Maskless fabrication of quasi-omnidirectional V-groove solar cells using an alkaline solution-based method

Silicon passivated emitter and rear contact(PERC) solar cells with V-groove texture were fabricated using maskless alkaline solution etching with in-house developed additive. Compared with the traditional pyramid texture, the V-groove texture possesses superior effective minority carrier lifetime, enhanced p–n junction quality and better applied filling factor(FF). In addition, a V-groove texture can greatly reduce the shading area and edge damage of front Ag electrodes when the V-groove direction is parallel to the gridline electrodes. Due to these factors, the V-groove solar cells have a higher efficiency(21.78%) than pyramid solar cells(21.62%). Interestingly, external quantum efficiency(EQE) and reflectance of the V-groove solar cells exhibit a slight decrease when the incident light angle(θ) is increased from 0° to 75°, which confirms the excellent quasi omnidirectionality of the V-groove solar cells. The proposed V-groove solar cell design shows a 2.84% relative enhancement of energy output over traditional pyramid solar cells.

Neural Dynamics for Cooperative Motion Control of Omnidirectional Mobile Manipulators in the Presence of Noises: A Distributed Approach

This paper presents a distributed scheme with limited communications, aiming to achieve cooperative motion control for multiple omnidirectional mobile manipulators(MOMMs).The proposed scheme extends the existing single-agent motion control to cater to scenarios involving the cooperative operation of MOMMs. Specifically, squeeze-free cooperative load transportation is achieved for the end-effectors of MOMMs by incorporating cooperative repetitive motion planning(CRMP), while guiding each individual to desired poses. Then, the distributed scheme is formulated as a time-varying quadratic programming(QP) and solved online utilizing a noise-tolerant zeroing neural network(NTZNN). Theoretical analysis shows that the NTZNN model converges globally to the optimal solution of QP in the presence of noise. Finally, the effectiveness of the control design is demonstrated by numerical simulations and physical platform experiments.

High-performance omnidirectional self-powered photodetector constructed by CsSnBr_(3)/ITO heterostructure film

Omnidirectional photodetectors attract enormous attention due to their prominent roles in optical tracking systems and omnidirectional cameras.However,it is still a challenge for the construction of high-performance omnidirectional photodetectors where the incident light can be effectively absorbed in multiple directions and the photo-generated carriers can be effectively collected.Here,a high-performance omnidirectional self-powered photodetector based on the CsSnBr_(3)/indium tin oxide(ITO)heterostructure film was designed and demonstrated.The as-fabricated photodetector exhibited an excellent self-powered photodetection performance,showing responsivity and detectivity up to 35.1 mA/W and 1.82×10^(10) Jones,respectively,along with the smart rise/decay response time of 4 ms/9 ms.Benefitting from the excellent photoelectric properties of the CsSnBr_(3) film as well as the ability of the CsSnBr_(3)/ITO heterostructure to efficiently separate and collect photo-generated carriers,the as-fabricated photodetector also exhibited an excellent omnidirectional self-powered photodetection performance.All the results have certified that this work finds an efficient way to realize high-performance omnidirectional self-powered photodetectors.

Dynamic Modeling and Analysis of 9-DOF Omnidirectional Legged Vehicle

The omnidirectional legged vehicle with steering-rails has a specific mechanism feature, and it can be controlled flexibly and accurately in omnidirectional motion. Currently there lacks further research in this area. In this paper, the mechanical characteristics of independent walking control and steering control and its kinematics principle are introduced, and a vehicle has a composite motion mode of parallel link mechanism and steering mechanism is presented. The motion direction control of the proposed vehicle is only dependant on its steering rails, so its motion is simple and effective to control. When the relative motion between the walking and steering is controlled cooperatively, the vehicle can walk perfectly. By controlling the steering rails, the vehicle can walk along arbitrary trajectory on the ground. To achieve a good result of motion control, an equivalent manipulator model needs to be built. In terms of the mechanism feature and the kinematic principle, the simplified manipulator model consists of a rail in stance phase, a rail in swing phase, and an equivalent leg. Considering the ground surface slope during walking, a parameter of inclination angle is added. Based on such a RPP manipulator model, the equations of motion are derived by means of Lagrangian dynamic approach. To verify the dynamic equations, the motion of the manipulator model is simulated based on linear and nonlinear motion planning. With the same model and motion parameters, the dynamic equations can be solved by Matlab and the calculation data can be gained. Compared with the simulation data, the result confirms the manipulator dynamic equations are correct. As a result of such special characteristics of the legged mechanism with steering rails, it has a potential broad application prospects. The derivation of dynamics equation could benefit the motion control of the mechanism.

Motion Control of Omnidirectional Mobile Platform based on Fuzzy PID

The omnidirectional mobile platform has three degrees of freedom that make it widely applicable to all areas of industry, while the Mecanum wheel has the disadvantages wheel omnidirectional mobile platform is always difficult in of large vibration, the trajectory precision of Mecanum the omnidirectional mobile platform. To control the trajectory of the omnidirectional mobile platform better, this paper proposes a fuzzy self-tuning PID control model, through establishing the motion model of omnidirectional mobile platform in Adams software, then combined with Simulink simulation, analysis of fuzzy PID controller to improve the accuracy of the speed control of omnidirectional mobile platform, improve the control method of a precise trajectory of the omnidirectional mobile platform motion.

Omnidirectional Antenna Diversity System for High-Speed Onboard Communication

In this article,an omnidirectional dual-polarized antenna with synergetic electromagnetic and aerodynamic properties is propounded for high-speed diversity systems.The propounded antenna comprises a probe-fed cavity for horizontally polarized radiation and a microstrip-fed slot for vertical polarization.Double-layer metasurfaces are properly designed as artificial magnetic conductor boundaries with direct metal-mountable onboard installation and compact sizes.An attached wedge-shaped block is utilized for windage reduction in hydrodynamics.The propounded antenna is fabricated for design verification,and the experimental results agree well with the simulated ones.For vertical polarization,the operating bandwidth is in the range of 2.37–2.55 GHz,and the realized gain variation in the azimuthal radiation pattern is 3.67 decibels(dB).While an impedance bandwidth in the range of 2.45–2.47 GHz and a gain variation of 3.71 dB are also achieved for horizontal polarization.A port isolation more than 33 dB is obtained in a compact volume of 0.247λ_(0)×0.345λ_(0)×0.074λ_(0),whereλ_(0)represents the wavelength in vacuum at the center frequency,wherein the wedge-shaped block is included.The propounded diversity antenna has electromagnetic and aerodynamic merits,and exhibits an excellent potential for high-speed onboard communication.

Perceptual Quality Assessment of Omnidirectional Images:Subjective Experiment and Objective Model Evaluation

Virtual reality(VR) environment can provide immersive experience to viewers.Under the VR environment, providing a good quality of experience is extremely important.Therefore, in this paper, we present an image quality assessment(IQA) study on omnidirectional images. We first build an omnidirectional IQA(OIQA) database, including 16 source images with their corresponding 320 distorted images. We add four commonly encountered distortions. These distortions are JPEG compression, JPEG2000 compression, Gaussian blur, and Gaussian noise. Then we conduct a subjective quality evaluation study in the VR environment based on the OIQA database. Considering that visual attention is more important in VR environment, head and eye movement data are also tracked and collected during the quality rating experiments. The 16 raw and their corresponding distorted images,subjective quality assessment scores, and the head-orientation data and eye-gaze data together constitute the OIQA database. Based on the OIQA database, we test some state-of-the-art full-reference IQA(FR-IQA) measures on equirectangular format or cubic formatomnidirectional images. The results show that applying FR-IQA metrics on cubic format omnidirectional images could improve their performance. The performance of some FR-IQA metrics combining the saliency weight of three different types are also tested based on our database. Some new phenomena different from traditional IQA are observed.

Studies on omnidirectional enhancement of giga-hertz radiation by sub-wavelength plasma modulation

The technology of radio frequency （RF） radiation intensification for radio compact antennas based on modulation and enhancement effects of sub-wavelength plasma structures represents an innovative developing strategy. It exhibits important scientific significance and promising potential of broad applications in various areas of national strategic demands, such as electrical information network and microwave communication, detection and control technology. In this paper, laboratory experiments and corresponding analyses have been carried out to investigate the modulation and enhancement technology of sub-wavelength plasma structure on the RF electromagnetic radiation. An application focused sub-wavelength plasma-added intensification up to ~7 dB higher than the free-space radiation is observed experimentally in giga-hertz （GHz） RF band. The effective radiation enhancement bandwidth covers from 0.85 to 1.17 GHz, while the enhanced electromagnetic signals transmitted by sub-wavelength plasma structures maintain good communication quality. Particularly, differing from the traditional RF electromagnetic radiation enhancement method characterized by focusing the radiation field of antenna in a specific direction, the sub-wavelength plasma-added intensification of the antenna radiation presents an omnidirectional enhancement, which is reported experimentally for the first time. Corresponding performance characteristics and enhancement mechanism analyses are also conducted in this paper. The results have demonstrated the feasibility and promising potential of sub-wavelength plasma modulation in application focused RF communication, and provided the scientific basis for further research and development of sub-wavelength plasma enhanced compact antennas with wide-range requests and good quality for communication.

Design and Optimization of Omnidirectional Band Gap for One-Dimensional Periodic and Quasiperiodic Phononic Heterostructures

A new kind of one-dimensional multilayer phononie heterostructure is constructed to obtain a broad acoustic omnidirectional reflection （ODR） band. The heterostructure is formed by combining finite periodic phononic crystals （PnCs） and Fibonacci （or Thue-Morse） quasiperiodic PnCs. From the numerical results performed by the transfer matrix method, it is found that the ODR bands can be enlarged obviously by using the combination of periodic and quasi-periodic PnCs. Moreover, an application of particle swarm optimization in designing and optimizing acoustic ODR bands is reported. With regards to different thickness ratios and periodic numbers in the heterostructure, we give some optimization examples and finally achieve phononic heterostructure with a very broad ODR bandwidth. The result provides a new approach to achieve broad acoustic ODR bandwidth, and will be applied in design of omnidirectional acoustic mirrors.

Study of an Omnidirectional Guide Wave Sensor Using an EMAT

Nondestructive inspection of structures is important for ensuring the safety of the social infrastructure. Among them, the ultrasonic inspection method plays a role as a major technology. However, when examining a huge structure, the inspection time tends to be very long. Therefore, a system for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves in all directions from the ultrasonic sensor has been constructed. Several types of ultrasonic sensors using this concept have already been devised, but since the ultrasonic energy is dispersed in all directions, there is a problem that a sufficient detection performance cannot be ensured, especially when the thickness of the material to be inspected becomes thick. Therefore, we developed a highly sensitive omnidirectional ultrasonic sensor utilizing the resonance phenomenon of the ultrasonic wave propa-gating in the thickness direction. The omnidirectional ultrasonic system also consists of an electromagnetic ultrasonic transducer (EMAT) using a circular magnet. It is possible to inspect the plate thickness from 0.3 mm to 10 mm and the inspection range of the diameter of 300 mm around the sensor by the developed system. It is indicated that the developed system allows the high-speed inspection of huge structures.

Kinematics Modeling of an Omnidirectional Autonomous Mobile Robot with Castor Wheels

The kinematics model of an omnidirectional wheeled mobile robot （WMR） platform with 3 castor wheels was built, which includes the actuated inverse solution and the sensed forward solution. Motion simulations verify the consistency between the actuated inverse solution and the sensed forward solution. Analysis results show that the WMR possesses 3 degrees of freedom, and its motion trajectory is a straight line. The ＂pushing＂ and ＂pulling＂ motion patterns of the WMR can be generated by using different wheel orientations. It can be used in the places where the space is limited.

Predicting Ground Effects of Omnidirectional Antennas in Wireless Sensor Networks

Omnidirectional antennas are often used for radio frequency (RF) communication in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Outside noise, electromagnetic interference (EMI), overloaded network traffic, large obstacles (vegetation and buildings), terrain and atmospheric composition, along with climate patterns can degrade signal quality in the form of data packet loss or reduced RF communication range. This paper explores the RF range reduction properties of a particular WSN designed to operate in agricultural crop fields to collect aggregate data composed of subsurface soil moisture and soil temperature. Our study, using simulation, anechoic and field measurements shows that the effect of antenna placement close to the ground (within 10 cm) signi?cantly changes the omnidirectional transmission pattern. We then develop and propose a prediction method that is more precise than current practices of using the Friis and Fresnel equations. Our prediction method takes into account environmental properties for RF communication range based on the height of nodes and gateways.

Flexible omnidirectional reflective film for CO_(2)laser protection

In this Letter,we presented a flexible omnidirectional reflective film made of polymer substrates and multiple alternating layers of two chalcogenide glasses for full-angle CO_(2) laser protection.The structure parameters of the device were simulated for theoretical prediction of best device structure.The reflector was fabricated by alternate thermal evaporation of two chalcogenide glasses with large refractive index contrast.The reflectivity was greater than 78%at 10.6μm.The flexible reflective film can provide an effective solution for full-angle CO_(2) laser protection of the moving targets,such as laser operators and mobile optical components,with potential applications for wearable laser protective clothing.

Revealing the Transformation Invariance of Full-Parameter Omnidirectional Invisibility Cloaks

Searching for an optimal solution among many nonunique answers provided by transformation optics is critical for many branches of research,such as the burgeoning research on invisibility cloaks.The past decades have witnessed rapid development of transformation optics,and different kinds of invisibility cloaks have been designed and implemented.However,the available cloaks realized thus far have been mostly demonstrated with reduced parameters,which greatly impact the predefined cloaking performance.Here,we report a general design strategy to realize full-parameter omnidirectional cloaks that can hide arbitrarily shaped objects in free space.Our approach combines a singular transformation with transformation-invariant metamaterials.The cloaking device with extreme parameters is implemented using a metallic array structure.In the experiment,two cloak samples are designed and fabricated,one with nondiscrete cloaking regions and the other with separated hidden regions.Near-unit transmission of electromagnetic waves with arbitrary incident angles is experimentally demonstrated along with significantly suppressed scattering.Our work challenges the prevailing paradigms of invisibility cloaks and provides deep insight into how transformation optics could be harnessed to obtain easily-accessible metadevices.

Design and Experiments of a Human-Leg-Inspired Omnidirectional Robotic Leg

Bionic-based robotic legs enable the legged robots with elegant and agile mobility in multi-terrain environment,just like natural living beings.And the smart design could efficiently improve the performance of a robotic leg.Inspired by the simplified human leg structure,we present a 3-DOF robotic leg—OmniLeg,that is capable of making omnidirectional legged locomotion while keeping constant posture of the foot.Additionally,the concentrated drive mode,in which all the motor actuators are installed in the torso and do not move with the leg,minimizes the inertia of the robotic leg.In this paper,the modular design,the kinematics model,the structural analysis,the workspace,and the performance evaluation of the OmniLeg are discussed.Furthermore,we build a prototype based on the proposed design,and the precision of it is verified by the error calibration experiment which is conducted by tracking the trajectory of the prototype’s endpoint.Then,we present an OmniLeg-based single legged mobile robot.The capability of omnidirectional legged locomotion of the OmniLeg is demonstrated by the experiments.

CPG Modulates the Omnidirectional Motion of a Hexapod Robot in Unstructured Terrain

Freely shuttling in complex terrain is a basic skill of multi-legged animals.To make the hexapod robot have omnidirectional motion ability by controlling only one parameter,this paper uses the motion control method based on Central Pattern Generator(CPG),maps the output signal of CPG to the foot end trajectory space of the hexapod robot,and proposes an omnidirectional gait controller strategy.In addition,to enable the hexapod robot to adapt to unstructured terrain,an adaptive method based on Dynamic Threshold(DT)is proposed to enable the hexapod robot move in all directions without changing the heading angle in unstructured terrain.Finally,the feasibility of the proposed method is verified by virtual simulation and hexapod robot prototype experiment.Results show that the hexapod robot can omnidirectional motion without changing the heading angle and has good stability in unstructured terrain.

Fuzzy Behavior-based Control of Three Wheeled Omnidirectional Mobile Robot

In this paper, a fuzzy behavior-based approach for a three wheeled omnidirectional mobile robot(TWOMR) navigation has been proposed. The robot has to track either static or dynamic target while avoiding either static or dynamic obstacles along its path. A simple controller design is adopted, and to do so, two fuzzy behaviors "Track the Target" and "Avoid Obstacles and Wall Following" are considered based on reduced rule bases(six and five rules respectively). This strategy employs a system of five ultrasonic sensors which provide the necessary information about obstacles in the environment. Simulation platform was designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Broadband omnidirectional light detection in flexible and hierarchical ZnO/Si heterojunction photodiodes

The development of flexible photodetectors has received great attention for future optoelectronic applications including flexible image sensors, biomedical imaging, and smart, wearable systems. Previously omnidirectional photodetectors were only achievable by integration of a hemispherical microlens assembly on multiple photodetectors. Herein, a hierarchical photodiode design of ZnO nanowires （NWs） on honeycomb-structured Si （H-Si） membranes is demonstrated to exhibit excellent omnidirectional light-absorption ability and thus maintain high photocurrents over broad spectral ranges （365 to 1,100 nm） for wide incident angles （0° to 70°）, which enabled broadband omnidirectional light detection in flexible photodetectors. Furthermore, the stress-relieving honeycomb pattern within the photodiode micromembranes provided photodetectors with excellent mechanical flexibility （10% decrease in photocurrent at a bending radius of 3 mm） and durability （minimal change in photocurrent over 10,000 bending cycles）. When employed in semiconductor thin films, the hierarchical NW/honeycomb heterostructure design acts as an efficient platform for various optoelectronic devices requiring mechanical flexibility and broadband omnidirectional light detection.

Robust Observer-based Control of Nonlinear Multi-omnidirectional Wheeled Robot Systems via High Order Sliding-mode Consensus Protocol

This paper presents a novel observer-based controller for a class of nonlinear multi-agent robot models using the high order sliding mode consensus protocol. In many applications, demand for autonomous vehicles is growing;omnidirectional wheeled robots are suggested to meet this demand. They are flexible, fast, and autonomous, able to find the best direction and can move on an optional path at any time. Multi-agent omnidirectional wheeled robot(MOWR) systems consist of several similar or different robots and there are multiple different interactions between their agents, thus the MOWR systems have complex dynamics. Hence, designing a robust reliable controller for the nonlinear MOWR operations is considered an important obstacles in the science of the control design. A high order sliding mode is selected in this work that is a suitable technique for implementing a robust controller for nonlinear complex dynamics models. Furthermore, the proposed method ensures all signals involved in the multi-agent system(MAS) are uniformly ultimately bounded and the system is robust against the external disturbances and uncertainties. Theoretical analysis of candidate Lyapunov functions has been presented to depict the stability of the overall MAS, the convergence of observer and tracking error to zero, and the reduction of the chattering phenomena. In order to illustrate the promising performance of the methodology, the observer is applied to two nonlinear dynamic omnidirectional wheeled robots. The results display the meritorious performance of the scheme.

Helicopter blades running elevation measurement using omnidirectional vision

Omnidirectional dynamic space parameters of high-speed rotating helicopter blades are precise 3 D vector description of the blades. In particular, the elevation difference is directly related to the aerodynamic performance and maneuverability of the helicopter. The state of the art detection techniques based on optics and common vision have several drawbacks, such as high demands on devices but poor extensibility, limited measurement range and fixed measurement position. In this paper, a novel approach of helicopter blades running elevation measurement is proposed based on omnidirectional vision. With the advantages of panoramic visual imaging integration, 360° field of view and rotation in-variance, high-resolution images of all rotating blades positions are obtained at one time. By studying the non-linear calibration and calculation model of omnidirectional vision system, aiming at solving the problem of inaccurate visual space mapping model,the omnidirectional and full-scale measurement of the elevation difference are finalized. Experiments are carried out on our multifunctional simulation blades test system and the practical blades test tower, respectively. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and show that the proposed method can considerably reduce the complexity of measurement.