Monitoring of the Main Reactor Joint by Automated System

Traditionally, on reactors of the VVER type, a manual measuring tool is used to inspect the sealing surfaces of the main joint. To automate testing, a PGR-59 system was developed, which was successfully applied to three new power units of type VVER-1200. The purpose of the application is to measure the geometric characteristics of the main joint and determine the filling factor of the sealing grooves with nickel wire. Measurement is performed by laser scanning. Additionally, the article has a television camera for searching for defects with the possibility of measuring their dimensions. The result of the work was the obtaining of actual profiles of seating surfaces of the main joint of the reactor. The use of the PGR-59 system allows you to monitor the change in the profile of the seating surfaces, which constantly changes due to mechanical impact on the seating surfaces, predict its condition and plan the necessary repairs in advance. Based on the measurement results, new data were found on the nature of the main connector seal. The information obtained during the actual measurements made it possible to improve the operational and ergonomic characteristics of the system.

The altitude of sprites observed over South Africa

Sprites are mesospheric optical emissions that are mostly produced by large, positive cloud-to-ground lightning discharges. Sprites appear in different morphologies such as carrot, jellyfish and column, and are typically in the altitude range of ~40–100 km above the Earth’s surface. Sprites are a subset of transient luminous events and they contribute to the global electric circuit. South Africa has large convective thunderstorms, which typically occur in the summer months of every year. Peak current, time and geographical position of lightning strokes were obtained from the South African Weather Service. Sprite observations were recorded in South Africa for the first time on 11 January 2016 from Sutherland in the Northern Cape using a night-vision television camera from the South African National Space Agency’s Optical Space Research laboratory. We report the first estimates of the top altitude, and the altitude of maximum brightness, of 48 sprites over South Africa. We found that the average top altitude and the altitude of maximum brightness of sprites are approximately 84.3 km and 69 km, respectively, which is consistent with estimates made elsewhere. We also found a moderately high positive and a weak positive correlation between the top altitude and the altitude of maximum brightness, respectively, of sprites and the lightning stroke charge moment change.

Increasing the probability of recognizing a target using a two-dimensional image from the sensor of the visible range of the onboard complex of information support for search and rescue operations in the Arctic

The article addresses the task of improving target recognition in onboard information support system for search and rescue operations in the Arctic region. One of the tasks performed by the complex is recognition of objects in twodimensional camera images, which suffer from the loss of the image brightness, being formed by constant brightness principle, with its direct impact on the probability of target recognition. To preserve the brightness of the image, the authors propose to process the primary signals of the camera according to the principle of constant color brightness. The proposed processing can increase the probability of correct target recognition. The paper analyzes the principles of encoding the primary signals of the television camera. For the object recognition problem, the cascades were trained based on the cascade classifier using the principles of constant brightness and constant color brightness. The output of the trained cascades has confirmed that the processing of the primary signals of a television camera based on the principle of constant brightness improves target recognition and therefore will increase the object recognition performance of the complex under development.

Vehicle Classification Based on FBG Sensor Arrays Using Neural Networks

This article is focused on the automatic classification of passing vehicles through an experimental platform using optical sensor arrays. The amount of data generated from various sensor systems is growing proportionally every year. Therefore, it is necessary to look for more progressive solutions to these problems. Methods of implementing artificial intelligence are becoming a new trend in this area. At first, an experimental platform with two separate groups of fiber Bragg grating sensor arrays (horizontally and vertically oriented) installed into the top pavement layers was created. Interrogators were connected to sensor arrays to measure pavement deformation caused by vehicles passing over the pavement. Next, neural networks for visual classification with a closed-circuit television camera to separate vehicles into different classes were used. This classification was used for the verification of measured and analyzed data from sensor arrays. The newly proposed neural network for vehicle classification from the sensor array dataset was created. From the obtained experimental results, it is evident that our proposed neural network was capable of separating trucks from other vehicles, with an accuracy of 94.9%, and classifying vehicles into three different classes, with an accuracy of 70.8%. Based on the experimental results, extending sensor arrays as described in the last part of the paper is recommended.

A Data Verification System for CCTV Surveillance Cameras Using Blockchain Technology in Smart Cities

The video created by a surveillance cameras plays a crucial role in crime prevention and examinations in smart cities. The closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) is essential for a range of public uses in a smart city; combined with Internet of Things (IoT) technologies they can turn into smart sensors that help to ensure safety and security. However, the authenticity of the camera itself raises issues of building up integrity and suitability of data. In this paper, we present a blockchain-based system to guarantee the trustworthiness of the stored recordings, allowing authorities to validate whether or not a video has been altered. It helps to discriminate fake videos from original ones and to make sure that surveillance cameras are authentic. Since the distributed ledger of the blockchain records the metadata of the CCTV video as well, it is obstructing the chance of forgery of the data. This immutable ledger diminishes the risk of copyright encroachment for law enforcement agencies and clients users by securing possession and identity.

The Development of Laboratory Work on the Topic: Pre-processing of Information from CVS Sensors of a Mobile Rescue Robot in Smoke Conditions

The solution to the problem of processing long-range and television information received by the sensors of a mobile rescue robot in a smoke-filled environment is considered. A selection of budget sensors is made among those available in the free sale and having open-source software. The selected sensors are linked into a single information field in the free ROS software package using open-source libraries. The first stage of processing is the calibration of sensors to reduce the effect of distortion, as well as comparing the color image of the television camera with the readings of the rangefinder. The second stage is the analysis of existing solutions for image filtering in smoke conditions and the selection of the best according to the criteria for reducing the number of “smoke-filled” pixels and speed of response. In this paper, an algorithm is selected based on an atmospheric physical model with image analysis in the YCrCb space. The operation of this algorithm is demonstrated and a method for approximating a long-range image using a filtered color image is proposed to restore information from a rangefinder and further construct a model of the environment. Suggestions were made for further analysis and improving the accuracy of the algorithm. Based on this decision, laboratory work was formed in the course “RS designing”.