Assessing efficacy of standard impregnation techniques on die-cast aluminum alloys using X-ray micro-CT

Utilizing lightweight Al alloys in various industrial applications requires achieving precise pressure tightness and leak requirements.Vacuum pressure impregnation(VPI)with thermosetting polymers is commonly used to address leakage defects in die-cast Al alloys.In this study,the efficacy of the VPI technique in sealing alloy parts was investigated using a combination of nondestructive micro X-ray computed tomography(micro XCT)and a standard leak test.The results demonstrate that the commonly used water leak test is insufficient for determining the sealing performance.Instead,micro XCT shows distinct advantages by enabling more comprehensive analysis.It reveals the presence of a low atomic number impregnates sealant within casting defects,which has low grey contrast and allows for visualizing primary leakage paths in 3D.The effective atomic number of impregnated resin is 6.75 and that of Al alloy is 13.69 by dual-energy X-ray CT.This research findings will contribute to enhancing the standard VPI process parameters and the properties of impregnating sealants to improve quality assurance for impregnation in industrial metals.

Domain size and charge defects affecting the polarization switching of antiferroelectric domains

The switching behavior of antiferroelectric domain structures under the applied electric field is not fully understood.In this work,by using the phase field simulation,we have studied the polarization switching property of antiferroelectric domains.Our results indicate that the ferroelectric domains nucleate preferably at the boundaries of the antiferroelectric domains,and antiferroelectrics with larger initial domain sizes possess a higher coercive electric field as demonstrated by hysteresis loops.Moreover,we introduce charge defects into the sample and numerically investigate their influence.It is also shown that charge defects can induce local ferroelectric domains,which could suppress the saturation polarization and narrow the enclosed area of the hysteresis loop.Our results give insights into understanding the antiferroelectric phase transformation and optimizing the energy storage property in experiments.

SAR regional all-azimuth observation orbit design for target 3D reconstruction

Three-dimensional(3D) synthetic aperture radar(SAR)extends the conventional 2D images into 3D features by several acquisitions in different aspects. Compared with 3D techniques via multiple observations in elevation, e.g. SAR interferometry(InSAR) and SAR tomography(TomoSAR), holographic SAR can retrieve 3D structure by observations in azimuth. This paper focuses on designing a novel type of orbit to achieve SAR regional all-azimuth observation(AAO) for embedded targets detection and holographic 3D reconstruction. The ground tracks of the AAO orbit separate the earth surface into grids. Target in these grids can be accessed with an azimuth angle span of360°, which is similar to the flight path of airborne circular SAR(CSAR). Inspired from the successive coverage orbits of optical sensors, several optimizations are made in the proposed method to ensure favorable grazing angles, the performance of 3D reconstruction, and long-term supervision for SAR sensors. Simulation experiments show the regional AAO can be completed within five hours. In addition, a second AAO of the same area can be duplicated in two days. Finally, an airborne SAR data process result is presented to illustrate the significance of AAO in 3D reconstruction.

Multi-UAVs Collaborative Path Planning in the Cramped Environment

Due to its flexibility and complementarity, the multiUAVs system is well adapted to complex and cramped workspaces, with great application potential in the search and rescue(SAR) and indoor goods delivery fields. However, safe and effective path planning of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)in the cramped environment is always challenging: conflicts with each other are frequent because of high-density flight paths, collision probability increases because of space constraints, and the search space increases significantly, including time scale, 3D scale and model scale. Thus, this paper proposes a hierarchical collaborative planning framework with a conflict avoidance module at the high level and a path generation module at the low level. The enhanced conflict-base search(ECBS) in our framework is improved to handle the conflicts in the global path planning and avoid the occurrence of local deadlock. And both the collision and kinematic models of UAVs are considered to improve path smoothness and flight safety. Moreover, we specifically designed and published the cramped environment test set containing various unique obstacles to evaluating our framework performance thoroughly. Experiments are carried out relying on Rviz, with multiple flight missions: random, opposite, and staggered, which showed that the proposed method can generate smooth cooperative paths without conflict for at least 60 UAVs in a few minutes.The benchmark and source code are released in https://github.com/inin-xingtian/multi-UAVs-path-planner.

Study on welding process performance of HG70D high strength steel plate

In this paper, the performance of HG70D welded joint of ultra-high strength steel plates is presented, and the performance of HG70D and Q345B welded joints is studied. The high strength steel plate HG70D showed excellent weldability. Through the X-ray inspection of welded joints, tensile strength, impact test and bending performance test, the comprehensive performance of the joint was excellent. The macroscopic and microscopic metallographic analysises of the welded joints show that the welding seams included pearlite, sorbite, ferrite, etc. The influence of stress annealing temperature on HG70D of high strength steel plate was analyzed by heat treatment.

Direction-of-arrival estimation for co-located multiple-input multiple-output radar using structural sparsity Bayesian learning

This paper addresses the direction of arrival （DOA） estimation problem for the co-located multiple-input multiple- output （MIMO） radar with random arrays. The spatially distributed sparsity of the targets in the background makes com- pressive sensing （CS） desirable for DOA estimation. A spatial CS framework is presented, which links the DOA estimation problem to support recovery from a known over-complete dictionary. A modified statistical model is developed to ac- curately represent the intra-block correlation of the received signal. A structural sparsity Bayesian learning algorithm is proposed for the sparse recovery problem. The proposed algorithm, which exploits intra-signal correlation, is capable being applied to limited data support and low signal-to-noise ratio （SNR） scene. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm has less computation load compared to the classical Bayesian algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has a more accurate DOA estimation than the traditional multiple signal classification （MUSIC） algorithm and other CS recovery algorithms.

Investigation of system structure and information processing mechanism for cognitive skywave over-the-horizon radar

Based on the cognitive radar concept and the basic connotation of cognitive skywave over-the-horizon radar（SWOTHR）, the system structure and information processingmechanism about cognitive SWOTHR are researched. Amongthem, the hybrid network system architecture which is thedistributed configuration combining with the centralized cognition and its soft/hardware framework with the sense-detectionintegration are proposed, and the information processing framebased on the lens principle and its information processing flowwith receive-transmit joint adaption are designed, which buildand parse the work law for cognition and its self feedback adjustment with the lens focus model and five stages informationprocessing sequence. After that, the system simulation andthe performance analysis and comparison are provided, whichinitially proves the rationality and advantages of the proposedideas. Finally, four important development ideas of futureSWOTHR toward ＂high frequency intelligence information processing system＂ are discussed, which are scene information fusion, dynamic reconfigurable system, hierarchical and modulardesign, and sustainable development. Then the conclusion thatthe cognitive SWOTHR can cause the performance improvement is gotten.

An adjustment method for active reflector of large high-frequency antennas considering gain and boresight

The design of the Qitai 110 m Radio Telescope（QTT） with large aperture and very high working frequency（115 GHz） was investigated in Xinjiang, China. The results lead to a main reflector with high surface precision and high pointing precision. In this paper, the properties of active surface adjustment in a deformed parabolic reflector antenna are analyzed. To assure the performance of large reflector antennas such as gain and boresight, which can be obtained by utilizing an electromechanical coupling model, and satisfy them simultaneously, research on active surface adjustment applied to a new parabolic reflector as target surface has been done. Based on the initial position of actuators and the relationship between adjustment points and target points, a novel mathematical model and a program thatdirectly calculates the movements of actuators have been developed for guiding the active surface adjustment of large reflector antennas. This adjustment method is applied to an 8 m reflector antenna,in which we only consider gravity deformation. The results show that this method is more efficient in adjusting the surface and improving the working performance.

Catalytic Synthesis of Isopropyl Benzene over SO_4 ^(2-)/ZrO_ 2-MCM-41

Super acid catalyst SO4^2-/ZrO2 was introduced into pure silicone MCM-41 via the impregnation method and the catalyst samples obtained at different temperatures were characterized by means of XRD, IR, and Py-IR techniques. The selectively catalytic gas-phase flow reactions of benzene with propene over the catalyst samples were carried out in a made-to-measure high-pressure flow reactor equipped with a thermostat and a condenser. Effect of the preparative condition on the catalytic synthesis of isopropyl benzene over the catalyst samples was tested. The results show that SO4^2-/ZrO2-MCM-41 （ SZM-41 ） can be used as a catalyst for the title reaction, in which there are a higher conversion （97%） for the propene and a higher selectivity（93% ） for the isopropyl benzene.

Experimental study on toluene removal by a two-stage plasma-biofilter system

Volatile organic compounds(VOCs) are typical pollutants that affect air quality.Discharge plasma is thought to be a potential method that can remove VOCs from flue gas.In this experiment,pulsed corona discharge plasma combined with a biological tower was carried out to remove the benzene series,and toluene was selected as the typical VOC.The results indicated that the removal efficiency of toluene by pulsed corona plasma was slightly higher than that of direct current(DC) corona plasma,while its energy efficiency was much higher than DC corona plasma.Under the optimal experimental conditions of pulse voltage 8.5 kV,initial toluene concentration 1400 mg m^(-3),and toluene flow rate of 121h^(-1),the toluene removal efficiency reached 77.11% by the single method of pulsed corona discharge plasma,and the energy efficiency was up to 1.515 g/(kW·h) under the pulse voltage of 4.0 kV.The trickling biofilter was constructed by using the screened and domesticated Acinetobacter baumannii,and the highest toluene removal efficiency by the pulsed corona discharge plasma combined with the trickling biofilter rose up to 97.84%.Part of the toluene was degraded into CO_(2),H_(2)O,and some intermediate products such as o-diphenol under the influence of Acinetobacter baumannii.When the remaining waste gas passed through the discharge plasma reactor,the benzene ring structure could be directly destroyed by the collision between toluene and plasma.Meanwhile,O·,OH·,and some other oxidizing radicals generated by the discharge also join into the oxidative decomposition of toluene and its intermediate products,thereby further improving the removal efficiency of toluene.Therefore,the two-stage plasma-biofilter system not only showed a high toluene removal efficiency,but also had a good energy efficiency.The results of this study will provide theoretical support and technical reference for industrial VOC treatment.

Impacts of space-time-frequency synchronization errors onwide-band target echo characteristics of bistatic/multistatic radar

Bistatic/multistatic radar has great potential advantages over its monostatic counterpart. However, the separation of a transmitter and a receiver leads to difficulties in locating the target position accurately and guaranteeing space-timefrequency synchronization of the transmitter and the receiver.The error model of space-time-frequency synchronization in a motion platform of bistatic/multistatic radar is studied. The relationship between the space synchronization error and the transmitter platform position, receiver platform position, moving state, and beam pointing error, is analyzed. The effect of space synchronization error on target echo power is studied. The target scattering characteristics are restructured by many separate scattering centers of the target in high frequency regions. Based on the scattering centers model of the radar target, this radar target echo model and the simulation method are discussed. The algorithm of bistatic/multistatic radar target echo accurately reflects the scattering characteristics of the radar target, pulse modulation speciality of radar transmitting signals, and spacetime-frequency synchronization error characteristics between the transmitter station and the receiver station. The simulation of bistatic radar is completed in computer, and the results of the simulation validate the feasibility of the method.

Application of Photon-Counting X-ray Computed Tomography to Aluminum-Casting Inspection

One of the issues in the aluminum-alloy die casting industry is the space occurring inside the casting, and the improvement of the verification technology is expected. The purpose of this research is to seal holes inside the aluminum metal by resin and verify them by photon-counting X-ray computed tomography (CT) using an energy-discrimination 64-channel cadmium-telluride (CdTe) line detector. Moreover, it is important to estimate the image of the effective atomic number and the electronic density by the energy mapping of the attenuation coefficient utilizing photon-counting X-ray CTto distinguish both the aluminum metal and the resin filler in the aluminum hole. As a result, the energy discrimination of the resin filler in the space of aluminum casting has been attained. We could observe the atomic number image utilizing dual-energyX-ray CTmethod with the 64-channel CdTe photon-counting detector.

Modeling and Decoupling of Coupling Tasks in Collaborative Development Process of Complicated Electronic Products

It is important to improve the development efficiency of decoupling a coupling task package according to the information relevancy relation between development tasks in the collaborative development process of complicated electronic products.In order to define the task coupling model in the development process,the weighted directed graph based on the information relevancy is established,and the correspondence between weighted directed graph model and numerical design structure matrix model of coupling tasks is introduced.The task coupling model is quantized,thereby the interactivity matrix of task package is built.A multi-goal task decoupling method based on improved genetic algorithm is proposed to decouple the task coupling model,which transforms the decoupling of task package into a multi-goal optimization issue.Then the improved genetic algorithm is used to solve the interactivity matrix of coupling tasks.Finally,the effectiveness of this decomposition method is proved by using the example of task package decoupling of collaborative development of a radar’s phased array antenna.

Influence of electroless Sn/Bi on Sn/Pb soldered joint strength

The solder joint strength of Pb/Sn soldering aluminum with electroless layer Sn/Bi and Cu was studied. The results show that the joint shear strength of electroless Sn/Bi on aluminum surface is lower than that of Cu. A Pb-riched region with porosity is formed in region of soldering fillet with electroless Sn/Bi. Both the electroless Sn/Bi layer and Pb-riched layer become thicker, which are the reasons why the shear strength of the solder joint with electroless Sn/Bi on aluminum surface is lower than that of electroless Cu, and the higher the thickness of the electroless Sn/Bi layer is, the lower the shear strength of solder joint is.

Estimation of detection threshold in multiple ship target situations with HF ground wave radar

A credible method of calculating the detection threshold is presented for the multiple target situations, which appear frequently in the lower Doppler velocity region during the surveillance of sea with HF ground wave radar. This method defines a whole-peak-outlier elimination （WPOE） criterion, which is based on in-peak-samples correlation of each target echo spectra, to trim off the target signals and abnormal disturbances with great amplitude from the complex spectra. Therefore, cleaned background noise samples are obtained to improve the accuracy and reliability of noise level estimation. When the background noise is nonhomogeneous, the detection samples are limited and often occupied heavily with outliers. In this case, the problem that the detection threshold is overvalued can be solved. In applications on experimental data, it is verified that this method can reduce the miss alarm rate of signal detection effectively in multiple target situations as well as make the adaptability of the detector better.

Grid and substrate bias effects on mechanical properties of diamond films prepared by HFCVD

Diamond films were prepared at different grid bias and substrate bias in hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) system. The Raman and SEM results show that grain size decreases and non-diamond impurities increase for applying grid and substrate bias currents. The defects and impurities in the film increase with the decrease of grain size, which causes the decrease of hardness and elastic modulus of diamond films. The fracture toughness of film increases because of the grain size effects by applying bias. The grid bias and substrate bias make the friction coefficient smaller because of the smaller grain size and lubricating effect of graphite in the film. But the excessively high substrate bias current will lead to the dramatic decrease of mechanical properties of CVD diamond as a lot of non-diamond impurities appear in the film.

Performance evaluation of sensor allocation algorithm based on covariance control

The covariance control capability of sensor allocation algorithms based on covariance control strategy is an important index to evaluate the performance of these algorithms. Owing to lack of standard performance metric indices to evaluate covariance control capability, sensor allocation ratio, etc, there are no guides to follow in the design procedure of sensor allocation algorithm in practical applications. To meet these demands, three quantified performance metric indices are presented, which are average covariance misadjustment quantity （ACMQ）, average sensor allocation ratio （ASAR） and matrix metric influence factor （MMIF）, where ACMQ, ASAR and MMIF quantify the covariance control capabili- ty, the usage of sensor resources and the robustness of sensor allocation algorithm, respectively. Meanwhile, a covariance adaptive sensor allocation algorithm based on a new objective function is proposed to improve the covariance control capability of the algorithm based on information gain. The experiment results show that the proposed algorithm have the advantage over the preceding sensor allocation algorithm in covariance control capability and robustness.

A combination algorithm of Chaos optimization and genetic algorithm and its application in maneuvering multiple targets data association

The most important problem in targets tracking is data association which may be represented as a sort of constraint combinational optimization problem. Chaos optimization and adaptive genetic algorithm were used to deal with the problem of multi-targets data association separately. Based on the analysis of the limitation of chaos optimization and genetic algorithm, a new chaos genetic optimization combination algorithm was presented. This new algorithm first applied the "rough" search of chaos optimization to initialize the population of GA, then optimized the population by real-coded adaptive GA. In this way, GA can not only jump out of the "trap" of local optimal results easily but also increase the rate of convergence. And the new method can also avoid the complexity and time-consumed limitation of conventional way. The simulation results show that the combination algorithm can obtain higher correct association percent and the effect of association is obviously superior to chaos optimization or genetic algorithm separately. This method has better convergence property as well as time property than the conventional ones.

Experimental Study of A Novel Piezoelectric Tumor Marker Micro-array Immunosensor

A novel 2×5 model of insert-plug piezoelectric quartz crystal tumor marker micro-array immunosensor constructed with screw clamp apparatus has been developed for quantitative detection of the tumor markers such as alpha-fetoprotein (AFP),carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA),prostate specific antigen (PSA),and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in serum,in which every crystal unit can oscillate independently with the stability of±1 hertz (Hz) in air and±2 Hz in liquid.These response characteristics of Pz tumor marker micro-array immunosensor such as temperature, time-cost,reproducibility and specificity etc were also investigated.The detection ranges for AFP,CEA,PSA,and hCG obtained by Pz micro-array immunosensor were 20 ng/ml～640 ng/ml,1.56 ng/ml～50 ng/ml,1.25 ng/ml～50 ng/ml,and 2.5 mIU/ml～250 mlU/mi respectively with the coefficient of variance (CV) less than 5%.No cross-reactivates with other tumor markers in serum were observed.The results of AFP,CEA,PSA,and hCG obtained by this method from 68 serum samples were in good agreement with those given by chemiluminescence immunoassay with the correlation coefficients of 0.92,0.90,0.91,and 0.94 respectively.The Pz immunosensor regenerated by urea solution could be reused for five times without appreciable loss of response activity.Therefore,the proposed insert-plug immunosensor provides a rapid, sensitive,specific,reusable,convenient and reliable alternative for the detection of tumor markers in clinical laboratory.

PARTIALLY BLIND EXTRACTION OF CONTINUOUS CHAOTIC SIGNALS FROM A LINEAR MIXTURE

In this paper, we address the problem of blind extraction and separation of a continuous chaotic signal from a linear mixture consisting of some chaotic signal and/or random signals. The problem of blind extraction is firstly formulated as a problem of the synchronization-based parameter estimation. Then an efficient least square based parameter estimation method is introduced to determine the desired extracting vector. The proposed blind signal extraction scheme is applicable to blind separation of chaotic signals by formulating the separation problem as the extraction of each chaotic source. Numerical simulation shows that the proposed approach can blindly extract and separate the desired chaotic signals and it is also robust to measurement noise.