Highly Accurate Pose Estimation as a Reference for Autonomous Vehicles in Near-Range Scenarios

To validate the accuracy and reliability of onboard sensors for object detection and localization for driver assistance, as well as autonomous driving applications under realistic conditions (indoors and outdoors), a novel tracking system is presented. This tracking system is developed to determine the position and orientation of a slow-moving vehicle during test maneuvers within a reference environment (e.g., car during parking maneuvers), independent of the onboard sensors. One requirement is a 6 degree of freedom (DoF) pose with position uncertainty below 5 mm (3σ), orientation uncertainty below 0.3° (3σ), at a frequency higher than 20 Hz, and with a latency smaller than 500 ms. To compare the results from the reference system with the vehicle’s onboard system, synchronization via a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and system interoperability to a robot operating system (ROS) are achieved. The developed system combines motion capture cameras mounted in a 360° panorama view setup on the vehicle, measuring retroreflective markers distributed over the test site with known coordinates, while robotic total stations measure a prism on the vehicle. A point cloud of the test site serves as a digital twin of the environment, in which the movement of the vehicle is visualized. The results have shown that the fused measurements of these sensors complement each other, so that the accuracy requirements for the 6 DoF pose can be met while allowing a flexible installation in different environments.

Highly Accurate Pose Estimation as Reference for Autonomous Vehicles in Near-Range Scenarios

To validate the accuracy and reliability of onboard sensors for object detection and localization in driver assistance, as well as autonomous driving applications under realistic conditions (indoors and outdoors), a novel tracking system is presented. This tracking system is developed to determine the position and orientation of a slow-moving vehicle (e.g. car during parking maneuvers), independent of the onboard sensors, during test maneuvers within a reference environment. One requirement is a 6 degree of freedom (DoF) pose with a position uncertainty below 5 mm (3σ), an orientation uncertainty below 0.3° (3σ) at a frequency higher than 20 Hz, and a latency smaller than 500 ms. To compare the results from the reference system with the vehicle’s onboard system, a synchronization via Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and a system interoperability to Robot Operating System (ROS) is implemented. The developed system combines motion capture cameras mounted in a 360° panorama view set-up on the vehicle with robotic total stations. A point cloud of the test site serves as a digital twin of the environment, in which the movement of the vehicle is simulated. Results have shown that the fused measurements of these sensors complement each other, so that the accuracy requirements for the 6 DoF pose can be met, while allowing a flexible installation in different environments.

Robotization as One of the Prospects for Electromobility in Belarus

In order to create a competitive and resource-efficient transport system, the transport policy of the European Union provides for the achievement by 2030 of almost zero carbon dioxide content in the exhaust gases of vehicles used in large urban centers, and by 2050 the phasing out the use of cars, working on traditional fuels. The Republic of Belarus has a high scientific and sufficient industrial potential to participate in the process of promoting electric mobility, taking into account the use of robotics. JSC "Instrument-Making Plant Optron" developed the working documentation and produced prototypes of typical representatives of the line of personal electric vehicles. However, the ongoing research focused on the creation of a preventive diagnostic system for the electric motorcycle, developed by Belarussian researches and its intelligent onboard system, focused primarily on real-time simulation processes, related specifically to the level of artificial intelligence, and on the implementation of executive level algorithms.

DIAGNOSIS OF FUEL EQUIPMENT OF DIESEL ENGINE BY REMOVING VYBRO INDICATORS OF FUEL SUPPLY

Modern cars are increasingly equipped with control and diagnostic equipment. These methods are used to optimize the working process in the engine, improve traffic safety and simplify operation and maintenance. You can adjust the chip to your liking, adjust the "performance" of the engine, because comfortable driving conditions give us a lot of pleasure. The current control of technical conditions is carried out by the onboard system of self-diagnostics, which is an integral part of the controller. Problems that occur are signaled visually and stored in electronic memory. The full list of actual settings of codes of self-diagnostics and parameters of working process is carried out on HUNDRED with automobile indicators of brand. The problem is determined only by connecting a tester or scanner to a special diagnostic connector available in the car. However, there are often complaints about objective and comprehensive examinations. Misdiagnosis of "standards" with obvious signs of external problems is often given for many reasons. First of all, the use of information is limited electrical signals. In fact, the state of the circuit of sensors and actuators of engine automation is determined. Degradation of complex structures is usually based on the "domino principle": one local problem leads to another, another to a third, etc., which leads to the complete failure of the whole device. Problems with electricity may not be the cause but the consequences of other problems, including non-electrical causes. For example, the "ringing" of the piston fingers may indicate early inflammation and wear of the relevant components. The instability of the spark discharge in the spark plug may be the result of decompression of the working volume of the cylinder or improper preparation of the working mixture. The problem of the intake manifold or contamination of the fuel injector is usually recognized by the self-diagnostic system as a fault of the lambda detector. The list of such ambiguities can be expanded. When it is necessary to "restore" the accident of "decent age", branded diagnostic equipment may be useless.

A Hazard Analysis Approach for the SOTIF in Intelligent Railway Driving Assistance Systems Using STPA and Complex Network

The Intelligent Railway Driving Assistance System (IRDAS) is a novel kind of onboard system that relies on its own situational awareness function to ensure the safety and efficiency of train driving. In such systems, the use of situational awareness brings about a new fault-free safety problem, i.e., the safety of the intended functionality (SOTIF). It is essential to analyze the SOTIF-related hazardous factors for ensuring a safe train operation. In this paper, a hazard analysis approach is proposed to capture and evaluate SOTIF-related hazardous factors of IRDAS. This approach consists of an extended STPA-based hazardous factor identification part and a complex network-based hazardous factor evaluation part. In the first part, an extended control structure of STPA is designed for the modeling of the situational awareness process, followed by a new classification of SOTIF-related causal scenarios to assist the identification of causal scenarios. In the second part, a modeling method for heterogeneous complex networks and some customized topological indexes are proposed to evaluate the hazardous factors identified in the STPA causal analysis. The outcomes of the approach can help develop targeted hazard control strategies. The proposed approach has been applied to a new IRDAS operating in Tsuen Wan Line of Hong Kong MTR. The result shows that the approach is effective for the analysis of hazardous factors and is helpful for the formulation of hazard control strategies.

Perancangan Visualisasi “Driver Machine Interface Display” pada Kereta Api berbasis ATO/ATP menggunakan Aplikasi Visual Studio

Onboard System merupakan salah satu bagian komponen dari route otomatis pada CBTC. Communication Base Interlocking (CBTC) merupakan sistem teknologi kereta yang diterapkan sekarang. Sistem teknologi kereta tersebut di indonesia diterapkan pada kereta MRT dan LRT. Pada MRT yaitu menerapkan Grade Of Automation 2 dan LRT menerapkan Grade Of Automation 1. GOA adalah sistem yang mengatur tentang otomatisasi pada sistem kontrol kereta. Pada Onboard System ini sering terjadi kendala, yaitu masinis kesulitan mengetahui kondisi kereta. Oleh sebabitu perlu adanya desain system yang membantu masinis mengetahui kondisi kereta. Metode penelitian ini terdiri dari observasi, design dan pengujian sistem. Design sistem dibuat agar masinis dapat memudahkan untuk mengetahui kondisi kereta. Pengujian dilakukan yaitu uji fungsi menerima data dari sisi Radio Blok Control dengan On-board dapat diproses sesuai dengan fungsinya. Dari hasil pengujian tersebut menunjukan bahwa fungsi menerima dan memproses data pada On-board dapat dilakukan sesuai dengan fungsinya. Dari pengujian yang telah dilakukan dengan percobaan 20 simulasi rute yang dibentuk oleh sistem seluruhnya berhasil dijalankan dengan kecepatan 70 – 90 km dan ditampilkan sesuai dengan inputan dari database Radio Blok Control dengan mode ATO dan ATP. Dengan asumsi rangkaian 10 kereta dengan berat 38 ton, 1 lokomotif dengan berat 84 ton dan okupansi penumpang 100%.

Study on the file management method of data storage system for airborne radar

In order to solve the problem that the air-to-ground data transfer rate is much lower than the radar data rate, the onboard system is commonly used for storing the airborne radar data. However, there are two main problems in the data storage using the traditional file management method. The first is that the frequent data updating of the file allocation table (FAT) and the file directory table (FDT) cause a high frequency of address jumps among the discontinuous areas, which leads to a long response time. The second is that the updating frequencies of the FAT, the FDT and the data region are seriously inconsistent, which results in uneven wear of the three areas. To solve these two problems, a file management method, which optimizes the data writing in the three areas of the FAT, the FDT and the data region, is proposed in this study. An actual measurement is carried out on a data storage system of the airborne radar using the proposed file management method. The result shows that the proposed method significantly reduces the updating frequency of FAT and FDT, and achieves the wear levelling of file area and data region.

Optimal Control for a Hydraulic Recuperation System Using Endoreversible Thermodynamics

Energy savings in the traffic sector are of considerable importance for economic and environmental considerations. Recuperation of mechanical energy in commercial vehicles can contribute to this goal. One promising technology rests on hydraulic systems, in particular for trucks which use such system also for other purposes such as lifting cargo or operating a crane. In this work the potential for energy savings is analyzed for commercial vehicles with tipper bodies, as these already have a hydraulic onboard system. The recuperation system is modeled based on endoreversible thermodynamics, thus providing a framework in which realistic driving data can be incorporated. We further used dissipative engine setups for modeling both the hydraulic and combustion engine of the hybrid drive train in order to include realistic efficiency maps. As a result, reduction in fuel consumption of up to 26% as compared to a simple baseline recuperation strategy can be achieved with an optimized recuperation control.

Formation of a fused image of the land surface based on pixel clustering of location images in a multi-position onboard system

The paper proposes a method for fusioning multi-angle images implementing the algorithm for quasi-optimal clustering of pixels to the original images of the land surface. The original multi-angle images formed by the onboard equipment of multi-positional location systems are docked into a single composite image and, using a high-speed algorithm for quasi-optimal pixel clustering, are reduced to several colors while maintaining characteristic boundaries. A feature of the algorithm of quasi-optimal pixel clustering is the generation of a series of partitions with gradually increasing detail due to a variable number of clusters. This feature allows you to choose an appropriate partition of a pair of docked images from the generated series. The search for reference points of the isolated contours is performed on a pair of images from the selected partition of the docked image. A functional transformation is determined for these points. And after it has been applied to the original images, the degree of correlation of the fused image is estimated. Both the position of the reference points of the contour and the desired functional transformation itself are refined until the evaluation of the fusion quality is acceptable. The type of functional transformation is selected according to the images reduced in color, which later is applied to the original images. This process is repeated for clustered images with greater detail in the event that the assessment of the fusion quality is not acceptable. The purpose of present study is to develop a method that allows synthesizing fused image of the land surface from heteromorphic and heterogeneous images. The paper presents the following features of the fusing method. The first feature is the processing of a single composite image from a pair of docked source images by the pixel clustering algorithm, what makes it possible to isolate the same areas in its different parts in a similar way. The second feature consists in determining the functional transformation by the isolated reference points of the contour on the processed pair of clustered images, which is later applied to the original images to combine them. The paper presents the results on the synthesis of a fused image both from homogeneous (optical) images and from heterogeneous (radar and optical) images. A distinctive feature of the developed method is to improve the quality of synthesis, increase the accuracy and information content of the final fused image of the land surface.

Ocular Phantom-Based Feasibility Study of an Early Diagnosis Device for Glaucoma

Glaucoma causes total or partial loss of vision in 10% of people over the age of 70, increasing their fragility and isolation. It is characterised by the destruction of the optic nerve fibres, which may result from excessively high intraocular pressure as well as other phenomena. Diagnosis is currently reached through a combination of several checks, mainly of the eyes’ fundus, tonometry and gonioscopy. Prior to validation for human subjects, the objective of this study is to validate whether ocular phantom-based models could be used to diagnose glaucoma using an onboard system, which could, even at home, prevent the early-stage development of the pathology. Eight phantoms modelling healthy eyes and eight phantoms modelling eyes with glaucoma due to excessive intraocular pressure were measured using an onboard system, including lens and electrophysiology electronics. We measured the actual average Zr (real part of impedance) impedance of 160.9 ± 24.3 ohms (glaucoma ocular phantom models) versus 211.9 ± 36.9 ohms (healthy ocular phantom models), and an average total water volume (Vt) of 3.02 ± 0.35 mL (glaucoma ocular phantom models) versus 2.45 ± 0.28 mL (healthy ocular Phantoms). On average, we obtained 51 ohms (−24.1%) less and 0.57 mL (22.9%) of total water volume more, respectively. Normality tests (Shapiro–Wilk) for Vt and Zr indicate p < 0.001 and p < 0.01, respectively. Since these variables do not respect normal laws, unmatched Mann–Whitney tests were performed indicating a significant difference between Vt and Zr in the healthy ocular phantom models and those modelling glaucoma. To conclude, this preliminary study indicates the possibility of discriminating between healthy eyes with those with glaucoma. However, further large-scale studies involving healthy eyes and those suffering from glaucoma are necessary to generate viable models.