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Rabies Virus Glycoprotein (Rvgp) Expression In Drosophila S2 Cells And By Semliki Forest Virus (Sfv). Synthesis And Protection Studies, Carlos Pereira Jun 2010

Rabies Virus Glycoprotein (Rvgp) Expression In Drosophila S2 Cells And By Semliki Forest Virus (Sfv). Synthesis And Protection Studies, Carlos Pereira

Vaccine Technology III

Here we report the utilization of Drosophila melanogaster Schneider 2 (S2) cells and the Semliki Forest Virus (SFV) expression system to produce the rabies virus glycoprotein (RVGP). Although they represent different expression systems, they offer similar advantages in generating high-level expression of functional membrane proteins. They are both relatively easy and safe to handle and are scalable. RVGP synthesized by S2 cells and SFV carrying an mRNA coding for RVGP (SFV-RVGP) were assayed in mouse protection studies. We have constructed S2 gene vectors with the hygromycin selection gene (H) in which the RVGP gene is inserted under the control of …


Human Cells For Prostate Cancer Vaccine Therapy - The Impact Of Centrifugation Upon Key Product Quality Attributes, Michael Delahaye, Katherine Lawrence, Carol Chu Mike Hoare, Stephen Ward Jun 2010

Human Cells For Prostate Cancer Vaccine Therapy - The Impact Of Centrifugation Upon Key Product Quality Attributes, Michael Delahaye, Katherine Lawrence, Carol Chu Mike Hoare, Stephen Ward

Vaccine Technology III

Centrifugation is a unit operation used within a wide range of bioprocesses, including the production of a whole cell cancer vaccine to treat Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer (HRPC) which has been tested in Phase II clinical trials. To quantify the effect of centrifugation-related stresses upon a whole cell vaccine population, a design of experiments (DOE) based investigation at micro-scale was implemented. Qualification of the cells may be by membrane integrity and by surface marker density as well as cytokines released and retained during bioprocessing. These and possibly other factors combine to affect the biopotency of the cells and their clinical …


Challenges In Confronting Pandemic Influenza Using Novel Adjuvanted Vaccines, Louis F. Fries Jun 2010

Challenges In Confronting Pandemic Influenza Using Novel Adjuvanted Vaccines, Louis F. Fries

Vaccine Technology III

Pandemic influenza is a recurring threat throughout history. Characterized by rapid spread and high attack rate, the features of pandemic influenza are grounded in the lack of immunologic experience with pandemic virus subtypes in the majority of the human population alive during the outbreak. Immunization is regarded as a key tool in preparing for, and mitigating, pandemic influenza. Unfortunately, capacity to manufacture sufficient inactivated influenza antigen by currently-licensed processes remains challenging, and this problem is amplified by the very short timeline for production and distribution that may be available. GSK has addressed the pandemic influenza challenge by application of the …


Purification Process Development Of Protein Subunit Based Vaccine Candidates Produced Using Recombinant E. Coli Expression System (Part - Ii), Davinder Chawla, Yan-Ping Yang Jun 2010

Purification Process Development Of Protein Subunit Based Vaccine Candidates Produced Using Recombinant E. Coli Expression System (Part - Ii), Davinder Chawla, Yan-Ping Yang

Vaccine Technology III

Proteins are key components of prophylactic vaccines against infectious diseases. Protein subunit based vaccine is an attractive alternative to the traditional detoxified bacterial or inactivated viral vaccine approach due to its highly purified and well characterized product nature. Purification of protein antigens to achieve consistent product purity and quality is an integral part of the protein subunit vaccine product development process. Expression levels of the recombinant proteins in bacterial expression system may be extremely high following rapid technology advancement. The challenges and approaches used to develop purification processes for novel protein vaccine candidates expressed at g/L level will be discussed.


Influence Of Host Cell Defence During Influenza Vaccine Production In Mdck Cells, Timo Frensing, Claudius Seitz, Bjoern Heynischotto-Von-Guericke, Udo Reichl Jun 2010

Influence Of Host Cell Defence During Influenza Vaccine Production In Mdck Cells, Timo Frensing, Claudius Seitz, Bjoern Heynischotto-Von-Guericke, Udo Reichl

Vaccine Technology III

For cell culture-based influenza vaccine production virus yield optimisation is of crucial importance. In particular, with the recent threat of the new H1N1 pandemic, not only seasonal vaccines but also pre-/pandemic vaccines have to be supplied in large quantities. In vivo influenza replication is limited by the immune system, but for production cell lines the impact of cellular defence mechanisms on virus yield is unknown. In influenza-infected adherent Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells the interferon (IFN) response and subsequent induction of the antiviral state was monitored. Virus yield and host cell signalling intensity were strain-dependent. By over-expression of viral antagonists …


Final Conference Program, Barry Buckland, John Aunins, Paula Marques Alves, Kathrin Jansen Jun 2010

Final Conference Program, Barry Buckland, John Aunins, Paula Marques Alves, Kathrin Jansen

Vaccine Technology III

List of talks during the conference.


The Global Manufacture Of Polio Vaccine In The Endgame Of Eradication, Philip Minor Jun 2010

The Global Manufacture Of Polio Vaccine In The Endgame Of Eradication, Philip Minor

Vaccine Technology III

The manufacture of medicines is increasingly globalised but biological products such as vaccines are more complex and their production raises significantly different issues to that of chemical entities. New producers in any region of the world may have difficulty in recognising all the concerns involved and can benefit from technology transfer exercises and a strong and scientifically competent regulatory authority. The issues will be discussed in the context of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in its terminal phases and future needs for the manufacture of polio vaccine.


Development Of Inactivated Polio Vaccine From Attenuated Sabin Strains For Clinical Studies And Technology-Transfer Purposes, Yvonne E. Thomassen, Wilfried A.M. Bakker, Janny Westdijk, Aart G. Van ‘T Oever, Nico Van Den Heuvel, Jan Hendriks, Gideon F.A. Kersten, Leo A. Van Der Pol Jun 2010

Development Of Inactivated Polio Vaccine From Attenuated Sabin Strains For Clinical Studies And Technology-Transfer Purposes, Yvonne E. Thomassen, Wilfried A.M. Bakker, Janny Westdijk, Aart G. Van ‘T Oever, Nico Van Den Heuvel, Jan Hendriks, Gideon F.A. Kersten, Leo A. Van Der Pol

Vaccine Technology III

Recently, responding to WHO’s call for new polio vaccines, the development of Sabin-IPV (injectable, formalin-Inactivated Polio Vaccine, based on attenuated ‘Sabin’ polio virus strains) was initated at NVI. This activity plays an important role in the WHO polio eradication strategy. The use of Sabin instead of wild-type Salk polio strains will provide additional safety during vaccine production. Initially, the Sabin-IPV production process will be based on the scale-down model of the current, and well-established, Salk-IPV process. In parallel, process development, optimization and formulation research is being carried out to further modernize the process and reduce cost per dose. The lab-scale …


Building Process Understanding For Vaccine Manufacturing Using Data Mining, Matthew Wiener Jun 2010

Building Process Understanding For Vaccine Manufacturing Using Data Mining, Matthew Wiener

Vaccine Technology III

The production of vaccines is a complex biological process, with long cycle times and a high level of variation in raw materials, biological growth rates, and test methods. While long-term shifts or cycles in yield are not unusual, it is important to build understanding of the causes of shifts and cycles, for greater control and predictability. Hundreds of variables are monitored for every batch of vaccine produced; however, the relationships between product quality and the many process variables are difficult to quantify. In this article, we describe how mining historical process data using random forests and partial least squares (PLS) …


New Vaccine Technologies: Promising Advances May Save More Lives, John Boslego Jun 2010

New Vaccine Technologies: Promising Advances May Save More Lives, John Boslego

Vaccine Technology III

In the past 20 years, immunization has prevented nearly 20 million deaths from vaccine-preventable infections. Despite this success, poorer countries often lack access to newer and more expensive vaccines, and vaccines are not yet available for many illnesses. PATH is working to narrow the immunization gap between developed countries and developing countries by increasing the availability of existing vaccines, reducing the lag time for adoption of recently-licensed vaccines, developing technology in support of vaccines and immunization (e.g. vaccine vial monitor, Uniject, vaccine stabilization platforms) and working with partners to develop new vaccines.

Vaccine development is expensive and manufacturers often focus …


Microalgae Productivity Potential, Jason Quinn Jun 2010

Microalgae Productivity Potential, Jason Quinn

CO2 Summit: Technology and Opportunity

No abstract provided.


Development Of Recombinant Protein Based Chemical Conjugate Malaria Vaccines Targeting The Pre-Erythrocytic Stage, Transmission Blocking, Or Both, David L. Narum, Nicholas Macdonald, David Jones, Ruth Ellis, Yimin Wu, Patrick E. Duffy Jun 2010

Development Of Recombinant Protein Based Chemical Conjugate Malaria Vaccines Targeting The Pre-Erythrocytic Stage, Transmission Blocking, Or Both, David L. Narum, Nicholas Macdonald, David Jones, Ruth Ellis, Yimin Wu, Patrick E. Duffy

Vaccine Technology III

The development of a Plasmodium falciparum malaria vaccine is critical for future control and elimination programs. Recombinant protein based chemical conjugate vaccines, covering different parasite stages, are being developed due to complexity of the parasite and sub-optimal immunogenicity of recombinant malaria proteins in humans, respectively. Chemical conjugation of recombinant malaria proteins to carrier proteins improves their immunogenicity in animal studies. A transmission blocking vaccine comprised of the ookinete protein Pfs25 chemically conjugated to Pseudomonas aeruginosa ExoProtein A (EPA) is currently being developed for pilot scale cGMP production. Bulk lots of Pfs25 and EPA have already been produced and released following …


Ultra-Scale Down Studies Of Human Cell Bioprocessing For A Prostate Cancer Vaccine Therapy - The Impact Of Capillary Shear, Juan Pablo Acosta Martinez, Katherine Lawrence, Carol Chu Mike Hoare, Stephen Ward Jun 2010

Ultra-Scale Down Studies Of Human Cell Bioprocessing For A Prostate Cancer Vaccine Therapy - The Impact Of Capillary Shear, Juan Pablo Acosta Martinez, Katherine Lawrence, Carol Chu Mike Hoare, Stephen Ward

Vaccine Technology III

The scale-up and manufacturing of therapies based on intact whole cells presents a major challenge for development scientists and engineers due to the stress-reactive nature of these cells. The administrated cells may be characterized in terms of their membrane integrity and their surface markers and eventually their biopotency. The challenge is to process the cells at various scales and in a way which maintains these cell properties. Also during formulation the presence of cytokines produced by cells prior to their inactivation is a critical factor. This poster presents an approach to allow the rapid characterization of human cell lines in …


Establishing A Platform For Spray Drying Inhalable Vaccines In South Africa, Willem Germishuizen, L Venter, A Khosa, F Mudau, P.B. Fourie, B Pulliam, M Kabadi, A Schiermeier, D.A . Edwards Jun 2010

Establishing A Platform For Spray Drying Inhalable Vaccines In South Africa, Willem Germishuizen, L Venter, A Khosa, F Mudau, P.B. Fourie, B Pulliam, M Kabadi, A Schiermeier, D.A . Edwards

Vaccine Technology III

Mycobacterium bovis BCG is the current vaccine for tuberculosis (TB). However, BCG as it is currently administered shows highly variable efficacy in protecting adults against TB. The natural route of infection of TB is via inhalation of bacilli-containing aerosols and it is postulated that immunization by the natural route of infection may lead to a greater immunity given the fact that the lungs are the primary target of infection. By eliciting both local and systemic immune responses, it is anticipated that an inhaled form of BCG will offer greater protection against pulmonary TB.

Current commercial BCG vaccine preparations are filled …


Application Of Animal-Free Recombinant Bioactive Protein Supplements To Improve The Performance Of Cell-Based Viral Vaccine Production, Kenneth Bertram, Marina Ross, Domenica Cavallaro, Larissa Chirkova, Geoffrey Francis Jun 2010

Application Of Animal-Free Recombinant Bioactive Protein Supplements To Improve The Performance Of Cell-Based Viral Vaccine Production, Kenneth Bertram, Marina Ross, Domenica Cavallaro, Larissa Chirkova, Geoffrey Francis

Vaccine Technology III

Animal cell culture for the production of viral vaccines has been performed for more than 50 years, and currently this technology is expanding rapidly to meet present and future demands of the health sector. The development and regulatory approval of continuous cell lines for manufacturing viral vaccines has brought numerous benefits to production processes. However, greater advances in the last decade have been achieved in mammalian cell production of biological therapeutics, including monoclonal antibodies, hormones, growth factors, cytokines and clotting factors. We and others have contributed to these upstream advances by improving cell culture media with the development of animal-free …


Cim Technology: Enabeling Economic Vaccine Purification, Matjaz Peterka, Franci Smrekar, Tony Brazzale, Marko Banjac, Petra Kramberger, Milos Barut, Ales Podgornik, Ales Strancar Jun 2010

Cim Technology: Enabeling Economic Vaccine Purification, Matjaz Peterka, Franci Smrekar, Tony Brazzale, Marko Banjac, Petra Kramberger, Milos Barut, Ales Podgornik, Ales Strancar

Vaccine Technology III

Vaccines are diverse and complex biological molecules, complexes and particles. Different production technologies are used for vaccines manufacturing and every production process require somekind of vaccine purification. Purification of vaccines is technically challenging and was traditionally inefficient and partially neglected due to different economical and technical reasons. Density gradient ultracentrifugation, introduced in1960s is still a major purification step for many vaccines present on the market. As a complementary techniques, cross flow filtration and chromatography has been used. Conventional chromatography supports designed for protein purification have relatively small pore sizes with restricted access for large molecules and viruses. In addition mass …


The Characterization And Analysis Of In-Vitro And Elevated Temperature Repassivation Of Ti-6al-4v Via Afm Techniques, Aaron J. Guerrero Jun 2010

The Characterization And Analysis Of In-Vitro And Elevated Temperature Repassivation Of Ti-6al-4v Via Afm Techniques, Aaron J. Guerrero

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

The Characterization and Analysis of In-vitro and Elevated Temperature Repassivation of

Ti-6Al-4V via AFM Techniques

Aaron J Guerrero

Research in the corrosion of orthopaedic implants is a growing research field where implants have been known to show adverse effects in patients who have encountered the unfortunate dissolution of their implants due to corrosion. Once corrosion begins within the body, many adverse biological reactions can occur such as late on-set infections resulting in severe health complications. The focus of this research is specifically related to the problem of late on-set infections caused by localized corrosion of orthopaedic implants. In medical …


Development And Assessment Of A Pcb Layout And Manufacturong Laboratory Module In Introductory Electric Circuits For Ee And Non-Ee Majors, Albert Liddicoat, Jianbiao Pan, James G. Harris, Gary Perks, Linda Shepherd Jun 2010

Development And Assessment Of A Pcb Layout And Manufacturong Laboratory Module In Introductory Electric Circuits For Ee And Non-Ee Majors, Albert Liddicoat, Jianbiao Pan, James G. Harris, Gary Perks, Linda Shepherd

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

In standard introductory electric circuits laboratories for electrical engineering (EE) majors and non-EE majors, prototype boards are typically used to construct and test electric circuits. Students typically do not learn how to design and manufacture Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) that are commonly used in more sophisticated design projects and other engineering applications. This paper will present the development and assessment of a PCB layout and manufacturing laboratory module that has been used in introductory electric circuits laboratories for EE and non-EE majors. The feasibility of integrating the new PCB layout and manufacturing module into the electric circuit course will be …


Mapping The Medical Device Development Process, Scott T. Ham Jun 2010

Mapping The Medical Device Development Process, Scott T. Ham

Industrial Technology and Packaging

This project examined the use of process mapping as a tool to show the process of developing medical devices from a broad perspective that includes research, innovation, development, regulation, and marketing. The medical device development cycle, on a broad scope, is not well defined. The lack of a universal language with which to describe this process has made it difficult to understand and communicate. In this project, data was collected from peer-reviewed sources, summarized in a literature review, drawn out by hand into a series of lower-level process maps and finally assembled into a single process map. This project is …


The Gel Documentation System: A Cornerstone To The Implementation Of The Introduction To Biotechnology And Introduction To Bioinformatics Cross-Disciplinary Course Series, Marcy Kelly, Gregory Lampard, Constance Knapp Jun 2010

The Gel Documentation System: A Cornerstone To The Implementation Of The Introduction To Biotechnology And Introduction To Bioinformatics Cross-Disciplinary Course Series, Marcy Kelly, Gregory Lampard, Constance Knapp

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

No abstract provided.


Impact Of Preferential Flow Paths On Alluvial Groundwater Flow Patterns And Phosphorus Transport, Derek M. Heeren, Ronald B. Miller, Garey A. Fox, Daniel E. Storm, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Chad J. Penn Jun 2010

Impact Of Preferential Flow Paths On Alluvial Groundwater Flow Patterns And Phosphorus Transport, Derek M. Heeren, Ronald B. Miller, Garey A. Fox, Daniel E. Storm, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Chad J. Penn

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

While surface runoff is considered to be the primary transport mechanism for phosphorus (P), subsurface transport through coarse subsoil to gravel bed streams may be significant and represent a source of P not alleviated by current conservation practices (e.g., riparian buffers). Previous research has documented P transport in a preferential flow path (PFP) identified as a buried gravel bar. It is hypothesized that PFPs, if connected to the soil surface, provide a rapid and efficient method of transporting P, and that these alluvial features are transient storage zones for nutrients, acting as a sink during high flow and a source …


On The Bandstructure Velocity And Ballistic Current Of Ultra-Narrow Silicon Nanowire Transistors As A Function Of Cross Section Size, Orientation, And Bias, Neophytos Neophytou, Sung-Geun Kim, Gerhard Klimeck, Hans Kosina Jun 2010

On The Bandstructure Velocity And Ballistic Current Of Ultra-Narrow Silicon Nanowire Transistors As A Function Of Cross Section Size, Orientation, And Bias, Neophytos Neophytou, Sung-Geun Kim, Gerhard Klimeck, Hans Kosina

Birck and NCN Publications

A 20 band sp(3)d(5)s* spin-orbit-coupled, semiempirical, atomistic tight-binding model is used with a semiclassical, ballistic field-effect-transistor model, to theoretically examine the bandstructure carrier velocity and ballistic current in silicon nanowire (NW) transistors. Infinitely long, uniform, cylindrical, and rectangular NWs, of cross sectional diameters/sides ranging from 3-12 nm are considered. For a comprehensive analysis, n-type and p-type metal-oxide semiconductor (NMOS and PMOS) NWs in [100], [110], and [111] transport orientations are examined. In general, physical cross section reduction increases velocities, either by lifting the heavy mass valleys or significantly changing the curvature of the bands. The carrier velocities of PMOS [110] …


Forecasting Consumer Satisfaction For Vehicle Ride Using The Mahalanobis-Taguchi Gram-Schmidt Technique, Elizabeth A. Cudney, Kenneth Ragsdell, Kioumars Paryani Jun 2010

Forecasting Consumer Satisfaction For Vehicle Ride Using The Mahalanobis-Taguchi Gram-Schmidt Technique, Elizabeth A. Cudney, Kenneth Ragsdell, Kioumars Paryani

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Consumers assess and perceive quality and performance at the vehicle level, but important cost-effective decisions at the sub-system or component level must be made by the producer in order to economically satisfy consumer needs by providing affordable products. Consumers evaluate vehicle attributes such as ride, handling, roominess, braking, and acceleration. These vehicle level attributes are influenced by factors at all levels of the vehicle architecture, and these factors are often correlated. the goal of this research is to efficiently forecast consumer satisfaction measured as a function of available vehicle level performance data. This article presents the application of the Mahalanobis-Taguchi …


Dielectrophoretic Separation Of Mouse Melanoma Clones, Ahmet C. Sabuncu, Jie A. Liu, Stephen J. Beebe, Ali Beskok Jun 2010

Dielectrophoretic Separation Of Mouse Melanoma Clones, Ahmet C. Sabuncu, Jie A. Liu, Stephen J. Beebe, Ali Beskok

Bioelectrics Publications

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is employed to differentiate clones of mouse melanoma B16F10 cells. Five clones were tested on microelectrodes. At a specific excitation frequency, clone 1 showed a different DEP response than the other four. Growth rate, melanin content, recovery from cryopreservation, and in vitro invasive studies were performed. Clone 1 is shown to have significantly different melanin content and recovery rate from cryopreservation. This paper reports the ability of DEP to differentiate between two malignant cells of the same origin. Different DEP responses of the two clones could be linked to their melanin content.


Enhanced Light Extraction Efficiency From Gan Light Emitting Diodes Using Photonic Crystal Grating Structures, Simeon S. Trieu Jun 2010

Enhanced Light Extraction Efficiency From Gan Light Emitting Diodes Using Photonic Crystal Grating Structures, Simeon S. Trieu

Master's Theses

Gallium nitride (GaN) light emitting diodes (LED) embody a large field of research that aims to replace inefficient, conventional light sources with LEDs that have lower power, higher luminosity, and longer lifetime. This thesis presents an international collaboration effort between the State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics in Peking University (PKU) of Beijing, China and the Electrical Engineering Department of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Over the course of 2 years, Cal Poly’s side has simulated GaN LEDs within the pure blue wavelength spectrum (460nm), focusing specifically on the effects of reflection gratings, transmission gratings, top and bottom …


Adaptive Critics For Dynamic Optimization, Raghavendra V. Kulkarni, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy Jun 2010

Adaptive Critics For Dynamic Optimization, Raghavendra V. Kulkarni, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel action-dependent adaptive critic design (ACD) is developed for dynamic optimization. the proposed combination of a particle swarm optimization-Based actor and a neural network critic is demonstrated through dynamic sleep scheduling of wireless sensor motes for wildlife monitoring. the objective of the sleep scheduler is to dynamically adapt the sleep duration to node's battery capacity and movement pattern of animals in its environment in order to obtain snapshots of the animal on its trajectory uniformly. Simulation results show that the sleep time of the node determined by the actor critic yields superior quality of sensory data acquisition and enhanced …


Uav Pirates And Silentrack Integration, Travis Dean, Hushnak Singh, Ashley Wager, Matthew (Matt) Woolridge Jun 2010

Uav Pirates And Silentrack Integration, Travis Dean, Hushnak Singh, Ashley Wager, Matthew (Matt) Woolridge

Electrical Engineering

The integration of the UAV pirating system with the SilenTrack video tracking system will allow the combined system to automatically identify and track a suspicious air vehicle visually as well as identify and decode the RF control signal. Once a threat has been identified, the system will execute an algorithm to associate each control channel with the corresponding flight control surface. Once the control channels have been decoded the user can use a hand held radio controller to maneuver the drone which is now under their command.


Development Towards A Protocol To Test For The Creation Of A “Diabetic” Environment In A Blood Vessel Mimic, Kaitlyn Kirk, Development Towards A Protocol To Test For The Creation Of A “Diabetic” Environment In A Blood Vessel Mimic Jun 2010

Development Towards A Protocol To Test For The Creation Of A “Diabetic” Environment In A Blood Vessel Mimic, Kaitlyn Kirk, Development Towards A Protocol To Test For The Creation Of A “Diabetic” Environment In A Blood Vessel Mimic

Biomedical Engineering

Diabetes mellitus affects a huge proportion of people; about 6% of the population in the US had diabetes in 2007 (16). Diabetes promotes dyslipidemia, an imbalance in the circulating levels of lipids and lipoproteins, and diabetes is one of the leading risk factors for coronary artery and peripheral vascular diseases (11, 51, 52).  There are two types of diabetes; type 1 diabetes accounts for about 10% of diagnosed cases and type 2 accounts for about 90% (11).  Diabetic patients react differently to stents and there is a great need to enhance the treatment.  The goal of this project was, and …


Multi-Robot System Control Architecture (Mrsca) For Agricultural Production, Santosh Pitla, Joe D. Luck, Scott A. Shearer Jun 2010

Multi-Robot System Control Architecture (Mrsca) For Agricultural Production, Santosh Pitla, Joe D. Luck, Scott A. Shearer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

Coordinating multiple autonomous robots for achieving an assigned collective task presents a complex engineering challenge. In this paper multi robot system control architecture (MRSCA) for the coordination of multiple agricultural robots is developed. The two important aspects of MRSCA; coordination strategy and inter-robot communication were discussed with typical agricultural tasks as examples. Classification of MRS into homogeneous and heterogeneous robots was done to identify appropriate form of cooperative behavior and inter-robot communication. The framework developed, proposes that inter-robot communication is not always required for a MRS. Three types of cooperative behaviors; No-cooperation, modest cooperation and absolute cooperation for a MRS …


Pneumatic Control Of A Variable Orifice Nozzle, Joe D. Luck, Michael P. Sama, Santosh Pitla, Scott A. Shearer Jun 2010

Pneumatic Control Of A Variable Orifice Nozzle, Joe D. Luck, Michael P. Sama, Santosh Pitla, Scott A. Shearer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

A variable-orifice nozzle with droplet optimization was recently developed and introduced for use on agricultural sprayers. The VariTarget (VT) nozzle reacts to changes in the system flow rate via a metering assembly that is controlled by a diaphragm and spring. As the liquid pressure changes, the VT metering assembly attempts to control the flow rate and spray pattern exiting the nozzle. The goal of this study was to replace the spring controlled “reactive” system with a pneumatically controlled metering assembly. The proposed system would allow for the metering assembly to adjust the flow rate and spray pattern exiting the nozzle …