as a function of surface air temperature. Analyses demonstrated that the artificial neural network(ANN) model could accurately predict the temperature at the bottom of a shaft. Furthermore, an attempt was made to quantify typical "damping coefficient" for both production and ventilation shafts through simple linear regression models. Comparisons between the collected climatic data and the regression-based predictions show that a simple linear regression model provides an acceptable accuracy when predicting the Tdat the bottom of intake shafts.

Prescribed Performance Control of One-DOF Link Manipulator With Uncertainties and Input Saturation Constraint

In this paper, we mainly address the position control problem for one-degree of freedom(DOF) link manipulator despite uncertainties and the input saturation via the backstepping technique, active disturbance rejection control(ADRC) as well as predefined tracking performance functions. The extended state observer(ESO) is employed to compensate uncertain dynamics and disturbances, and it does not rely on the accurate model of systems. The tracking differentiator(TD) is utilized to substitute the derivative of the virtual control signals, and the explosion of complexity caused by repeated differentiations of nonlinear functions is removed. The auxiliary system is used to deal with the control input limitation, and the tracking accuracy and speed are improved by predefined tracking performance functions.With the help of the input-to-state stability(ISS) and Lyapunov stability theories, it is proven that the tracking error can be gradually converged into arbitrarily small neighborhood of the origin, and the tracking error is adjusted by suitable choice of control parameters. The simulation results are presented for the verification of the theoretical claims.

Study of Stress Sources and Critical Stress Combinations for the Input Shaft of a Longitudinally Mounted Four Speed Automotive Automatic Transmission Model

In the present paper;two models of the input shaft for a Longitudinal Mounted four Speed Automotive Automatic Transmission for the first time were introduced to describe the input shaft critical loads. In the first model;the DC (Direct Clutch) connects two gears together. This gives no change in the set torque (the set output torque equal to the set input torque). In the second model;the ODB (Over Drive Brake) fixes one element of the planetary set. This is resulting, the gear set gives reduction ratio (the set output torque is not equal to the set input torque). So, the transmission input shaft is worked under two different working operating conditions of torque. Also, it is loaded by a two vertical loads which are coming from the turbine and planetary set loads respectively. They are shown that there are three critical combinations of forces (contact force, shear force, and normal force) applied on the input shaft. The critical forces can be possibility exist three types of cracks for the input shaft cross section they are: transverse (torsion stress), longitudinal (bending stress), and vertical (shear stress). The three cracks are studied in this article. The article considers three stress factors: shearing torsion stress, shear stress, and bending stress.

Seismic wave input method for three-dimensional soil-structure dynamic interaction analysis based on the substructure of artificial boundaries

The method of inputting the seismic wave determines the accuracy of the simulation of soil-structure dynamic interaction. The wave method is a commonly used approach for seismic wave input, which converts the incident wave into equivalent loads on the cutoff boundaries. The wave method has high precision, but the implementation is complicated, especially for three-dimensional models. By deducing another form of equivalent input seismic loads in the fi nite element model, a new seismic wave input method is proposed. In the new method, by imposing the displacements of the free wave fi eld on the nodes of the substructure composed of elements that contain artifi cial boundaries, the equivalent input seismic loads are obtained through dynamic analysis of the substructure. Subsequently, the equivalent input seismic loads are imposed on the artifi cial boundary nodes to complete the seismic wave input and perform seismic analysis of the soil-structure dynamic interaction model. Compared with the wave method, the new method is simplifi ed by avoiding the complex processes of calculating the equivalent input seismic loads. The validity of the new method is verifi ed by the dynamic analysis numerical examples of the homogeneous and layered half space under vertical and oblique incident seismic waves.

Robust Fault Detection and Isolation Based on Finite-frequency H__/H_∞ Unknown Input Observers and Zonotopic Threshold Analysis

This work proposes a robust fault detection and isolation scheme for discrete-time systems subject to actuator faults,in which a bank of H_/H∞ fault detection unknown input observers(UIOs) and a zonotopic threshold analysis strategy are considered. In observer design, finite-frequency H_ index based on the generalized Kalman-Yakubovich-Popov lemma and H∞ technique are utilized to evaluate worst-case fault sensitivity and disturbance attenuation performance, respectively. The proposed H_/H∞ fault detection observers are designed to be insensitive to the corresponding actuator fault only, but sensitive to others.Then, to overcome the weakness of predefining threshold for FDI decision-making, this work proposes a zonotopic threshold analysis method to evaluate the generated residuals. The FDI decision-making relies on the evaluation with a dynamical zonotopic threshold. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to show the feasibility of the proposed scheme.

Augmented input estimation in multiple maneuvering target tracking

This paper presents augmented input estimation(AIE)for multiple maneuvering target tracking.Multi-target tracking(MTT)is based on two main parts,data association and estimation.In data association(DA),the best observations are assigned to the considered tracks.In real conditions,the number of observations is more than targets and also locations of observations are often so scattered that the association between targets and observations cannot be done simply.In this case,for general MTT problems with unknown numbers of targets,we present a Markov chain Monte-Carlo DA(MCMCDA)algorithm that approximates the optimal Bayesian filter with low complexity in computations.After DA,estimation and tracking should be done.Since in general cases,many targets can have maneuvering motions,then AIE is proposed to cover both the non-maneuvering and maneuvering parts of motion and the maneuver detection procedure is eliminated.This model with an input estimation(IE)approach is a special augmentation in the state space model which considers both the state vector and the unknown input vector as a new augmented state vector.Some comparisons based on the Monte-Carlo simulations are also made to evaluate the performances of the proposed method and other older methods in MTT.

Impact of State Equity Participation on Family Enterprises’ Innovation Input

Whether the mixed-ownership reform whereby the state invests in nonstate enterprises will be effective is a question that has attracted widespread attention and discussion.This paper uses sample data from family-owned enterprises listed from 2009 to 2016 and empirically tests the impact of equity participation by the state in the family enterprises on their innovation input and the underlying mechanisms.Our results show that state investment has positive impacts on innovation input in the family enterprises.This effect is even more significant for high-tech family enterprises and/or those family enterprises confronting high policy uncertainty.Our results also reveal that when state investment is accompanied by a greater degree of state participation in enterprise operations or when the investment originates locally,there is a greater increase in innovation input.Further analysis of the underlying mechanisms reveals that state investment increases innovation input by increasing both willingness to innovate and the resources available for innovation.This paper provides new theoretical support and empirical evidence for pushing the mixed-ownership reform and stepping up the sustainable development of non-state enterprises including family ones.

A Nonlinear Control Strategy for Vienna Rectifier Under Unbalanced Input Voltage

The Vienna rectifier with unbalanced input voltage and load transient is analyzed.A nonlinear control strategy for Vienna rectifier under unbalanced input is proposed.From the view of positive and negative sequence components,the proposed nonlinear control strategy suppresses the twice frequency ripple and guarantees the dynamic response characteristic at the same time.Thanks to the proposed nonlinear control strategy,the DC bus capacitor can be reduced a lot since the voltage ripple and drop can be suppressed.A 10 kW Vienna rectifier is built to verify the proposed control strategy.After applying the proposed nonlinear control strategy,the voltage ripple is only7 V and decreases over 75%over the traditional PI control when the unbalanced degree is 20%.The voltage drop can be reduced about 80%than former control strategy which is helpful to reduce the DC bus capacitor and achieve higher power density.The volume of the capacitor can be reduced by 83.3%with the new control method.

An Ultra Low-Voltage and Low-Power OTA Using Bulk-Input Technique and Its Application in Active-RC Filters

This paper presents the design of a two-stage bulk-input pseudo-differential operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) and its application in active-RC filters. The OTA was designed in 90 nm CMOS process and operates at a single supply voltage of 0.5 V. Using a two-path bulk-driven OTA by the combination of two different amplifiers the DC gain and speed of the OTA is increased. Rail-to-rail input is made possible using the transistor’s bulk terminal as in input. Also a Miller-Feed-forward (MFF) compensation is utilized which is improved the gain bandwidth (GBW) and phase margin of the OTA. In addition, a new merged cross-coupled self-cascode pair is used that can provide higher gain. Also, a novel cost-effective bulk-input common-mode feedback (CMFB) circuit has been designed. Simplicity and ability of using this new merged CMFB circuit is superior compared with state-of-the-art CMFBs. The OTA has a 70.2 dB DC gain, a 2.5 MHz GBW and a 70.8o phase margin for a 20 PF capacitive load whereas consumes only 25 μw. Finally, an 8th order Butterworth active Biquadrate RC filter has been designed and this OTA was checked by a typical switched-capacitor (SC) integrator with a 1 MHz clock-frequency.

Impact of the arterial input function on microvascularization parameter measurements using dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasonography

AIM: To evaluate the sources of variation influencing the microvascularization parameters measured by dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (DCE-US). METHODS: Firstly, we evaluated, in vitro , the impact of the manual repositioning of the ultrasound probe and the variations in flow rates. Experiments were conducted using a custom-made phantom setup simulating a tumor and its associated arterial input. Secondly, we evaluated, in vivo , the impact of multiple contrast agent injections and of examination day, as well as the influence of the size of region of interest (ROI) associated with the arterial input function (AIF). Experiments were conducted on xenografted B16F10 female nude mice. For all of the experiments, an ultrasound scanner along with a linear transducer was used to perform pulse inversion imaging based on linear raw data throughout the experiments. Semi-quantitative and quantitative analyses were performed using two signal-processing methods. RESULTS:In vitro , no microvascularization parameters, whether semi-quantitative or quantitative, were significantly correlated (P values from 0.059 to 0.860) with the repositioning of the probe. In addition, all semiquantitative microvascularization parameters were correlated with the flow variation while only one quantitative parameter, the tumor blood flow, exhibited P value lower than 0.05 (P = 0.004). In vivo , multiple contrast agent injections had no significant impact (P values from 0.060 to 0.885) on microvascularization parameters. In addition, it was demonstrated that semi-quantitative microvascularization parameters were correlated with the tumor growth while among the quantitative parameters, only the tissue blood flow exhibited P value lower than 0.05 (P = 0.015). Based on these results, it was demonstrated that the ROI size of the AIF had significant influence on microvascularization parameters: in the context of larger arterial ROI (from 1.17 ± 0.6 mm 3 to 3.65 ± 0.3 mm 3 ), tumor blood flow and tumor blood volume were correlated with the tumor growth, exhibiting P values lower than 0.001. CONCLUSION: AIF selection is an essential aspect of the deconvolution process to validate the quantitative DCE-US method.

A Novel Method of Auxiliary Power Supply Used in Wide-Range High Voltage Input DC-DC Converter

In high voltage input DC-DC converter, auxiliary winding of isolation transformer is usually used to supply power for control circuit. Due to the wide-range of input voltage, the variable output voltage of auxiliary winding will cause a series of problems, such as variable drive pulse amplitude, increased driver switching devices loss and drive transformer core saturation. This paper analyzes the influence of variable output voltage of auxiliary winding in detail. A novel method is proposed to solve the problem of large variation range of auxiliary winding output voltage, which is adding a buck converter between the auxiliary winding and the control circuit. A dual switch forward convert has been designed with 300 V - 800 V input and 24 V/5 A output. The results show that this method is effective by comparing the different results of using buck converter or not.

A Novel Approach for Inferring the Proportion of Terrestrial Organic Matter Input to Marine Sediments on the Basis of TOC:TN and δ¹³C_orgSignatures

The ratio of total organic carbon to total nitrogen (TOC:TN) and the stable carbon isotope ratio of organic matter (δ13Corg) are widely applied for inferring the origin of organic matter (OM) in Quaternary marine sediments. A plot of TOC:TN vs. δ13Corg is useful for such studies but is strongly based on qualitative constraints. This study is based on the qualitative characterization of the source of Quaternary OM via analysis of TOC:TN and δ13Corg signatures, but also proposes a probability parameter, which combines both signatures, to infer the amount of Terrestrial OM Input (TOMI). This index provides a method for quantifying the proportion of terrestrial OM vs. marine OMin a more comprehensive manner. The TOMI index concept was applied to a study area in theJoetsuBasin, eastern margin of theJapanSea, where previous studies have characterized theOMfrom the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present. The upwards increase in TOC indicates thatOMproduction during the Holocene was higher than during the LGM. The enriched δ13Corg signature upwards and decrease in TOC:TN suggest predominantly marine phytoplankton OM during the Holocene. Throughout the LGM, low OM production with depleted δ13Corg values and high TOC:TN values in the sediments suggest a predominantly C3 terrestrial plant source for the OM. Using these data, it was possible to calculate a proxy for a sea level variation curve during that period and to investigate the influence of the proximity of the coastal line to the continental slope on the input of terrestrial material to the basin. The proposal provides information for the application of sequence stratigraphic concepts. The TOMI index could confirm that the proximity to the shoreline and shelf break has a strong influence on the input of terrestrial material during lowstand periods.

Estimating the Input Power of a Power Plant Using the Efficiency of the Inverter

The study focuses on estimating the input power of a power plant from available data, using the theoretical inverter efficiency as the key parameter. The paper addresses the problem of missing data in power generation systems and proposes an approach based on the efficiency formula widely documented in the literature. In the absence of input data, this method makes it possible to estimate the plant’s input power using data extracted from the site, in particular that provided by the Ministry of the Environment. The importance of this study lies in the need to accurately determine the input power in order to assess the overall performance of the energy system.

Analysis on the Seismic Response of Soil Slopes Based on the Multi-point Input Method

In general, the seismic response analysis in earthquake engineering assumes that the vibration parameters of the target and the contact surface of the external media are identical,i. e., single point input. However, earthquake energy has an attenuation phenomenon in wave propagation,so a wide range of soil slopes and the external medium contact surface of different input points on motion are not identical. If we consider single point input only, it may not correspond with reality, so it is necessary to carry out research on multi-point input methods. Based on the 2-D slope model,single-point input and multi-point input are performed respectively to analyze and compare their similarities and differences in the perspectives of the characteristics of seismic response of soil layer and plastic zone distribution to provide a reference for the seismic design of slopes. The results show that in the perspective of soil seismic response analysis,the peak acceleration output and peak velocity output under multi-point input are greater than the peak values under single point input at the same monitoring point,the peak appearing time is also earlier than that of the single point input; in terms of the plastic zone distribution,the multi-point effect is manifested as the presence of more obvious tensile shear failures; in the perspective of safety coefficient,the safety coefficient under each multi-point input is smaller than that of single point input,a difference of about 7 % or so. In summary,multi-point input is more reasonable and practical than single point input,so multi-point input should be considered in seismic design.

Performance Improvement of Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Protocol for WLAN

The increase in the number of devices with a massive revolution in mobile technology leads to increase the capacity of the wireless communications net-works. Multi-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output is an advanced procedure of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, which improves the performance of Wireless Local Area Networks. Moreover, Multi-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output leads the Wireless Local Area Networks toward covering more areas. Due to the growth of the number of clients and requirements, researchers try to improve the performance of the Medium Access Control protocol of Multi-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output technology to serve the user better, by supporting different data sizes, and reducing the waiting time to be able to transmit data quickly. In this paper, we propose a Clustering Multi-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output protocol, which is an improved Medium Access Control protocol for Multi-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Out-put based on MIMOMate clustering technique and Padovan Backoff Algorithm. Utilizing MIMOMMate focuses on the signal power which only serves the user in that cluster, minimizes the energy consumption and increases the capacity. The implementation of Clustering Multi-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output performs on the Network Simulator (NS2.34) platform. The results show that Clustering Multi-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output protocol improves the throughput by 89.8%, and reduces the latency of wireless communication by 43.9% in scenarios with contention. As a result, the overall performances of the network are improved.

A New Characterization Approach of Weld Nugget Growth by Real-Time Input Electrical Impedance

The in-process changes of weld nugget growth during the Resistance Spot Welding were investigated based on the resistance of input electrical impedance. To compute the time varying resistance of input electrical impedance, the welding voltage and current signals are measured simultaneously and then converted into complex-valued signals by using Hilbert transform. Comparing with the dynamic contact resistance as reported in literature, it showed that the time varying resistance of input electrical impedance can be accurately correlated with the physical changes of weld nugget growth. Therefore, it can be used to characterize the in-process changes of weld nugget growth. Several new findings were reported based on the investigation of spot welds under no weld, with and without weld expulsion conditions.

Neural Network Based Adaptive Tracking Control for a Class of Pure Feedback Nonlinear Systems With Input Saturation

In this paper, an adaptive neural networks(NNs)tracking controller is proposed for a class of single-input/singleoutput(SISO) non-affine pure-feedback non-linear systems with input saturation. In the proposed approach, the original input saturated nonlinear system is augmented by a low pass filter.Then, new system states are introduced to implement states transformation of the augmented model. The resulting new model in affine Brunovsky form permits direct and simpler controller design by avoiding back-stepping technique and its complexity growing as done in existing methods in the literature.In controller design of the proposed approach, a state observer,based on the strictly positive real(SPR) theory, is introduced and designed to estimate the new system states, and only two neural networks are used to approximate the uncertain nonlinearities and compensate for the saturation nonlinearity of actuator. The proposed approach can not only provide a simple and effective way for construction of the controller in adaptive neural networks control of non-affine systems with input saturation, but also guarantee the tracking performance and the boundedness of all the signals in the closed-loop system. The stability of the control system is investigated by using the Lyapunov theory. Simulation examples are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller.