Collision and Deadlock Avoidance in Multi-Robot Systems Based on Glued Nodes

Dear editor,In this letter,we would like to discuss a method to avoid collisions and deadlocks in multi-robot systems based on a new concept of glued nodes.In terms of collision and deadlock avoidance,many methods are based on zone control which has two disadvantages.First,unless all nodes are collision-free,the roadmap must be divided into disjoint zones,which increases the difficulty of applying the methods.Moreover,each zone should be able to accommodate a robot,which leads to imprecision and waste of space.This letter proposes the concept of glued nodes,which can dynamically determine the mutual influence between nodes based on the real-time sizes and paths of the robots.Based on the glued nodes,this letter proposes a collision and deadlock avoidance algorithm,which can be applied to multi-robot systems with variable-sized robots and roadmaps with any structure.The experimental results indicate that the method proposed in this letter is effective and efficient.

Development of a Low-cost Hardware-in-the-loop Simulation System as a Test Bench for Anti-lock Braking System

Nowadays validation of anti-lock braking systems（ABS） relies mainly on a large amount of road tests.An alternative means with higher efficiency is employing the hardware-in-the-loop simulation（HILS） system to substitute part of road tests for designing,testing,and tuning electronic control units（ECUs） of ABS.Most HILS systems for ABS use expensive digital signal processor hardware and special purpose software,and some fail-safe functions with regard to wheel speeds cannot be evaluated since artificial wheel speed signals are usually provided.In this paper,a low-cost ABS HILS test bench is developed and used for validating the anti-lock braking performance and tuning control parameters of ABS controllers.Another important merit of the proposed test bench is that it can comprehensively evaluate the fail-safe functions with regard to wheel speed signals since real tone rings and sensors are integrated in the bench.A 5-DOF vehicle model with consideration of longitudinal load transfer is used to calculate tire forces,wheel speeds and vehicle speed.Each of the four real-time wheel speed signal generators consists of a servo motor plus a ring gear,which has sufficient dynamic response ability to emulate the rapid changes of the wheel speeds under strict braking conditions of very slippery roads.The simulation of braking tests under different road adhesion coefficients using the HILS test bench is run,and results show that it can evaluate the anti-lock braking performance of ABS and partly the fail-safe functions.This HILS system can also be used in such applications as durability test,benchmarking and comparison between different ECUs.The test bench developed not only has a relatively low cost,but also can be used to validate the wheel speed-related ECU design and all its fail-safe functions,and a rapid testing and proving platform with a high efficiency for research and development of the automotive ABS is therefore provided.

New Method of Road Surface Identification in Anti-Lock Braking System

Based on the vehicle-road dynamic model, the road characteristic parameter, which depends on different types of road surfaces, is introduced and a new method of road surface identification for automotive anti-lock braking system (ABS) is proposed. According to the characteristics of vehicle-road dynamic model, a simple math resolution method of the model's factors is established. Only using the information of wheel speed, the vehicle reference velocity and the wheel slip ratio are estimated real-timely. And based on the wheel dynamic model, the road characteristic parameter is determined to identify the road surface for the determination of thresholds of ABS regulative parameters. With this new method, the road surface identification can be accurately obtained and calculation time is short that it can meet the ABS real time control need, and it also improves the performance of ABS.

Phase-locked single-mode terahertz quantum cascade lasers array

We demonstrated a scheme of phase-locked terahertz quantum cascade lasers(THz QCLs)array,with a single-mode pulse power of 108 mW at 13 K.The device utilizes a Talbot cavity to achieve phase locking among five ridge lasers with first-order buried distributed feedback(DFB)grating,resulting in nearly five times amplification of the single-mode power.Due to the optimum length of Talbot cavity depends on wavelength,the combination of Talbot cavity with the DFB grating leads to better power amplification than the combination with multimode Fabry-Perot(F-P)cavities.The Talbot cavity facet reflects light back to the ridge array direction and achieves self-imaging in the array,enabling phase-locked operation of ridges.We set the spacing between adjacent elements to be 220μm,much larger than the free-space wavelength,ensuring the operation of the fundamental supermode throughout the laser's dynamic range and obtaining a high-brightness far-field distribution.This scheme provides a new approach for enhancing the single-mode power of THz QCLs.

Partitioned k-Exclusion Real-Time Locking Protocol Motivated by Multicore Multi-GPU Systems

Graphic processing units （GPUs） have been widely recognized as cost-efficient co-processors with acceptable size, weight, and power consumption. However, adopting GPUs in real-time systems is still challenging, due to the lack in framework for real-time analysis. In order to guarantee real-time requirements while maintaining system utilization ~in modern heterogeneous systems, such as multicore multi-GPU systems, a novel suspension-based k-exclusion real-time locking protocol and the associated suspension-aware schedulability analysis are proposed. The proposed protocol provides a synchronization framework that enables multiple GPUs to be efficiently integrated in multicore real-time systems. Comparative evaluations show that the proposed methods improve upon the existing work in terms of schedulability.

Relative phase locking of a terahertz laser system configured with a frequency comb and a single-mode laser

Stable operation is one of the most important requirements for a laser source for high-precision applications.Many efforts have been made to improve the stability of lasers by employing various techniques,e.g.,electrical and/or optical injection and phase locking.However,these techniques normally involve complex experimental facilities.Therefore,an easy implementation of the stability evaluation of a laser is still challenging,especially for lasers emitting in the terahertz(THz)frequency range because the broadband photodetectors and mature locking techniques are limited.In this work,we propose a simple method,i.e.,relative phase locking,to quickly evaluate the stability of THz lasers without a need of a THz local oscillator.The THz laser system consists of a THz quantum cascade laser(QCL)frequency comb and a single-mode QCL.Using the single-mode laser as a fast detector,heterodyne signals resulting from the beating between the singlemode laser and the comb laser are obtained.One of the heterodyne beating signals is selected and sent to a phase-locked loop(PLL)for implementing the relative phase locking.Two kinds of locks are performed by feeding the output error signal of the PLL,either to the comb laser or to the single-mode laser.By analyzing the current change and the corresponding frequency change of the PLL-controlled QCL in each phase-locking condition,we,in principle,are able to experimentally compare the stability of the emission frequency of the single-mode QCL(f s)and the carrier envelope offset frequency(f CEO)of the QCL comb.The experimental results reveal that the QCL comb with the repetition frequency injection locked demonstrates much higher stability than the single-mode laser.The work provides a simple heterodyne scheme for understanding the stability of THz lasers,which paves the way for the further locking of the lasers and their high-precision applications in the THz frequency range.

CRF:A Scheduling of Multi-Granularity Locks in Object-Oriented Database Systems

This paper introduces a multi-granularity locking model (MGL) for concurrency control in object-oriented database system briefiy, and presents a MGL model formally. Four lockingscheduling algorithms for MGL are proposed in the paper. The ideas of single queue scheduling(SQS) and dual queue scheduling (DQS) are proposed and the algorithm and the performance evaluation for these two scheduling are presented in some paper. This paper describes a new idea of thescheduling for MGL, compatible requests first (CRF). Combining the new idea with SQS and DQS,we propose two new scheduling algorithms called CRFS and CRFD. After describing the simulationmodel, this paper illustrates the comparisons of the performance among these four algorithms. Asshown in the experiments, DQS has better performance than SQS, CRFD is better than DQS, CRFSperforms better than SQS, and CRFS is the best one of these four scheduling algorithms.

Improvements in Iodine Stabilized He-Ne Easers at 474 THz (633 nm) with Compatible System of Third and Fifth Harmonic Locking

We have developed two 474 THz(633 nm)new iodine stabilized He-Ne lasers with compatible system of third and fifth harmonic locking.The frequency stability is 1.0×10-11/ 1s and 3.5×10-12 / 10s with third harmonic locking,and corresponding values are 1.3×10-11/1s and 4.0×10-12/ 10s with fifth harmonic locking.We found that the frequency difference between the same component with third and fifth harmonic locking are from 5 kHz to SO kHz.Our experiment and analysis indicate that the center of fifth harmonic signals is closer to the Lorentzian center in iodine absorption component than one of the third harmonic signals,and the reproducibility with fifth harmonic locking is also better than one with third harmonic locking.

On the treatment of thermal cracks in lining concrete of water conveyance system of Three Gorges Project permanent ship locks

A comprehensive investigation was performed for repairing the different types of cracks appearing on the surface or inside the concrete lining at various depths.The mate- rial properties used in grouting and two methods for crack repair were discussed in details, and consequently reliable repair measures were proposed and implemented.It is a better choice to adopt the hole-drilling method for the relatively regular crack.The grouting pres- sure should not be too high and it is generally between 0.4～0.6 MPa.For the second time grouting,the pressure maybe increased to 0.8 MPa.Other method is the pasting nozzles method which is more suitable for irregular cracks such as cracks with intensive density and crossing cracks.Its grouting pressure is generally between 0.6～1.0 MPa.The in-situ tests in Three Gorges Project demonstrate favorably the feasibility and applicability of the proposed methods for crack repair within the lining concrete.

The Development of a Fuzzy Predictive Control System for Automotive Anti-lock Braking System

This paper presents the model of one-tire kinetics、tires、the braking system and the model of control system.On virtual road,this paper builds a fuzzy predictive control system to insure the best attachment coefficient between tires and road. And it turns out to be that this fuzzy predictive control method has achieved good performances.

Quantum Locking and the Meissner Effect Lead to the Origin and Stability of the Saturn Rings System

It is demonstrated how superconducting iced particles of the protoplanetary cloud of Saturn are coming to magnetic equator plane and create the stable enough rings disk. There are two steps. First, after appearance of the Saturn magnetic field due to Meissner phenomenon, all particles orbits are moving to the magnetic equator plane. Finally they become distributed as rings and gaps like iron particles around magnet on laboratory table. And they are separated from each other by the magnetic field expelled from them. It takes up to few tens of thousands years with ten meters rings disk thickness. Second, because of quantum locking all particles become to be locked within magnetic well at the magnetic equator plane due to Abrikosov vortex for superconductor. Finally each particle is locked within three-dimensional magnetic well. It works even when particles have small fraction of superconductor. During the rings evolution some contribution to the disk also could come from the collision-generated debris of the current moon, coming meteorites and from the geysers like it happened due to magnetic coupling of Saturn and Enceladus. The rings are relict of the early days of the magnetic field of Saturn system.

On the generation of high-quality Nyquist pulses in mode-locked fiber lasers

Nyquist pulses have wide applications in many areas,from electronics to optics.Mode-locked lasers are ideal platforms to generate such pulses.However,how to generate high-quality Nyquist pulses in mode-locked lasers remains elusive.We address this problem by managing different physical effects in mode-locked fiber lasers through extensive numerical simulations.We find that net dispersion,linear loss,gain and filter shaping can affect the quality of Nyquist pulses significantly.We also demonstrate that Nyquist pulses experience similariton shaping due to the nonlinear attractor effect in the gain medium.Our work may contribute to the design of Nyquist pulse sources and enrich the understanding of pulse shaping dynamics in mode-locked lasers.

Dissipative soliton resonance within different dispersion regimes in a single mode-locked laser

Dissipative soliton resonance(DSR) was previously studied in separated mode-locked fiber lasers within different dispersion regimes including anomalous, near-zero and normal dispersion. Here we propose a method to study DSR in a single mode-locked laser in these different dispersion regimes. This is achieved by virtue of a waveshaper which can control the laser dispersion readily using software, avoiding the usual tedious cutback method. We find that dispersion has a negligible effect on DSR since the pulse duration keeps constant while dispersion is varied. Moreover, we examine the dynamics of DSR on the parameters of the SA including modulation depth and saturation power, and find that the pulse duration can be changed in a large range when the saturation power is decreased. Our numerical simulations could be important to guide relative experimental studies.

A novel dual-channel thermo-optic locking method for the whispering gallery mode microresonator

Mode locking can be effectively achieved by using the thermo-optic effects in the whispering gallery mode(WGM)optical microcavity,without the help of external equipment.Therefore,it has the advantages of small size,low integration costs,and self-locking,which shows great potential for application.However,the conventional single-channel microcavity thermal-locking method that relies solely on internal thermal balance will inevitably be disturbed by the external environment.This limitation affects the locking time and stability.Therefore,in this paper,we propose a new method for closed-loop thermal locking of a dual-channel microcavity.The thermal locking of the signal laser and the thermal regulation of the control laser are carried out respectively by synchronously drawing a dual-path tapered fiber.The theoretical model of the thermal dynamics of the dual-channel microcavity system is established,and the influence of the control-laser power on the thermal locking of the signal laser is confirmed.The deviation between the locking voltage of the signal laser and the set point value is used as a closed-loop feedback parameter to achieve long-term and highly stable mode locking of the signal laser.The results show that in the 2.63 h thermal-locking test,the locking stability is an order of magnitude higher than that of the single tapered fiber.This solution addresses the issue of thermal locking being disrupted by the external environment,and offers new possibilities for important applications such as spectroscopy and micro-optical sensor devices.

Harmonic splitting phenomenon of bright-dark pulse pairs in a passive mode-locked Thulium-Holmium co-doped fiber laser

This study reports a passive mode-locked Thulium-Holmium co-doped fiber laser featuring a figure-9 shaped resonator structure.The laser utilizes a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror(NALM)as the mode-locking device.By increasing pump power,the laser’s output evolution was experimentally observed,showing that bright-dark pulse pairs first split into double pulses and then into a second harmonic state.Additionally,the time intervals between bright and dark pulses and between double pulses increased with higher pump power.The RF spectrum of the bright-dark pulse pairs exhibited envelope modulation,with a modulation frequency approximately equal to the reciprocal of the time interval between bright and dark pulses.When the pump power increased from 0.46 W to 0.72 W,the reciprocal of the modulation frequency showed a linear growth trend.These findings contribute to understanding the evolution patterns of bright-dark pulse pairs in passive mode-locked fiber lasers.

China’s Silver Economy:Unlocking Growth Opportunities for an Aging Society

According to the United Nations,a moderately aging society refers to a country where those aged 65 and above exceed 14%of the total population.Data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed that there were 296.97 million people aged 60 and above in China by the end of 2023,accounting for 21.1%of the total population.Among them,216.76 million were aged 65 and above,making up 15.4%of the total population.This indicates that China has officially crossed the threshold into a moderately aging society.

Reliable intracavity reflection for self-injection locking lasers and microcomb generation

Self-injection locking has emerged as a crucial technique for coherent optical sources,spanning from narrow linewidth lasers to the generation of localized microcombs.This technique involves key components,namely a laser diode and a high-quality cavity that induces narrow-band reflection back into the laser diode.However,in prior studies,the reflection mainly relied on the random intracavity Rayleigh backscattering,rendering it unpredictable and unsuitable for large-scale production and wide-band operation.In this work,we present a simple approach to achieve reliable intracavity reflection for self-injection locking to address this challenge by introducing a Sagnac loop into the cavity.This method guarantees robust reflection for every resonance within a wide operational band without compromising the quality factor or adding complexity to the fabrication process.As a proof of concept,we showcase the robust generation of narrow linewidth lasers and localized microcombs locked to different resonances within a normal-dispersion microcavity.Furthermore,the existence and generation of localized patterns in a normal-dispersion cavity with broadband forward–backward field coupling is first proved,as far as we know,both in simulation and in experiment.Our research offers a transformative approach to self-injection locking and holds great potential for large-scale production.

Early Treatment Outcome of Humeral Shaft Fracture Non-Union in Adults: Comparative Study of Plating versus Interlocking Nailing

Background: Fractures of humeral shaft in adults are common injuries. Humeral shafts non-union either from late presentation after initial treatment by traditional bone setters or failed non-operative orthodox care is a major problem in this part of the world. This non-union is a major treatment challenge with increased cost of care and morbidity in this part of the world. Humeral shaft non-union can be treated with locked intra-medullary nailing (LIMN) or dynamic compression plating (DCP). Study on comparison of these methods of fixation in this part of the world is scarce in literature search, hence the reason for this study. Objective: The objectives of this study are: (1) to compare early clinical outcome following fixation of humeral shaft fracture nonunion with DCP versus LIMN;(2) to compare the time of radiologic fracture union of DCP with LIMN;(3) to compare complications following fixation of humeral shaft fracture nonunion with DCP versus LIMN. Patients and Methods: This was a randomized control study done for 2 years in which fifty adult patients with humeral shaft non-union were recruited. The patients were grouped into 2 (P = DCP & N = LIMN). Forty five of the patients completed the follow up periods of the study and then analyzed. The P group had ORIF with DCP while the N group had ORIF with LIMN. Both groups had grafting with cancellous bones. Each patient was followed up for a period of 6 months at the time which radiographic union is expected. Any patient without clinical and/or radiographic evidence of union after six months of surgery was diagnosed as having recurrent non-union. The data generated was analyzed using SPSS Version 23. The results were presented in charts and tables. The paired t-test was used while considering p value Result: Forty five patients completed follow up. There was a male preponderance (4:1), right humerus predominated (3:2). Motor vehicular accidents were the commonest cause of the fractures (62%). Most non-union fractures occurred at the level of the middle 3rd of the humeral shaft (60%). Failed TBS treatment was the commonest indication for the osteosynthesis (71%). More patients had plating (53%) compared to 47% who had LIMN. Most patients (93.4%) had union between 3 to 6 months irrespective of fixation type with no significant statistical difference between the union rate of DCP and LIMN (p value 0.06) with similar functional outcome and complication rates irrespective of the type of fixation. Conclusion: This study showed that the success rates in term of fracture union, outcome functional grades and complication rates were not directly dependent on the types of the fixation: plating or locked intra-medullary nailing.

MICROPROCESSOR BASED PHASELOCKED LOOP SPEED CONTROL SYSTEM FOR AC MOTOR

In this paper the authors present an analysis and the implementation of microprocessor-baseddigital phase-locked loop speed control system for an induction motor which is actuated by aSPWM-GTR inverter.The system is controlled by a 16-bit single chip microprocessor.A new type of frequency and phase detector is presented in detail,An adaptive method isadopted in speed controller.A three mode control scheme is used.These techniques are very use-ful to the improvement of the dynamic behavior of digital AC motor drive system.Experimental results show that the system is of good stability,high precision and good dynam-ic performance.

Unlocking Cellular Mysteries:Advancements in Single-Cell Omics Analysis with Genome-Scale Metabolic Modeling

The widespread applications of single-cell technologies have generated a large amount of single-cell data,resulting in a growing need for single-cell data analysis and interpretation methods.While methods such as machine learning allow for single-cell data analysis,they cannot interpret the data very well.