Recursive Least Square Vehicle Mass Estimation Based on Acceleration Partition

Vehicle mass is an important parameter in vehicle dynamics control systems. Although many algorithms have been developed for the estimation of mass, none of them have yet taken into account the different types of resistance that occur under different conditions. This paper proposes a vehicle mass estimator. The estimator incorporates road gradient information in the longitudinal accelerometer signal, and it removes the road grade from the longitudinal dynamics of the vehicle. Then, two different recursive least square method （RLSM） schemes are proposed to estimate the driving resistance and the mass independently based on the acceleration partition under different conditions. A 6 DOF dynamic model of four In-wheel Motor Vehicle is built to assist in the design of the algorithm and in the setting of the parameters. The acceleration limits are determined to not only reduce the estimated error but also ensure enough data for the resistance estimation and mass estimation in some critical situations. The modification of the algorithm is also discussed to improve the result of the mass estimation. Experiment data on asphalt road, plastic runway, and gravel road and on sloping roads are used to validate the estimation algorithm. The adaptability of the algorithm is improved by using data collected under several critical operating conditions. The experimental results show the error of the estimation process to be within 2.6%, which indicates that the algorithm can estimate mass with great accuracy regardless of the road surface and gradient changes and that it may be valuable in engineering applications. This paper proposes a recursive least square vehicle mass estimation method based on acceleration partition.

A Novel Braking Control Strategy for Hybrid Electric Buses Based on Vehicle Mass and Road Slope Estimation

Proper braking force distribution strategies can improve both stability and economy performance of hybrid electric vehicles,which is prominently proved by many studies.To achieve better dynamic stable performance and higher energy recovery efficiency,an effective braking control strategy for hybrid electric buses(HEB)based on vehicle mass and road slope estimation is proposed in this paper.Firstly,the road slope and the vehicle mass are estimated by a hybrid algorithm of extended Kalman filter(EKF)and recursive least square(RLS).Secondly,the total braking torque of HEB is calculated by the sliding mode controller(SMC),which uses the information of brake intensity,whole vehicle mass,and road slope.Finally,comprehensively considering driver’s braking intention and regulations of the Economic Commission for Europe(ECE),the optimal proportional relationship between regenerative braking and pneumatic braking is obtained.Furthermore,related simulations and experiments are carried out on the hardware-in-the-loop test bench.Results show that the proposed strategy can effectively improve the braking performance and increase the recovered energy through precise control of the braking torque.

Compliance motion control of the hydraulic dual-arm manipulator with adaptive mass estimation of unknown object

Given the limited operating ability of a single robotic arm,dual-arm collaborative operations have become increasingly prominent.Compared with the electrically driven dual-arm manipulator,due to the unknown heavy load,difficulty in measuring contact forces,and control complexity during the closed-chain object transportation task,the hydraulic dual-arm manipulator(HDM)faces more difficulty in accurately tracking the desired motion trajectory,which may cause object deformation or even breakage.To overcome this problem,a compliance motion control method is proposed in this paper for the HDM.The mass parameter of the unknown object is obtained by using an adaptive method based on velocity error.Due to the difficulty in obtaining the actual internal force of the object,the pressure signal from the pressure sensor of the hydraulic system is used to estimate the contact force at the end-effector(EE)of two hydraulic manipulators(HMs).Further,the estimated contact force is used to calculate the actual internal force on the object.Then,a compliance motion controller is designed for HDM closed-chain collaboration.The position and internal force errors of the object are reduced by the feedback of the position,velocity,and internal force errors of the object to achieve the effect of the compliance motion of the HDM,i.e.,to reduce the motion error and internal force of the object.The required velocity and force at the EE of the two HMs,including the position and internal force errors of the object,are inputted into separate position controllers.In addition,the position controllers of the two individual HMs are designed to enable precise motion control by using the virtual decomposition control method.Finally,comparative experiments are carried out on a hydraulic dual-arm test bench.The proposed method is validated by the experimental results,which demonstrate improved object position accuracy and reduced internal force.

Evolution of seismic risk management for insurance over the past 30 years

During the past 30 years, there has been spectacular growth in the use of risk analysis and risk management tools developed by engineers in the financial and insurance sectors. The insurance, the reinsurance, and the investment banking sectors have enthusiastically adopted loss estimation tools developed by engineers in developing their business strategies and for managing their financial risks. As a result, insurance/reinsurance strategy has evolved as a major risk mitigation tool in managing catastrophe risk at the individual, corporate, and government level. This is particularly true in developed countries such as US, Western Europe, and Japan. Unfortunately, it has not received the needed attention in developing countries, where such a strategy for risk management is most needed. Fortunately, in the last five years, there has been excellent focus in developing ＂Insur Tech＂ tools to address the much needed ＂Insurance for the Masses＂, especially for the Asian Markets. In the earlier years of catastrophe model development, risk analysts were mainly concerned with risk reduction options through engineering strategies, and relatively little attention was given to financial and economic strategies. Such state-of-affairs still exists in many developing countries. The new developments in the science and technologies of loss estimation due to natural catastrophes have made it possible for financial sectors to model their business strategies such as peril and geographic diversification, premium calculations, reserve strategies, reinsurance contracts, and other underwriting tools. These developments have not only changed the way in which financial sectors assess and manage their risks, but have also changed the domain of opportunities for engineers and scientists.This paper will address the issues related to developing insurance/reinsurance strategies to mitigate catastrophe risks and describe the role catastrophe risk insurance and reinsurance has played in managing financial risk due to natural catastrophes. Historical losses and the share of those losses covered by insurance will be presented. How such risk sharing can help the nation share the burden of losses between tax paying public, the ＂at risk＂ property owners, the insurers and the reinsurers will be discussed. The paper will summarize the tools that are used by the insurance and reinsurance companies for estimating their future losses due to catastrophic natural events. The paper will also show how the results of loss estimation technologies developed by engineers are communicated to the business flow of insurance/reinsurance companies. Finally, to make it possible to grow ＂Insurance for the Masses - IFM＂, the role played by parametric insurance products and Insur Tech tools will be discussed.

Body Surface Area Prediction in Odorrana grahami

Body surface area（BSA）was regarded as a more readily quantifiable parameter relative to body mass in the normalization of comparative biochemistry and physiology.The BSA prediction has attracted unceasing research back more than a century on animals,especially on humans and rats.Few studies in this area for anurans were reported,and the equation for body surface area（S）and body mass（W）：S=9.9 W 0.56,which was concluded from toads of four species in 1969,was generally adopted to estimate the body surface areas for anurans until recent years.However,this equation was not applicable to Odorrana grahami.The relationship between body surface area and body mass for this species was established as：S=15.4 W 0.579.Our current results suggest estimation equations should be used cautiously across different species and body surface area predictions on more species need to be conducted.

Mass estimation method for intelligent vehicles based on fusion of machine learning and vehicle dynamic model

Vehicle mass is an important parameter for motion control of intelligent vehicles,but is hard to directly measure using normal sensors.Therefore,accurate estimation of vehicle mass becomes crucial.In this paper,a vehicle mass estimation method based on fusion of machine learning and vehicle dynamic model is introduced.In machine learning method,a feedforward neural network(FFNN)is used to learn the relationship between vehicle mass and other state parameters,namely longitudinal speed and acceleration,driving or braking torque,and wheel angular speed.In dynamics-based method,recursive least square(RLS)with forgetting factor based on vehicle dynamic model is used to estimate the vehicle mass.According to the reliability of each method under different conditions,these two methods are fused using fuzzy logic.Simulation tests under New European Driving Cycle(NEDC)condition are carried out.The simulation results show that the estimation accuracy of the fusion method is around 97%,and that the fusion method performs better stability and robustness compared with each single method.

An Optimization Technique for PMF Estimation in Approximate Circuits

As an emerging computing technology,approximate computing enables computing systems to utilize hardware resources efficiently.Recently,approximate arithmetic units have received extensive attention and have been employed as hardware modules to build approximate circuit systems,such as approximate accelerators.In order to make the approximate circuit system meet the application requirements,it is imperative to quickly estimate the error quality caused by the approximate unit,especially in the high-level synthesis of the approximate circuit.However,there are few studies in the literature on how to efficiently evaluate the errors in the approximate circuit system.Hence,this paper focuses on error evaluation techniques for circuit systems consisting of approximate adders and approximate multipliers,which are the key hardware components in fault-tolerant applications.In this paper,the characteristics of probability mass function(PMF)based estimation are analyzed initially,and then an optimization technique for PMF-based estimation is proposed with consideration of these features.Finally,experiments prove that the optimization technology can reduce the time required for PMF-based estimation and improve the estimation quality.