Development of New Radar and Pyroelectric Sensors for Road Safety Increase in Cloud-Based Multi-Agent Control Application

The paper concentrates on the design, architecture, and monitoring of smart LED street lighting control, with focus on traffic safety and safe road infrastructure. The use of a CMAS (Cloud-Based Multi-Agent System) as a possible framework is investigated. The work is based on previous developments by the authors in the production and design of close and long-range hybrid Pyroelectric Infrared (PIR) motion detection sensors. It also introduces the advances in radar-type sensors used in smart SLC (street lighting control) application systems. The proposed sensor solutions can detect the road user (vehicle or pedestrian) and determine its movement direction and approximate speed that can be used for dynamic lighting control algorithms, traffic intensity prediction, and increased safety for both driver and pedestrian traffic. Furthermore, the street lighting system infrastructure can monitor city environmental parameters, such as temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, thus increasing levels of safety and security for smart cities. Utilising other hybrid systems within intelligent street lighting applications represents a new specialisation area in both energy-saving, safety awareness, and intelligent management.

ANALYSIS OF THE CHANGE IN ROUGHNESS ON A FACE-MILLED SURFACE MEASURED EVERY 45° DIRECTION TO THE FEED

In this article, we analyze the difference (inhomogeneity) of the roughness values measured on a nonalloy carbon steel surface milled with a parallelogram-shaped (κr = 90°) insert as a function of the the tool movement direction and the relative position of the examining points on the workpiece surface. The characteristic distribution of roughness and the magnitude of the deviations were examined by measuring at selected points along several planes on a surface characterized by the movement conditions of the workpiece and the symmetrically arranged tool perpendicular to the machined surface, which formed double milling marks. The selected points mark the lines with specified inclinations with respect to the feed direction, and their measured values were compared. In these directions, the magnitude of the difference in roughness measures was obtained.

Human Computer Interface using Eye Gazing with error fixation in Smooth and Saccadic Eye Movement

Human Computer Interface (HCI) requires proper coordination and definition of features that serve as input to the system. The parameters of a saccadic and smooth eye movement tracking are observed and a comparison is drawn for HCI. This methodology is further incorporated with Pupil, OpenCV and Microsoft Visual Studio for image processing to identify the position of the pupil and observe the pupil movement direction in real-time. Once the direction is identified, it is possible to determine the accurate cruise position which moves towards the target. To quantify the differences between the step-change tracking of saccadic eye movement and incremental tracking of smooth eye movement, the test was conducted on two users. With the help of incremental tracking of smooth eye movement, an accuracy of 90% is achieved. It is found that the incremental tracking requires an average time of 7.21s while the time for step change tracking is just 2.82s. Based on the observations, it is determined that, when compared to the saccadic eye movement tracking, the smooth eye movement tracking is over four times more accurate. Therefore, the smooth eye tracking was found to be more accurate, precise, reliable, and predictable to use with the mouse cursor than the saccadic eye movement tracking.

Backscattered Visible Light Sensing of Retroreflective Foils Utilizing Random Forest Based Classification for Speed and Movement Direction Determination and Identification of an Indoor Moving Object

Making the Internet of Things “green” has become a major research focus in recent years. The anticipated massive increase in the numbers of sensor and communication devices makes this endeavor even more important, resulting in various solution approaches ranging from energy harvesting to energy efficient routing schemes. In this work, we propose a system that can perform some of the main tasks of the Internet of Things, namely identification and sensing of an indoor moving object, by the means of visible light sensing in combination with off-the-shelf retroreflective foils, without the necessity to place any actively powered components on the object itself. By utilizing the supervised machine learning approach of random forest, we show that these two tasks can be fulfilled with up to 99.96% accuracy. Based on our previous findings in this regard, we propose some advancements and improvements of the overall system, yielding better results in parallel with an increased complexity of the system. Furthermore, we expand the number of performable tasks toward additional movement direction determination. The achieved results demonstrate the applicability of visible light sensing and its potentials for a “green” Internet of Things.

Train Dwell Time Efficiency Evaluation with Data Envelopment Analysis: Case Study of London Underground Victoria Line

Train dwell time is a complicated component and depends on many factors. One of the dominant factors is passenger volume. This study used actual train movement data and passenger demand data from London Underground, UK, to estimate the number of passengers and train dwell times at each station, and then evaluated train dwell times from a different perspective. Considering the various characteristics of stations, it is complicated to evaluate dwell time. Therefore, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was introduced to evaluate the dwell time at each station in relation to passenger volume at that station. The study investigated whether the dwell time spent at stations is efficient when considering the number of passengers that the stations can serve. The results showed that, in low-passenger-volume stations, the dwell time efficiency score is low and increases relative to the increase in passenger volume. For high-passenger-volume stations, interactions between passengers are more relevant and have a strong influence on dwell time. Passenger movement direction is a key factor to classify stations. This research proposes that stations should be classified according to their characteristics, and points out the challenge at any station with the same characteristics as Victoria station which has high passenger volume with bi-directional flow, and where trains arriving are crowded. This characteristic would result in high interactions between passengers, thus making a long dwell time. The station has to handle high passenger volume and also has to keep the dwell time within the threshold.

A Numerical Study on the Optimization of the Material Pressure of the Feeding System

To solve the problem of high energy consumption caused by the large initial material pressure of the feeding system, the macroscopic and mesoscopic laws of the effect of the movement of the feeder on the material pressure were studied, and an optimization method of changing the initial position of the feeder to reduce the initial material pressure is proposed. First, the influence of the movement direction of the feeder on the material pressure was studied based on the discrete element method and verified by experiments. A single-factor experiment was designed to analyze the influence of particle size, material repose angle, and bin slope on material pressure, drawing the applicable conditions of the proposed method. On this basis, the influence of the movement state of the feeder on the change of material pressure during the descent process was studied. Then, the motion parameters of the selected feeder descending process were optimized by the response surface method. Finally, case analyses of the vibrating feeding system and the scraper feeding system were carried out. The Discrete Element Method (DEM) calculation results show that the movement of the feeder will cause different distributions and evolution of the force chain on the mesoscale, which will result in different changes in the macroscopic material pressure. The initial material pressure and the material resistance were reduced in the optimized feeding system.

Neck proprioception assessment with a laser beam device: reliability in participants without neck pain and differences between participants with and without neck pain

Background Proprioception deficits have previously been reported in patients with non-specific chronic neck pain (NSCNP), with a comprehensive and valid battery of tests still required. This study aimed to investigate the test-retest and inter-rater reliability of cervical proprioception in participants without NSCNP and to examine differences in proprioception between participants with and without NSCNP. Twenty participants without NSCNP and 20 age- and sex-matched participants with NSCNP were recruited. Proprioception tests were sequentially performed in random order, in four head-to-neutral movement directions (starting positions at mid-flexion, mid-extension and mid-right/mid-left rotation head-neck positions and end position at neutral head-neck posture) and two head-to-target movement directions (starting position from neutral head-neck posture and end positions at right and left 45° rotation), with a laser beam device secured onto their forehead. Participants performed all tests in sitting at a 1-m distance from a whiteboard. The average deviations of the laser beam mark from set targets marked on the whiteboard represented proprioception deficits. The two-way random, absolute agreement model of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), the standard error of the measurement (SEM) and the smallest detectable difference (SDD) were used as measures of reliability. Between-group differences were examined with the independent samples t test. Results The reliability of the laser beam device in participants without neck pain varied from poor to good. The following tests demonstrated good reliability: test-retest ‘Head-to-neutral from flexion’ (ICC: 0.77–0.78; SDD: 5.73–6.84 cm), inter-rater ‘Head-to-neutral from flexion’ (ICC: 0.80–0.82; SDD: 6.20–6.45 cm) and inter-rater ‘Head-to-neutral from right/left rotation’ (ICC: 0.80–0.84; SDD: 5.92–6.81 cm). Differences between participants with and without NSCNP were found only in head-to-neutral from flexion (4.10–4.70 cm); however, those were within the limits of the SDD values of the HtN from flexion test. Conclusions The laser beam device can be reliably used in clinical practice only in the aforementioned head-neck movement directions, based on the findings of the present study. The between-group differences noted involved only the head mid-flexion to neutral test, possibly denoting proprioception deficits only in this movement direction, for reasons that require further evaluation.

Roles of Land and Topography on Propagating Convective Systems During the Heavy Rainfall Event of the 2002 Jakarta Flood, Indonesia

The movement direction of propagating convective systems originating from both inland and offshore over the north coast of West Java in Indonesia is determined primarily by the prevailing wind. However, the role of a land-sea contrast and a rugged topography over southern West Java is also expected to affect propagating convective systems by increasing land-sea breezes and enhancing upward motion. These hypotheses are tested using a weather prediction model incorporating convection (up to 3 km height) to simulate the heavy rainfall event during 26–29 January associated with the 2002 Jakarta flood. First, we addressed the influence of land-sea contrast and topography on the local circulation, particularly in the area surrounding Jakarta, by replacing the inland topography over western Indonesia (96°–119°E, 17°S–0°) with a water body with an altitude of 0 m. We then compared the results of model simulations with and without topography. The results show that the main role of the topography here is enhancing the upward motion and generating a deep convective cloud in response to the land-based convective system during 26–27 January 2002, which then continuously and rapidly propagates offshore due to the cold pool mechanism. Furthermore, the land-sea contrast has a significant role in increasing sea breeze under the rapidness of the landward propagation system during 28–29 January 2002, which was strengthened by the gravity waves and resulted in early morning convection over coastal regions.

Innovatory rainfall simulator design – A concept of moving storm automation

We developed an advanced design programmable rainfall simulator (RS) to simulate a moving storm rainfall condition. The RS consists of an automated nozzle control system coupled with a pressure regulator mechanism for an operating range of 50 kPa to 180 kPa at a drop height of 2000 mm above the soil flume surface. Additionally, a programmable mobile application was developed to regulate all RS valves. Near natural rainfall conditions were simulated at varying spatial and temporal resolutions in a controlled environment. A soil flume of 2500 mm × 1400 mm × 500 mm was fabricated to conduct different hydrological experiments. The flume was designed to record overland, subsurface, and base flows simultaneously. This study focused on a detailed analysis of moving storms and their impact on hydrograph characteristics. Experimental results showed a considerable difference in terms of time to peak (tp), peak discharge (Qp), and hydrograph recession for two different storm movement directions (upstream and downstream). Two multiple regression models indicate a statistically significant relationship between the dependent variable (tp or Qp) and the independent variables (i.e. storm movement direction, storm velocity, and bed slope gradient) at a 5 % level of significance. Further, the impact of these moving storm phenomena reduces with the increase in the storm movement velocity.