Design and Control Strategy of Bio-inspired Underwater Vehicle with Flexible Propulsor

Biomimetics aims to take inspiration from nature and develop new models and efficient systems for a sustainable future. Bioinspired underwater robotics help develop future submarines that will navigate through the water using flexible propulsor. This research has focused on the Manta Ray species as batoid has a unique advantage over other species. This study also aims to improve AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) efficiency through biomimetic design, the purpose of which is to observe and study the marine environment, be it for sea exploration or navigation. The design and prototyping process of bioinspired AUVs have been mentioned in this study, along with testing a propulsive mechanism for efficient swimming and turning capabilities. The Robot was designed taking structural considerations from the actual Manta-Ray locomotion and body design. The propulsion mechanism and control circuit were then implemented on the developed systems. The prototype of the Manta Ray was able to generate a realistic swimming pattern and was tested in an acrylic tank. The experimental results obtained in the tank basin are very close to the results we observe in the real-world scenario in terms of the vehicle's forward and turning motion.

A fuzzy-inference-based reinforcement learning method of overtaking decision making for automated vehicles

Intelligent decision control is one key issue of automated vehicles. Complex dynamic traffic flow and multi-requirement of passengers including vehicle safety, comfort, vehicle efficiency bring about tremendous challenges to vehicle decision making. Overtaking maneuver is a demanding task due to its large potential of traffic collision. Therefore, this paper proposes a fuzzy-inference-based reinforcement learning (FIRL) approach of autonomous overtaking decision making. Firstly, the problem of overtaking is formulated as a multi-objective Markov decision process (MDP) considering vehicle safety, driving comfort, and vehicle efficiency. Secondly, a temporal difference learning based on dynamic fuzzy (DF-TDL) is presented to learn optimized policies for autonomous overtaking decision making. Fuzzy inference is introduced to deal with continuous states and boost learning process. The RL algorithm decides whether to overtake or not based on the learned policies. Then, the automated vehicle executes local path planning and tracking. Furthermore, a simulation platform based on simulation of urban mobility (SUMO) is established to generate the random training data, that is, various traffic flows for algorithm iterative learning and validate the proposed method, extensive test results demonstrate the effectiveness of the overtaking decision-making method.

SIMULATION MODEL FOR ESTIMATION OF FOREST TRUCK PERFORMANCE EQUIPPED WITH RECUPERATIVE SPRING-HYDRAULIC FIFTH-WHEEL COUPLING

The current state and advantages of timber road transport in comparison with other types of transport used for hauling timber are presented. The factors influencing the rational choice of the rolling stock of timber trucks are given. The efficiency of using timber trucks with trailers for transportation of timber has been substantiated. Difficult conditions for the transportation of timber along timber roads, which affect the operability of the towing devices of timber trucks with trailers and the efficiency indicators of timber trucks in general, have been considered. A brief analysis of the work of foreign scientists in the field of increasing vehicle efficiency equipped with various towing devices is presented. A perspective scheme of a recuperative pneumo-hydraulic towing hitch has been proposed to eliminate the identified shortcomings of the considered designs of towing hitch devices. A mathematical model and a computer program based on it have been developed to assess the operability and efficiency of the proposed device, as well as to determine its optimal design parameters. On the basis of the performed computer experiments, it was revealed that the recuperative pneumo-hydraulic towing device allows recuperating the power of 4.7 kW at the maximum acceleration of the trailer relative to the timber truck 0.94 m/s2 when moving a timber truck with a trailer on a model timber road. It was found that the optimal diameter of the plunger cavity of the device, at which the recuperation system provides balanced effective damping, is 49 mm. It has been established that the maximum recuperative power is achieved at a speed of movement of a timber truck with a trailer equal to 32 km/h

Vehicle Efficiency Maintaining System

This project is based on increasing the fuel efficiency of vehicle. Every vehicle is given an economy speed range by the respective company . But this range will vary due to parameters like the weight of the vehicles and passengers, condition of road, slope of the road, temperature ,etc. During real time this economy range will vary . This system will help the driver to maintain actual economy speed. While driving in mountain areas on the slopes, the economy speed range will be different than on plane roads. This system will take all these parameters in account and navigate the driver to get the maximum efficiency in all situations. In addition to this the driver will provide the driver the approximate kilometers the vehicle can travel in the current fuel. The circuit, working and need of the system is briefly discussed in this paper.

Minimum Safety Distances for Emergency Braking Maneuvers in Car-Following Applications

Platooning/car following has been considered as a promising approach for improving vehicle efficiency due to the reduction of aerodynamic force when closely following a pilot vehicle. However, safety is a major concern in the close car platooning/following. This paper investigates the minimum inter-vehicle distances required for a passenger vehicle to safely travel behind a heavy-duty truck with three different types of emergency maneuvers. The three emergency maneuvers considered are braking only, steering only, and braking then steering, where steering refers to a single lane change maneuver. Numerical analysis is conducted for deriving the clearance space in the braking only scenario. In addition, simulations are conducted in MATLAB/Simulink, using a bicycle model for the vehicle dynamics, to examine the minimum safe following distance for the other two scenarios. The simulation results show that, for initial vehicle speeds greater than 8 m/s, a lane change maneuver requires the shortest safety distance. Braking followed by lane changing usually requires the largest minimum safety distance.