Controls and Control Theory Commons^™

Intelligent Learning Control System Design Based On Adaptive Dynamic Programming, Naresh Malla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) controller is a powerful neural network based control technique that has been investigated, designed, and tested in a wide range of applications for solving optimal control problems in complex systems. The performance of ADP controller is usually obtained by long training periods because the data usage efficiency is low as it discards the samples once used. Experience replay is a powerful technique showing potential to accelerate the training process of learning and control. However, its existing design can not be directly used for model-free ADP design, because it focuses on the forward temporal difference (TD) information …

Model-Based Control Of Hybrid Electric Powertrains Integrated With Low Temperature Combustion Engines, Ali Soloukmofrad

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Powertrain electrification including hybridizing advanced combustion engines is a viable cost-effective solution to improve fuel economy of vehicles. This will provide opportunity for narrow-range high-efficiency combustion regimes to be able to operate and consequently improve vehicle’s fuel conversion efficiency, compared to conventional hybrid electric vehicles (HEV)s. Low temperature combustion (LTC) engines offer the highest peak brake thermal efficiency reported in literature, but these engines have narrow operating range. In addition, LTC engines have ultra-low soot and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions, compared to conventional compression ignition and spark ignition (SI) engines. This dissertation concentrates on integrating the LTC engines (i) in …

Advances In Multi-Agent Flocking: Continuous-Time And Discrete-Time Algorithms, Brandon Wellman

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

We present multi-agent control methods that address flocking in continuous-time and discrete-time settings. The method is decentralized, that is, each agents controller relies on local sensing to determine the relative positions and velocities of nearby agents. In the continuous-time setting, each agent has double-integrator dynamics. In the discrete-time setting, each agent has the discrete-time double-integrator dynamics obtained by sampling the continuous-time double integrator and applying a zero-order hold on the control input. We demonstrate using analysis, numerical simulations, and experimental demonstrations that agents using the flocking methods converge to flocking formations and follow the centralized leader (if applicable).

Autonomous Quadrotor Collision Avoidance And Destination Seeking In A Gps-Denied Environment, Thomas C. Kirven

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

This thesis presents a real-time autonomous guidance and control method for a quadrotor in a GPS-denied environment. The quadrotor autonomously seeks a destination while it avoids obstacles whose shape and position are initially unknown. We implement the obstacle avoidance and destination seeking methods using off-the-shelf sensors, including a vision-sensing camera. The vision-sensing camera detects the positions of points on the surface of obstacles. We use this obstacle position data and a potential-field method to generate velocity commands. We present a backstepping controller that uses the velocity commands to generate the quadrotor's control inputs. In indoor experiments, we demonstrate that the …

Contributions To Edge Computing, Vernon K. Bumgardner

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Efforts related to Internet of Things (IoT), Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Machine to Machine (M2M) technologies, Industrial Internet, and Smart Cities aim to improve society through the coordination of distributed devices and analysis of resulting data. By the year 2020 there will be an estimated 50 billion network connected devices globally and 43 trillion gigabytes of electronic data. Current practices of moving data directly from end-devices to remote and potentially distant cloud computing services will not be sufficient to manage future device and data growth.

Edge Computing is the migration of computational functionality to sources of data generation. The importance of …

Omni-Directional Infrared 3d Reconstruction And Tracking Of Human Targets, Emrah Benli

Theses and Dissertations

Omni-directional (O-D) infrared (IR) vision is an effective capability for mobile systems in robotics, due to its advantages: illumination invariance, wide field-of-view, ease of identifying heat-emitting objects, and long term tracking without interruption. Unfortunately, O-D IR sensors have low resolution, low frame rates, high cost, sensor noise, and an increase in tracking time. In order to overcome these disadvantages, we propose an autonomous system application in indoor scenarios including 1) Dynamic 3D Reconstruction (D3DR) of the target view in real time images, 2) Human Behavior-based Target Tracking from O-D thermal images, 3) Thermal Multisensor Fusion (TMF), and 4) Visual Perception …

Control Of A Powered Ankle-Foot Prosthesis: From Perception To Impedance Modulation, Guilherme Aramizo Ribeiro

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Active ankle prostheses controllers are demonstrating gaining smart features to improve the safety and comfort offor users. The perception of user intention to modulate the ankle dynamics is a well-known example of such feature. But not much work focused on the perception of the environment, nor how the environment should be included in the mechanical design and control of the prosthesisprostheses. The proposed work aims to improve the feasibility of integrate the environment perception integration intoto the prostheses controllersler, and to define the desired ankle dynamics, as mechanical impedance, duringof the human walk on different environmental settings. As a preliminary …

Easily Verifiable Controller Design With Application To Automotive Powertrains, Mohammad Reza Amini

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Bridging the gap between designed and implemented model-based controllers is a major challenge in the design cycle of industrial controllers. This gap is mainly created due to (i) digital implementation of controller software that introduces sampling and quantization imprecisions via analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), and (ii) uncertainties in the modeled plant’s dynamics, which directly propagate through the controller structure. The failure to identify and handle these implementation and model uncertainties results in undesirable controller performance and costly iterative loops for completing the controller verification and validation (V&V) process.

This PhD dissertation develops a novel theoretical framework to design controllers that are …

Heterogeneous Multi-Sensor Fusion For 2d And 3d Pose Estimation, Hanieh Deilamsalehy

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Sensor fusion is a process in which data from different sensors is combined to acquire an output that cannot be obtained from individual sensors. This dissertation first considers a 2D image level real world problem from rail industry and proposes a novel solution using sensor fusion, then proceeds further to the more complicated 3D problem of multi sensor fusion for UAV pose estimation.

One of the most important safety-related tasks in the rail industry is an early detection of defective rolling stock components. Railway wheels and wheel bearings are two components prone to damage due to their interactions with the …

Using Lower Extremity Muscle Activations To Estimate Human Ankle Impedance In The External-Internal Direction, Lauren N. Knop

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

For millions of people, mobility has been afflicted by lower limb amputation. Lower extremity prostheses have been used to improve the mobility of an amputee; however, they often require additional compensation from other joints and do not allow for natural maneuverability. To improve upon the functionality of ankle-foot prostheses, it is necessary to understand the role of different muscle activations in the modulation of mechanical impedance of a healthy human ankle. This report presents the results of using artificial neural networks (ANN) to determine the functional relationship between lower extremity electromyography (EMG) signals and ankle impedance in the transverse plane. …

Model-Based Control Of An Rcci Engine, Akshat Abhay Raut

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) is a combustion strategy that offers high fuel conversion efficiency and near zero emissions of NOx and soot which can help in improving fuel economy in mobile and stationary internal combustion engine (ICE) applications and at the same time lower engine-out emissions. One of the main challenges associated with RCCI combustion is the difficulty in simultaneously controlling combustion phasing, engine load, and cyclic variability during transient engine operations.

This thesis focuses on developing model based controllers for cycle-to-cycle combustion phasing and load control during transient operations. A control oriented model (COM) is developed by using …

Minimum Time Control Of Paralleled Boost Converters, Shishir Patel

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Demand for electrification is booming in both, traditional and upcoming generations of technological advancements. One of the constituent blocks of these electrified systems is Power conversion. Power conversion systems are often constructed by paralleling multiple power converter blocks for high performance and reliability of overall system. An advanced control technique is developed with an aim to optimize system states of heterogeneous power converters within minimum time while maintaining feasible stress level on individual power converter blocks. Practical implementation of real-time controller and performance improvement strategies are addressed. Experimental results validating high performance control scheme, and sensitivity analysis of system states …

Process Control Laboratory Skid Refurbishment, Danny Crowder

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project evaluates a salvaged process control skid for potential refurbishment and educational re-use. In-lab work evaluated the existing skid. Several process control elements have been recommended for replacement, including the process tank (due to corrosion), the pressure transmitter (operability/corrosion), the flow meters (mechanical) and the control system (age). The control valves, temperature elements and transmitters, pump, holding tanks, and the electrical heat exchanger should be salvaged. An I/P converter and pressure relief valve should be added to the pneumatic feed. Enclosing of all electrical components should be prioritized. An electrical schematic for a new control system should be implemented. …

Underwater Robot, Joseph E. Beck, Matthew Crislip, Cody Bobek, Peyton Lucas

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) are remote controlled drones operated by a non-local user. The ROV we plan to build is connected by a tethering wire to a floating buoy that contains an antenna which will send signals between the base station and the ROV. The ROV is equipped with a video camera, ballast system, propulsion system, lights, and a depth sensor. The ROV will transmit a live video feed to the user, while receiving input signals to control its movement from the base station.

Indoor Mapping Drone, Benjamin J. Plevny, Andrew Armstrong, Miguel Lopez, Davidson Okpara

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project addresses the need for an autonomous indoor mapping system that will create a 3D map of an unknown physical environment in real time. The aerial system moves and avoids obstacles autonomously, without the need for human remote control or observation. An aerial system produces a map of an unknown indoor environment by transmitting data received from the aerial device’s sensors. The transmission occurs over a wireless channel from the aerial device to a remote server for processing and storage of the data. As the transmission is done in real time, the aerial system does not require hardware for …

Analysis And Simulation Of Photovoltaic Systems Incorporating Battery Energy Storage, Oluwaseun M. Akeyo

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Solar energy is an abundant renewable source, which is expected to play an increasing role in the grid's future infrastructure for distributed generation. The research described in the thesis focuses on the analysis of integrating multi-megawatt photovoltaics (PV) systems with battery energy storage into the existing grid and on the theory supporting the electrical operation of components and systems. The PV system is divided into several sections, each having its own DC-DC converter for maximum power point tracking and a two-level grid connected inverter with different control strategies. The functions of the battery are explored by connecting it to the …

Real-Time Sensing And Control Of Developing Weld Penetration Through Reflection Vibration In Gtaw, Jinsong Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

GTAW (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding) weld pool surface is believed to contain sufficient information to determine the weld penetration, from which skilled welders are able to control the welding process to desired penetration states. However, it is unclear how human welders extract the weld penetration from the observed weld pool surface. In this research, a novel method is studied to determine the weld penetration based on the dynamic change of the weld pool surface.

This study observes/measures/analyzes the development of a weld pool from partial to full penetration and correlates such change to the weld penetration. Similar trends in the …

An Optimal Energy Management Strategy For Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Amir Rezaei

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) are used to overcome the short-range and long charging time problems of purely electric vehicles. HEVs have at least two power sources. Therefore, the Energy Management (EM) strategy for dividing the driver requested power between the available power sources plays an important role in achieving good HEV performance.

This work, proposes a novel real-time EM strategy for HEVs which is named ECMS-CESO. ECMS-CESO is based on the Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) and is designed to Catch Energy Saving Opportunities (CESO) while operating the vehicle. ECMS-CESO is an instantaneous optimal controller, i. e., it does not …

Position Control Of An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle From A Mobile Ground Vehicle, Astha Tiwari

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Quadcopters have been developed with controls providing good maneuverability, simple mechanics, and the ability to hover, take-off and land vertically with precision. Due to their small size, they can get close to targets of interest and furthermore stay undetected at lower heights. The main drawbacks of a quadcopter are its high-power consumption and payload restriction, due to which, the number of onboard sensors is constrained. To overcome this limitation, vision-based localization techniques and remote control for the quadcopter are essential areas of current research. The core objective of this research is to develop a closed loop feedback system between an …

Active Management Assistant System For Embry-Riddle Ecocar 3 Hybrid Supervisory Control System, Matthew Nelson, Blair Cutting, Michael J. Aleardi

Student Works

The Embry-Riddle EcoCAR 3 team is developing a prototype hybrid Chevrolet Camaro utilizing a customized vehicle powertrain controller. This controller is serving to ensure system safety, vehicle operation, and consumer drivability while also incorporating advanced driving aids to achieve both the desired performance levels one expects from a Camaro as well as vehicle efficiency. This vehicle must reach the team set vehicle technical specifications of a 4.9 second 0 to 60 time while maintaining a 53 miles per gallon gasoline equivalence rating.

In order to reach the efficiency goal, the team is developing an Active Management Assistance System utilizing computer …