Development and testing of the aerial porter exoskeleton

Back pain is one of the largest drivers of workplace injury and lost productivity in industries around the world. Back injuries were one of the leading reasons in resulting in days away from work at 38.5% across all occupations, increasing for manual laborers to 43%. While the cause of the back pain can vary across occupations, for materiel movers it is often caused from repetitive poor lifting. To reduce the issues, the Aerial Porter Exoskeleton (APEx) was created. The APEx uses a hip-mounted, powered exoskeleton attached to an adjustable vest. An onboard computer calculates the configuration of the user to determine when to activate. Lift form is assisted by using a novel lumbar brace mounted on the sides of the hips. Properly worn, the APEx holds the user upright while providing additional hip torque through a lift. This was tested by having participants complete a lifting test with the exoskeleton worn in the “on” configuration compared with the exoskeleton not worn. The APEx has been shown to deliver 30 Nm of torque in lab testing. The activity recognition algorithm has also been shown to be accurate in 95% of tested conditions. When worn by subjects, testing has shown average peak reductions of 14.9% BPM, 8% in VO2 consumption, and an 8% change in perceived effort favoring the APEx.

Algorithm of Dynamic Forming One Whole Raster Photo Map of the Seabed During its Shooting by an Autonomous Uninhabited Underwater Vehicle

An algorithm has been developed for creating one whole raster photo map of the seabed from images obtained from vertically downward cameras of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) using tile graphics. Tile representation of graphical information allows to quickly access the images after lifting the AUV to the surface and reduce the time spent by the operator to analyse the results of the mission. The images were combined using simple geometric transformations based on the data received from the navigation systems of the AUV and the parameters of its camera, so the algorithm can be implemented on the AUV with low-performance onboard computer, as shown in the experiment.

BP neural Network-Kalman filter fusion method for unmanned aerial vehicle target tracking

The poor real-time performance and target occlusion occurred easily when the UAV was tracking the target. In this paper, a target tracking method based on the Back Propagation neural network fusion Kalman filter algorithm was developed to solve the position prediction problem of the UAV target tracking in real time. Firstly, the target tracking algorithm was used to acquire the center position coordinates of the target on the onboard computer, and then the coordinate difference matrix was constructed to train the BP neural network in real time. Secondly, when the target was occluded by the obstacles judged by the Bhattacharyya coefficient, the BP neural network fusion Kalman filter algorithm was used to accurately predict the center position coordinates of the occluded target. Then the flight speed of UAV was calculated by the deviation between the coordinates of the target and the image center. Finally, the velocity command was sent to the UAV by the onboard computer. The experimental results shown that the target position predicted by BP neural network fusion Kalman filter algorithm was more accurate and robust in predicting the center position coordinates of the target, and the UAV can track the moving target on the ground stably.

Vehicle diagnostic system of the car engine

Support of the established technical characteristics of engines is reached by its regular service and diagnostics in particular - existence of the diagnostic programs built in the onboard computer of the car which carry out constant control of the main parameters of the engine.Based on the algorithm of vibroacoustic diagnostics, a system of vibration and vibroacoustic diagnostics of the internal combustion engine (ICE) is proposed, which can be integrated into the intelligent environment of self - diagnostics of the car (Check - Engine). The algorithm takes into account the normalized parameters and criteria for assessing the vibration state: the absolute values of displacements, velocities and accelerations and their changes.For the self-diagnostic system, it is important to develop a classifier of engine states also to determine and / or predict the failure of its parts or units. Engine vibrations can be attributed to the following types: imbalance of the 1st and 2nd order of the engine; vibration associated with combustion in the engine; auxiliary units.The analysis of a vibroacoustic signal at work of the serviceable and faulty engine is carried out, influence of various elements of a design, placement of the gauge in horizontal and vertical directions is shown on it.

A Fast Search-Free Algorithm for Star Sensor Frame Identification by Star Configurations. A Version of Onboard Implementation

The paper presents a method for identifying the frame of a star sensor (SS), based on determination of the star local features allowing its unique recognition. The star identifiers are located in a multidimensional integer feature space, and the relevant feature catalog presents a disperse array, which provides search-free star determination. Examples of onboard implementation of feature catalog are presented, containing the stars up to magnitude of six. The required memory is estimated, and a method is proposed for compressing the feature catalog to be recorded in the onboard computer memory. The frame identification algorithm using the reduced feature catalog is described in detail. The algorithm was tested on real sky frames.

Optimal damping of deviations of angular speeds of an eightsymetric space aircraft

This paper considers the problem of optimal fuel consumption damping of sudden deviations of angular velocities of an axisymmetric spacecraft with a constant speed of rotation around the main axis of symmetry. This assumption has some practical significance and may be due to the creation of artificial gravity on the spacecraft. The idea of artificial gravity due to the rotation of an axisymmetric cylindrical spacecraft is based on the principle of equivalence of the force of gravity and the force of inertia. The urgency of the fuel consumption optimization problem is due to the presence of its limited stock onboard the spacecraft. The optimization problem is solved based on the maximum principle and the phase plane method. The authors of the article determine the structure of optimal fuel consumption processes with three levels of control, and the number of their switches depends on the initial conditions. Synthesized on the phase plane, the optimal switching curves divide the phase plane into eight curvilinear quadrants, which uniquely determine the values of the optimal control effects by the current values of the deviations of the angular velocities of the spacecraft. The problem of the possible presence of a delay in the control loop is proposed to be solved based on the Bess compensation method. To do this, the corresponding optimal curves of switching and disabling the controls are built as geometric locations of points remoted for the time of delay from the found curves of switching and the beginning of coordinates accordingly. It allows us to avoid the emergence of steady self-oscillations in a control contour and to provide a condition of keeping the spacecraft in a given final state after the completion of the stabilization process. Depending on the technical equipment of the spacecraft, two variants of the optimal damping algorithm are offered, namely: an autonomous device in the onboard control system of the spacecraft in the absence of a sufficiently powerful onboard computer, or the optimal damping algorithm, implemented entirely in the onboard computer of the spacecraft in case of its sufficient power.