Sensor Scheduling for Target Tracking in Networks of Active Sensors

Wireless sensor network (WSN) of active sensors suffers from serious inter-sensor interference (ISI) and imposes new design and implementation challenges. In this paper, based on the ultrasonic sensor network, two time-division based distributed sensor scheduling schemes are proposed to deal with ISI by scheduling sensors periodically and adaptively respectively. Extended Kalman filter (EKF) is used as the tracking algorithm in distributed manner. Simulation results show that the adaptive sensor scheduling scheme can achieve superior tracking accuracy with faster tracking convergence speed.

Motion Geometric Active Contours: Tracking Nonrigid Objects in Clutter Background

MGAC (Motion Geometric Active Contours), a new variational framework of geometric active contours to track multiple nonrigid moving objects in the clutter background in image sequences is presented. This framework, incorporating with the motion edge information, consists of motion detection and tracking stages. At the motion detection stage, the motion edge map provides an approximate edge map of the moving objects. Then, a tracking stage, merely using the static edge information, is considered to improve the motion detection result. Force field regularization method is used to extend the capture range of the edge attraction force field in both stages. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed framework is valid for tracking multiple nonrigid objects in the clutter background.

Trajectory tracking control based on linear active disturbance rejection controller for 6-DOF robot manipulator

The trajectory tracking control for a 6-DOF robot manipulator with multiple inputs and outputs,non-linearity and strong coupling is studied.Firstly,a dynamical model for the 6-DOF robot manipulator is designed.From the view point of practical engineering,considering the model uncertainties and external disturbances,the robot manipulator is divided into 6 independent joint subsystems,and a linear active disturbance rejection controller(LADRC)is developed to track trajectory for each subsystem respectively.LADRC has few parameters that are easy to be adjusted in engineering.Linear expansion state observer(LESO)as the uncertainty observer is able to estimate the general uncertainties effectively.Eventually,the validity and robustness of the proposed method adopted in 6-DOF robot manipulator are demonstrated via numerical simulations and 6-DOF robot manipulator experiments,which is of practical value in engineering application.

Fuzzy robust path tracking strategy of an active pelagic trawl system with coordinated ship and winch regulation

A fuzzy robust path tracking strategy of an active pelagic trawl system with ship and winch regulation is proposed.First,nonlinear mathematic model of the pelagic trawl system was derived using Lagrange equation and further simplified as a low order model for the convenience of controller design.Then,an active path tracking strategy of pelagic trawl system was investigated to improve the catching efficiency of the target fish near the sea bottom.By means of the active tracking control,the pelagic trawl net can be positioned dynamically to follow a specified trajectory via the coordinated winch and ship regulation.In addition,considering the system nonlinearities,modeling uncertainties and the unknown exogenous disturbance of the trawl system model,a nonlinear robust H2 /H∞ controller based on Takagi-Sugeno(T-S) fuzzy model was presented,and the simulation comparison with linear robust H2 /H∞ controller and PID method was conducted for the validation of the nonlinear fuzzy robust controller.The nonlinear simulation results show that the average tracking error is 0.4 m for the fuzzy robust H2 /H∞ control and 125.8 m for the vertical and horizontal displacement,respectively,which is much smaller than linear H2 /H∞ controller and the PID controller.The investigation results illustrate that the fuzzy robust controller is effective for the active path tracking control of the pelagic trawl system.

Application of linear active disturbance rejection control for photoelectric tracking system

Dynamic characteristics and tracking precision are studied in the photoelectric tracking system and a linear active disturbance rejection control( LADRC) scheme is proposed for position loop. A current and speed controller is designed by a transfer function model,which is obtained by adaptive differential evolution. Model error,friction and nonlinear factor existing in position loop are treated as ‘disturbance',which is estimated and compensated by generalized proportional integral( GPI)observer. Comparative results are provided to demonstrate the remarkable performance of the proposed method. It turns out that the proposed scheme is successful and has superior features,such as quick dynamic response,low overshoot and high tracking precision. Furthermore,with the proposed method,friction is suppressed effectively.

Dataset of Large Gathering Images for Person Identification and Tracking

This paper presents a large gathering dataset of images extracted from publicly filmed videos by 24 cameras installed on the premises of Masjid Al-Nabvi,Madinah,Saudi Arabia.This dataset consists of raw and processed images reflecting a highly challenging and unconstraint environment.The methodology for building the dataset consists of four core phases;that include acquisition of videos,extraction of frames,localization of face regions,and cropping and resizing of detected face regions.The raw images in the dataset consist of a total of 4613 frames obtained fromvideo sequences.The processed images in the dataset consist of the face regions of 250 persons extracted from raw data images to ensure the authenticity of the presented data.The dataset further consists of 8 images corresponding to each of the 250 subjects(persons)for a total of 2000 images.It portrays a highly unconstrained and challenging environment with human faces of varying sizes and pixel quality(resolution).Since the face regions in video sequences are severely degraded due to various unavoidable factors,it can be used as a benchmark to test and evaluate face detection and recognition algorithms for research purposes.We have also gathered and displayed records of the presence of subjects who appear in presented frames;in a temporal context.This can also be used as a temporal benchmark for tracking,finding persons,activity monitoring,and crowd counting in large crowd scenarios.

Construction Activity Analysis of Workers Based on Human Posture Estimation Information

Identifying workers’construction activities or behaviors can enable managers to better monitor labor efficiency and construction progress.However,current activity analysis methods for construction workers rely solely on manual observations and recordings,which consumes considerable time and has high labor costs.Researchers have focused on monitoring on-site construction activities of workers.However,when multiple workers are working together,current research cannot accu rately and automatically identify the construction activity.This research proposes a deep learning framework for the automated analysis of the construction activities of multiple workers.In this framework,multiple deep neural network models are designed and used to complete worker key point extraction,worker tracking,and worker construction activity analysis.The designed framework was tested at an actual construction site,and activity recognition for multiple workers was performed,indicating the feasibility of the framework for the automated monitoring of work efficiency.

Neuron PI control for semi-active suspension system of tracked vehicle

A neuron proportion integration (PI) control strategy for semi-active suspension system of tracked vehicle was proposed based on its unique structure and the multiple and complex environment of the driving traffic. An adaptive genetic algorithm is used to optimize the parameters of the neuron PI controller. The simulation result of the neuron PI control for semi-active suspension system of tracked vehicle indicates that the vertical amplitude,pitch angle and vertical acceleration of the vehicle are well controlled. The root mean square (RMS) of the vertical amplitude decreases by 37.2%,and 45.2% for the pitch angle,38.6% for the vertical acceleration. The research of neuron PI control experiment for the semi-active suspension system of the tracked vehicle model mining in benthal indicates that the RMS of the weight acceleration vibrating along the vertical direction decreases by 29.5%,the power spectral density resonance peak of the acceleration of the car body decreases by 23.8%.

Reliability of Passive Physical Activity Assessment for Inpatients Using Marker⁃Free Motion Tracking System

Evidence⁃based practices of public health will benefit from quantification of passive physical activity assessment.This study aims to investigate the reliability of marker⁃free system(MFS)such as Microsoft Kinect in measuring upper extremity motion from different angles.Ten healthy participants performed elbow and shoulder extension/flexion along frontal and median anatomical planes for ten pace⁃controlled repetitions,during which the spatiotemporal positions of upper extremity joints were concurrently recorded by two sensors from 0°and 45°viewing angles.Reliability between the two sensors were evaluated using Pearson correlation coefficient,intra⁃class correlation coefficients,and 95%limits of agreement and coefficient of variation.Worse reliability was observed when possibility of occlusion was higher.However,better reliability was found when longer observation interval(10 s)was used as elementary measuring unit than shorter observation interval(2 s).The overall angular reliability of activity as displacement or changes in angle was not satisfactory.The results are expected to inform the industry for the extension of MFS to clinic applications.

Fuzzy Logic Control for Semi-Active Suspension System of Tracked Vehicle

The model of half a tracked vehicle semi-active suspension is established. The fuzzy logic controller of the semi-active suspension system is constructed. The acceleration of driver's seat and its time derivative are used as the inputs of the fuzzy logic controller, and the fuzzy logic controller output determines the semi-active suspension controllable damping force. The fuzzy logic controller is to minimize the mean square root of acceleration of the driver's seat. The control forces of controllable dampers behind the first road wheel are obtained by time delay, and the delay times are determined by the vehicle speed and axles distances. The simulation results show that this control method can decrease the acceleration of driver's seat and the suspension travel of the first road wheel, the ride quality is improved obviously.

Two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography for the assessment of atrial function

Echocardiography is the most common diagnostic method for assessing atrial function but the technique has some limitations. Traditionally, assessment of left atrial function has been performed by measuring volumes with 2D echocardiography. Additionally, it can be assessed with transmitral Doppler and pulmonary vein Doppler. Recently, an alternative method has been incorporated, namely, measurement of myocardial deformation with color tissue Doppler-derived strain. However, this method has several limitations, such as suboptimal reproducibility, angle-dependence, signal artifacts and the fact that it only measures regional strain and does not obtain information about the curved portion of the atrial roof. To overcome these limitations in the quantification of atrial function, the use of speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) strain has been proposed. This technique is not derived from Doppler but rather from 2D echocardiography; it is angle-independent and allows one to measure global as well as regional atrial strain. In this editorial, we describe the physical and pathophysiological concepts of STE and underline the clinical usefulness of this new technique.

Multi-constrained model predictive control for autonomous ground vehicle trajectory tracking

A multi-constrained model predictive control （ MPC ） algorithm for trajectory tracking of an autonomous ground vehicle is proposed and tested in this paper. First, to simplify the computa- tion, an active steering linear error model is applied in the MPC controller. Then, a control incre- ment constraint and a relaxing factor are taken into account in the objective function to ensure the smoothness of the trajectory, using a softening constraints technique. In addition, the controller can obtain optimal control sequences which satisfy both the actual kinematic constraints and the actuator constraints. The circular trajectory tracking performance of the proposed method is compared with that of another MPC controller. To verify the trajectory tracking capabilities of the designed control- ler at different desired speed, the simulation experiments are carried out at the speed of 3m/s, 5m/ s and 10m/s. The results demonstrate the MPC controller has a good speed adaptability.

Time-varying fault-tolerant formation tracking based cooperative control and guidance for multiple cruise missile systems under actuator failures and directed topologies

This paper studies time-varying fault-tolerant formation tracking problems for the multiple cruise missile system under directed topologies subjected to actuator failures. Firstly, the timevarying fault-tolerant formation tracking process for the multiple cruise missile system is divided into the guidance loop and the control loop. Then protocols are constructed to accomplish distributed fault-tolerant formation tracking in the guidance loop with the adaptive updating mechanism, in the condition where neither the knowledge about actuator malfunctions nor any global information of the communication topology remains available. Moreover, sufficient conditions to accomplish formation tracking are presented, and it is shown that the multiple cruise missile system can carry on the predefined time-varying fault-tolerant control (FTC) formation tracking through the active disturbances rejection controller (ADRC) and the proportion integration (PI) controller by the way of the fault-tolerant protocol utilizing the designed strategies, in the event of actuator failures. At last, numerical analysis and simulation are designed to verify the theoretical results.

Vehicle Active Steering Control Research Based on Two-DOF Robust Internal Model Control

Because of vehicle＇s external disturbances and model uncertainties,robust control algorithms have obtained popularity in vehicle stability control.The robust control usually gives up performance in order to guarantee the robustness of the control algorithm,therefore an improved robust internal model control（IMC） algorithm blending model tracking and internal model control is put forward for active steering system in order to reach high performance of yaw rate tracking with certain robustness.The proposed algorithm inherits the good model tracking ability of the IMC control and guarantees robustness to model uncertainties.In order to separate the design process of model tracking from the robustness design process,the improved 2 degree of freedom（DOF） robust internal model controller structure is given from the standard Youla parameterization.Simulations of double lane change maneuver and those of crosswind disturbances are conducted for evaluating the robust control algorithm,on the basis of a nonlinear vehicle simulation model with a magic tyre model.Results show that the established 2-DOF robust IMC method has better model tracking ability and a guaranteed level of robustness and robust performance,which can enhance the vehicle stability and handling,regardless of variations of the vehicle model parameters and the external crosswind interferences.Contradiction between performance and robustness of active steering control algorithm is solved and higher control performance with certain robustness to model uncertainties is obtained.

A PV powered shunt active power filter for power quality improvement

This paper deals with power quality improvement using a three-phase active power filter(APF) connected to a PV power system. A direct power control(DPC) approach is proposed to eliminate harmonic current caused by any nonlinear loads and at the same time guarantees the delivery of a part of the load request from the same PV source. A boost converter is used for maximum power point(MPP) tracking purposes under various climate conditions through a fuzzy logic technique. The suggested study is tested under a MATLAB/Simulink environment. The obtained results depict the efficacy of the proposed procedures to meet the IEEE 519-1992 standard recommendation on harmonic levels.

Put Others Before Itself:A Multi-Leader One-Follower Anti-Jamming Stackelberg Game Against Tracking Jammer

This paper mainly investigates the coordinated anti-jamming channel access problems in multiuser scenarios where there exists a tracking jammer who senses the spectrum and traces the channel with maximal receiving power.To cope with the challenges brought by the tracking jammer,a multi-leader onefollower anti-jamming Stackelberg(MOAS)game is formulated,which is able to model the complex interactions between users and the tracking jammer.In the proposed game,users act as leaders,chose their channel access strategies and transmit firstly.The tracking jammer acts as the follower,whose objective is to find the optimal jamming strategy at each time slot.Besides,the existence of Stackelberg equilibriums(SEs)is proved,which means users reach Nash Equilibriums(NEs)for each jamming strategy while the jammer finds its best response jamming strategy for the current network access case.An active attraction based anti-jamming channel access(3ACA)algorithm is designed to reach SEs,where jammed users keep their channel access strategies unchanged to create access chances for other users.To enhance the fairness of the system,users will adjust their strategies and relearn after certain time slots to provide access chances for those users who sacrifice themselves to attract the tracking jammer.

Active Disturbance Rejection Control for a Multiple-Flexible-Link Manipulator

The control problem of multiple-flexible-link manipulators( MFLMs) is studied in this paper.The dynamic model of MFLM is derived and separated into two-time scale by utilizing the singular perturbation technique. The active disturbance rejection control( ADRC) is adopted to the slow subsystem to track a desired trajectory. The proposed ADRC structure preshapes the desired trajectory by utilizing the tracking differentiator,estimates the disturbance and internal states with an extended state observer,and guarantees a robust performance by combining a feedback controller with a feedforward term. Two types of feedback controllers are designed,proportional derivative( PD) controller and nonlinear PD( NPD) controller. For the fast subsystem,a fast stabilizing control is designed according to the standard linear quadratic regulator approach. Simulations are performed to evaluate the proposed control scheme.Results show that,compared with the traditional PD controller,the ADRC structure based control scheme has smaller overshot and shorter settling time,suppresses vibration quickly,and is robust to the maneuver speed. In general,the control scheme utilizing ADRC structure and NPD feedback controller shows better performance.

Tracking facial features with occlusions

Facial expression recognition consists of determining what kind of emotional content is presented in a human face. The problem presents a complex area for exploration, since it encompasses face acquisition, facial feature tracking, facial ex- pression classification. Facial feature tracking is of the most interest. Active Appearance Model (AAM) enables accurate tracking of facial features in real-time, but lacks occlusions and self-occlusions. In this paper we propose a solution to improve the accuracy of fitting technique. The idea is to include occluded images into AAM training data. We demonstrate the results by running ex- periments using gradient descent algorithm for fitting the AAM. Our experiments show that using fitting algorithm with occluded training data improves the fitting quality of the algorithm.

Path tracking for vehicle parallel parking based on ADRC controller

A novel path tracking controller for parallel parking based on active disturbance rejection control （ADRC） was presented in this paper. A second order ADRC controller was used to solve the path tracking robustness, which can estimate and compensate model uncertainty caused by steering kinematics and disturbances caused by parking speed and steering system delay. Collision-free path planning technology was adopted to generate the reference path. The simulation results validate that the performance of the proposed path tracking controller is better than the conventional PID controller. The actual vehicle tests show that the proposed path tracking controller is effective and robust to model uncertainty and disturbances.

Fission Track Method to Date Fault Activity—As Exemplified by the Three Gorges Dam Area of the Yangtze River Valley, China

The Xiannushan and Jiuwanxi are the two major fracture belts adjacent to the Three Gorges Dam Site. Apatites are selected from fracture clay and fracture\|cliff rock in the fracture belts and examined with the fission track dating method. Our study shows that the Xiannushan and Jiuwanxi fracture belts were tectonically active at 0.60±0.04Ma and 0.29±0.04Ma ago, respectively. Their ages are close to those obtained by the U\|series method.