On Informative Path Planning for Tracking and Surveillance

On Informative Path Planning for Tracking and Surveillance PDF Author: Per Boström-Rost
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9176850757
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 106

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Book Description
This thesis studies a class of sensor management problems called informative path planning (IPP). Sensor management refers to the problem of optimizing control inputs for sensor systems in dynamic environments in order to achieve operational objectives. The problems are commonly formulated as stochastic optimal control problems, where to objective is to maximize the information gained from future measurements. In IPP, the control inputs affect the movement of the sensor platforms, and the goal is to compute trajectories from where the sensors can obtain measurements that maximize the estimation performance. The core challenge lies in making decisions based on the predicted utility of future measurements. In linear Gaussian settings, the estimation performance is independent of the actual measurements. This means that IPP becomes a deterministic optimal control problem, for which standard numerical optimization techniques can be applied. This is exploited in the first part of this thesis. A surveillance application is considered, where a mobile sensor is gathering information about features of interest while avoiding being tracked by an adversarial observer. The problem is formulated as an optimization problem that allows for a trade-off between informativeness and stealth. We formulate a theorem that makes it possible to reformulate a class of nonconvex optimization problems with matrix-valued variables as convex optimization problems. This theorem is then used to prove that the seemingly intractable IPP problem can be solved to global optimality using off-the-shelf optimization tools. The second part of this thesis considers tracking of a maneuvering target using a mobile sensor with limited field of view. The problem is formulated as an IPP problem, where the goal is to generate a sensor trajectory that maximizes the expected tracking performance, captured by a measure of the covariance matrix of the target state estimate. When the measurements are nonlinear functions of the target state, the tracking performance depends on the actual measurements, which depend on the target’s trajectory. Since these are unavailable in the planning stage, the problem becomes a stochastic optimal control problem. An approximation of the problem based on deterministic sampling of the distribution of the predicted target trajectory is proposed. It is demonstrated in a simulation study that the proposed method significantly increases the tracking performance compared to a conventional approach that neglects the uncertainty in the future target trajectory.

On Informative Path Planning for Tracking and Surveillance

On Informative Path Planning for Tracking and Surveillance PDF Author: Per Boström-Rost
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9176850757
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 106

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Book Description
This thesis studies a class of sensor management problems called informative path planning (IPP). Sensor management refers to the problem of optimizing control inputs for sensor systems in dynamic environments in order to achieve operational objectives. The problems are commonly formulated as stochastic optimal control problems, where to objective is to maximize the information gained from future measurements. In IPP, the control inputs affect the movement of the sensor platforms, and the goal is to compute trajectories from where the sensors can obtain measurements that maximize the estimation performance. The core challenge lies in making decisions based on the predicted utility of future measurements. In linear Gaussian settings, the estimation performance is independent of the actual measurements. This means that IPP becomes a deterministic optimal control problem, for which standard numerical optimization techniques can be applied. This is exploited in the first part of this thesis. A surveillance application is considered, where a mobile sensor is gathering information about features of interest while avoiding being tracked by an adversarial observer. The problem is formulated as an optimization problem that allows for a trade-off between informativeness and stealth. We formulate a theorem that makes it possible to reformulate a class of nonconvex optimization problems with matrix-valued variables as convex optimization problems. This theorem is then used to prove that the seemingly intractable IPP problem can be solved to global optimality using off-the-shelf optimization tools. The second part of this thesis considers tracking of a maneuvering target using a mobile sensor with limited field of view. The problem is formulated as an IPP problem, where the goal is to generate a sensor trajectory that maximizes the expected tracking performance, captured by a measure of the covariance matrix of the target state estimate. When the measurements are nonlinear functions of the target state, the tracking performance depends on the actual measurements, which depend on the target’s trajectory. Since these are unavailable in the planning stage, the problem becomes a stochastic optimal control problem. An approximation of the problem based on deterministic sampling of the distribution of the predicted target trajectory is proposed. It is demonstrated in a simulation study that the proposed method significantly increases the tracking performance compared to a conventional approach that neglects the uncertainty in the future target trajectory.

Motion planning and feedback control techniques with applications to long tractor-trailer vehicles

Motion planning and feedback control techniques with applications to long tractor-trailer vehicles PDF Author: Oskar Ljungqvist
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9179298583
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 119

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Book Description
During the last decades, improved sensor and hardware technologies as well as new methods and algorithms have made self-driving vehicles a realistic possibility in the near future. At the same time, there has been a growing demand within the transportation sector to increase efficiency and to reduce the environmental impact related to transportation of people and goods. Therefore, many leading automotive and technology companies have turned their attention towards developing advanced driver assistance systems and self-driving vehicles. Autonomous vehicles are expected to have their first big impact in closed environments, such as mines, harbors, loading and offloading sites. In such areas, the legal requirements are less restrictive and the surrounding environment is more controlled and predictable compared to urban areas. Expected positive outcomes include increased productivity and safety, reduced emissions and the possibility to relieve the human from performing complex or dangerous tasks. Within these sites, tractor-trailer vehicles are frequently used for transportation. These vehicles are composed of several interconnected vehicle segments, and are therefore large, complex and unstable while reversing. This thesis addresses the problem of designing efficient motion planning and feedback control techniques for such systems. The contributions of this thesis are within the area of motion planning and feedback control for long tractor-trailer combinations operating at low-speeds in closed and unstructured environments. It includes development of motion planning and feedback control frameworks, structured design tools for guaranteeing closed-loop stability and experimental validation of the proposed solutions through simulations, lab and field experiments. Even though the primary application in this work is tractor-trailer vehicles, many of the proposed approaches can with some adjustments also be used for other systems, such as drones and ships. The developed sampling-based motion planning algorithms are based upon the probabilistic closed-loop rapidly exploring random tree (CL-RRT) algorithm and the deterministic lattice-based motion planning algorithm. It is also proposed to use numerical optimal control offline for precomputing libraries of optimized maneuvers as well as during online planning in the form of a warm-started optimization step. To follow the motion plan, several predictive path-following control approaches are proposed with different computational complexity and performance. Common for these approaches are that they use a path-following error model of the vehicle for future predictions and are tailored to operate in series with a motion planner that computes feasible paths. The design strategies for the path-following approaches include linear quadratic (LQ) control and several advanced model predictive control (MPC) techniques to account for physical and sensing limitations. To strengthen the practical value of the developed techniques, several of the proposed approaches have been implemented and successfully demonstrated in field experiments on a full-scale test platform. To estimate the vehicle states needed for control, a novel nonlinear observer is evaluated on the full-scale test vehicle. It is designed to only utilize information from sensors that are mounted on the tractor, making the system independent of any sensor mounted on the trailer. Under de senaste årtiondena har utvecklingen av sensor- och hårdvaruteknik gått i en snabb takt, samtidigt som nya metoder och algoritmer har introducerats. Samtidigt ställs det stora krav på transportsektorn att öka effektiviteten och minska miljöpåverkan vid transporter av både människor och varor. Som en följd av detta har många ledande fordonstillverkare och teknikföretag börjat satsat på att utveckla avancerade förarstödsystem och självkörande fordon. Även forskningen inom autonoma fordon har under de senaste årtiondena kraftig ökat då en rad tekniska problem återstår att lösas. Förarlösa fordon förväntas få sitt första stora genombrott i slutna miljöer, såsom gruvor, hamnar, lastnings- och lossningsplatser. I sådana områden är lagstiftningen mindre hård jämfört med stadsområden och omgivningen är mer kontrollerad och förutsägbar. Några av de förväntade positiva effekterna är ökad produktivitet och säkerhet, minskade utsläpp och möjligheten att avlasta människor från att utföra svåra eller farliga uppgifter. Inom dessa platser används ofta lastbilar med olika släpvagnskombinationer för att transportera material. En sådan fordonskombination är uppbyggd av flera ihopkopplade moduler och är således utmanande att backa då systemet är instabilt. Detta gör det svårt att utforma ramverk för att styra sådana system vid exempelvis autonom backning. Självkörande fordon är mycket komplexa system som består av en rad olika komponenter vilka är designade för att lösa separata delproblem. Två viktiga komponenter i ett självkörande fordon är dels rörelseplaneraren som har i uppgift att planera hur fordonet ska röra sig för att på ett säkert sätt nå ett överordnat mål, och dels den banföljande regulatorn vars uppgift är att se till att den planerade manövern faktiskt utförs i praktiken trots störningar och modellfel. I denna avhandling presenteras flera olika algoritmer för att planera och utföra komplexa manövrar för lastbilar med olika typer av släpvagnskombinationer. De presenterade algoritmerna är avsedda att användas som avancerade förarstödsystem eller som komponenter i ett helt autonomt system. Även om den primära applikationen i denna avhandling är lastbilar med släp, kan många av de förslagna algoritmerna även användas för en rad andra system, så som drönare och båtar. Experimentell validering är viktigt för att motivera att en föreslagen algoritm är användbar i praktiken. I denna avhandling har flera av de föreslagna planerings- och reglerstrategierna implementerats på en småskalig testplattform och utvärderats i en kontrollerad labbmiljö. Utöver detta har även flera av de föreslagna ramverken implementerats och utvärderats i fältexperiment på en fullskalig test-plattform som har utvecklats i samarbete med Scania CV. Här utvärderas även en ny metod för att skatta släpvagnens beteende genom att endast utnyttja information från sensorer monterade på lastbilen, vilket gör det föreslagna ramverket oberoende av sensorer monterade på släpvagnen.

On Motion Planning Using Numerical Optimal Control

On Motion Planning Using Numerical Optimal Control PDF Author: Kristoffer Bergman
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9176850579
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
During the last decades, motion planning for autonomous systems has become an important area of research. The high interest is not the least due to the development of systems such as self-driving cars, unmanned aerial vehicles and robotic manipulators. In this thesis, the objective is not only to find feasible solutions to a motion planning problem, but solutions that also optimize some kind of performance measure. From a control perspective, the resulting problem is an instance of an optimal control problem. In this thesis, the focus is to further develop optimal control algorithms such that they be can used to obtain improved solutions to motion planning problems. This is achieved by combining ideas from automatic control, numerical optimization and robotics. First, a systematic approach for computing local solutions to motion planning problems in challenging environments is presented. The solutions are computed by combining homotopy methods and numerical optimal control techniques. The general principle is to define a homotopy that transforms, or preferably relaxes, the original problem to an easily solved problem. The approach is demonstrated in motion planning problems in 2D and 3D environments, where the presented method outperforms both a state-of-the-art numerical optimal control method based on standard initialization strategies and a state-of-the-art optimizing sampling-based planner based on random sampling. Second, a framework for automatically generating motion primitives for lattice-based motion planners is proposed. Given a family of systems, the user only needs to specify which principle types of motions that are relevant for the considered system family. Based on the selected principle motions and a selected system instance, the algorithm not only automatically optimizes the motions connecting pre-defined boundary conditions, but also simultaneously optimizes the terminal state constraints as well. In addition to handling static a priori known system parameters such as platform dimensions, the framework also allows for fast automatic re-optimization of motion primitives if the system parameters change while the system is in use. Furthermore, the proposed framework is extended to also allow for an optimization of discretization parameters, that are are used by the lattice-based motion planner to define a state-space discretization. This enables an optimized selection of these parameters for a specific system instance. Finally, a unified optimization-based path planning approach to efficiently compute locally optimal solutions to advanced path planning problems is presented. The main idea is to combine the strengths of sampling-based path planners and numerical optimal control. The lattice-based path planner is applied to the problem in a first step using a discretized search space, where system dynamics and objective function are chosen to coincide with those used in a second numerical optimal control step. This novel tight combination of a sampling-based path planner and numerical optimal control makes, in a structured way, benefit of the former method’s ability to solve combinatorial parts of the problem and the latter method’s ability to obtain locally optimal solutions not constrained to a discretized search space. The proposed approach is shown in several practically relevant path planning problems to provide improvements in terms of computation time, numerical reliability, and objective function value.

Uncertainties in Neural Networks

Uncertainties in Neural Networks PDF Author: Magnus Malmström
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9179296807
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 103

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Book Description
In science, technology, and engineering, creating models of the environment to predict future events has always been a key component. The models could be everything from how the friction of a tire depends on the wheels slip to how a pathogen is spread throughout society. As more data becomes available, the use of data-driven black-box models becomes more attractive. In many areas they have shown promising results, but for them to be used widespread in safety-critical applications such as autonomous driving some notion of uncertainty in the prediction is required. An example of such a black-box model is neural networks (NNs). This thesis aims to increase the usefulness of NNs by presenting an method where uncertainty in the prediction is obtained by linearization of the model. In system identification and sensor fusion, under the condition that the model structure is identifiable, this is a commonly used approach to get uncertainty in the prediction from a nonlinear model. If the model structure is not identifiable, such as for NNs, the ambiguities that cause this have to be taken care of in order to make the approach applicable. This is handled in the first part of the thesis where NNs are analyzed from a system identification perspective, and sources of uncertainty are discussed. Another problem with data-driven black-box models is that it is difficult to know how flexible the model needs to be in order to correctly model the true system. One solution to this problem is to use a model that is more flexible than necessary to make sure that the model is flexible enough. But how would that extra flexibility affect the uncertainty in the prediction? This is handled in the later part of the thesis where it is shown that the uncertainty in the prediction is bounded from below by the uncertainty in the prediction of the model with lowest flexibility required for representing true system accurately. In the literature, many other approaches to handle the uncertainty in predictions by NNs have been suggested, of which some are summarized in this work. Furthermore, a simulation and an experimental studies inspired by autonomous driving are conducted. In the simulation study, different sources of uncertainty are investigated, as well as how large the uncertainty in the predictions by NNs are in areas without training data. In the experimental study, the uncertainty in predictions done by different models are investigated. The results show that, compared to existing methods, the linearization method produces similar results for the uncertainty in predictions by NNs. An introduction video is available at https://youtu.be/O4ZcUTGXFN0 Inom forskning och utveckling har det har alltid varit centralt att skapa modeller av verkligheten. Dessa modeller har bland annat använts till att förutspå framtida händelser eller för att styra ett system till att bete sig som man önskar. Modellerna kan beskriva allt från hur friktionen hos ett bildäck påverkas av hur mycket hjulen glider till hur ett virus kan sprida sig i ett samhälle. I takt med att mer och mer data blir tillgänglig ökar potentialen för datadrivna black-box modeller. Dessa modeller är universella approximationer vilka ska kunna representera vilken godtycklig funktion som helst. Användningen av dessa modeller har haft stor framgång inom många områden men för att verkligen kunna etablera sig inom säkerhetskritiska områden såsom självkörande farkoster behövs en förståelse för osäkerhet i prediktionen från modellen. Neuronnät är ett exempel på en sådan black-box modell. I denna avhandling kommer olika sätt att tillförskaffa sig kunskap om osäkerhet i prediktionen av neuronnät undersökas. En metod som bygger på linjärisering av modellen för att tillförskaffa sig osäkerhet i prediktionen av neuronnätet kommer att presenteras. Denna metod är välbeprövad inom systemidentifiering och sensorfusion under antagandet att modellen är identifierbar. För modeller såsom neuronnät, vilka inte är identifierbara behövs det att det tas hänsyn till tvetydigheterna i modellen. En annan utmaning med datadrivna black-box modeller, är att veta om den valda modellmängden är tillräckligt generell för att kunna modellera det sanna systemet. En lösning på detta problem är att använda modeller som har mer flexibilitet än vad som behövs, det vill säga en överparameteriserad modell. Men hur påverkas osäkerheten i prediktionen av detta? Detta är något som undersöks i denna avhandling, vilken visar att osäkerheten i den överparameteriserad modellen kommer att vara begränsad underifrån av modellen med minst flexibilitet som ändå är tillräckligt generell för att modellera det sanna systemet. Som avslutning kommer dessa resultat att demonstreras i både en simuleringsstudie och en experimentstudie inspirerad av självkörande farkoster. Fokuset i simuleringsstudien är hur osäkerheten hos modellen är i områden med och utan tillgång till träningsdata medan experimentstudien fokuserar på jämförelsen mellan osäkerheten i olika typer av modeller.Resultaten från dessa studier visar att metoden som bygger på linjärisering ger liknande resultat för skattningen av osäkerheten i prediktionen av neuronnät, jämfört med existerande metoder.

Estimation of Nonlinear Greybox Models for Marine Applications

Estimation of Nonlinear Greybox Models for Marine Applications PDF Author: Fredrik Ljungberg
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9179298400
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
As marine vessels are becoming increasingly autonomous, having accurate simulation models available is turning into an absolute necessity. This holds both for facilitation of development and for achieving satisfactory model-based control. When accurate ship models are sought, it is necessary to account for nonlinear hydrodynamic effects and to deal with environmental disturbances in a correct way. In this thesis, parameter estimators for nonlinear regression models where the regressors are second-order modulus functions are analyzed. This model class is referred to as second-order modulus models and is often used for greybox identification of marine vessels. The primary focus in the thesis is to find consistent estimators and for this an instrumental variable (IV) method is used. First, it is demonstrated that the accuracy of an IV estimator can be improved by conducting experiments where the input signal has a static offset of sufficient amplitude and the instruments are forced to have zero mean. This two-step procedure is shown to give consistent estimators for second-order modulus models in cases where an off-the-shelf applied IV method does not, in particular when measurement uncertainty is taken into account. Moreover, it is shown that the possibility of obtaining consistent parameter estimators for models of this type depends on how process disturbances enter the system and on the amount of prior knowledge about the disturbances’ probability distributions that is available. In cases where the first-order moments are known, the aforementioned approach gives consistent estimators even when disturbances enter the system before the nonlinearity. In order to obtain consistent estimators in cases where the first-order moments are unknown, a framework for estimating the first and second-order moments alongside the model parameters is suggested. The idea is to describe the environmental disturbances as stationary stochastic processes in an inertial frame and to utilize the fact that their effect on a vessel depends on the vessel’s attitude. It is consequently possible to infer information about the environmental disturbances by over time measuring the orientation of a vessel they are affecting. Furthermore, in cases where the process disturbances are of more general character it is shown that supplementary disturbance measurements can be used for achieving consistency. Different scenarios where consistency can be achieved for instrumental variable estimators of second-order modulus models are demonstrated, both in theory and by simulation examples. Finally, estimation results obtained using data from a full-scale marine vessel are presented. I takt med att marina farkoster blir mer autonoma ökar behovet av noggranna matematiska farkostmodeller. Modellerna behövs både för att förenkla utvecklingen av nya farkoster och för att kunna styra farkosterna autonomt med önskad precision. För att erhålla allmängiltiga modeller behöver olinjära hydrodynamiska effekter samt systemstörningar, främst orsakade av vind- och vattenströmmar, tas i beaktning. I det här arbetet undersöks metoder för att skatta okända storheter i modeller för marina farkoster givet observerad data. Undersökningen gäller en speciell typ av olinjära modeller som ofta används för att beskriva marina farkoster. Huvudfokus i arbetet är att erhålla konsistens, vilket betyder att de skattade storheterna ska anta rätt värden när mängden observerad data ökar. För det används en redan etablerad statistisk metod som baseras på instrumentvariabler. Det visas först att noggrannheten i modellskattningsmetoden kan förbättras om datainsamlingsexperimenten utförs på ett sätt så att farkosten har signifikant nollskild hastighet och instrumentvariablernas medelvärde dras bort. Den här tvåstegslösningen påvisas vara fördelaktig vid skattning av parametrar i den ovan nämnda modelltypen, framför allt då mätosäkerhet tas i beaktning. Vidare så visas det att möjligheten att erhålla konsistenta skattningsmetoder beror på hur mycket kännedom om systemstörningarna som finns tillgänglig på förhand. I fallet då de huvudsakliga hastigheterna på vind- och vattenströmmar är kända, räcker den tidigare nämnda tvåstegsmetoden bra. För att även kunna hantera det mer generella fallet föreslås en metod för att skatta de huvudsakliga hastigheterna och de okända modellparametrarna parallellt. Denna idé baserar sig på att beskriva störningarna som stationära i ett globalt koordinatsystem och att anta att deras effekt på en farkost beror på hur farkosten är orienterad. Genom att över tid mäta och samla in data som beskriver en farkosts kurs, kan man således dra slutsatser om de störningar som farkosten påverkas av. Utöver detta visas det att utnyttjande av vindmätningar kan ge konsistens i fallet med störningar av mer generell karaktär. Olika scenarion där konsistens kan uppnås visas både i teori och med simuleringsexempel. Slutligen visas också modellskattningsresultat som erhållits med data insamlad från ett fullskaligt fartyg.

Direction of Arrival Estimation for Wildlife Protection

Direction of Arrival Estimation for Wildlife Protection PDF Author: Gustav Zetterqvist
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9180758304
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 93

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Book Description
Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation is a well-established problem in signal processing. It involves determining the direction from which a signal reaches a sensor array, and is fundamental in applications like radar, sonar, and acoustics. Traditionally, DOA estimation relies on comparing the time of arrival of the signal across different sensors in the array. However, this approach is sensitive to the time difference of arrival (TDOA) between sensors, which can be challenging to estimate accurately. Additionally, precise synchronization among the sensors is essential, but this can be difficult to achieve in certain environments or applications. In this thesis, we explore a novel approach to DOA estimation based on the received signal power at the sensors. The method exploits the directional sensitivity of the microphones in the array, which defines how effectively each microphone captures sound from different directions. To model the directional sensitivity, we use a Fourier series (FS) model. The model is then used to estimate the DOA of a sound source across various environments, and for different types of signals. The parametric model enables Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB) analysis of the DOA estimation problem. Our findings demonstrate that the directional sensitivity exhibits a significant variation in accordance with the frequency content of the signal, and we exploit this to estimate the DOA for different types of sounds. The proposed method has been validated with a range of signals, including gunshots, elephant trumpets, sirens, and female screams. The results show that the developed method achieves high accuracy in estimating the DOA for the above-mentioned signals. Furthermore, the method performs similarly well in outdoor scenarios with realistic background noise levels. When compared to state-of-the-art DOA estimation techniques, our approach performs better or equally well for the investigated sounds. A key advantage of this method is that it does not require any TDOA measurement between the microphones, enabling the design of smaller, more compact devices. This opens up new possibilities for estimating DOA in environments where traditional methods are impractical. A limitation, however, is that the method requires knowledge of the microphone’s directional sensitivity, which necessitates calibration in an anechoic chamber. Nevertheless, this calibration has proven to be robust, and only needs to be performed once to create a model applicable across different environments. Additionally, this thesis explores a different application of DOA estimation, where geophones are used to estimate the DOA to elephants. As elephants move, they generate ground vibrations, and these signals can be captured by geophones. We show that a traditional delay-and-sum beamformer can accurately estimate the DOA of elephants at distances up to 40 meters. By determining when elephants are approaching and from which direction, park rangers can take early measures to avoid conflicts between humans and elephants, which is a major problem in some parts of the world. Förmågan att höra var ett ljud kommer ifrån, något vi ofta tar för givet, kallas för riktningsuppfattning. Den gör det möjligt för oss att snabbt avgöra om någon ropar på oss och från vilket håll ljudet kommer. Denna förmåga är viktig för att kunna orientera sig i omgivningen och uppfatta hot eller andra viktiga ljud. Våra öron samarbetar genom att jämföra hur ljud når varje öra, både när det gäller ljudets intensitet och hur lång tid det tar för ljudet att nå dem. Det här kallas för interaural tids- och nivåskillnad. Vissa ljud kan dock vara svåra att uppfatta, till exempel om ljudet är kort och impulsivt, eller om det är i en stadsmiljö med mycket bakgrundsljud och reflektioner. I den här avhandlingen undersöker vi nya metoder för att uppskatta ljudets riktning. Vi använder mikrofoner för att mäta ljudet och beräknar därefter riktningen som ljudet kommer ifrån. Traditionella metoder fokuserar på tidsskillnaden mellan ljud som registreras i olika mikrofoner. Vi tar istället en annan väg och undersöker hur ljudets styrka kan användas för att avgöra riktningen, oavsett tidsskillnader mellan mikrofonerna. Vår metod bygger på att vi skapar en modell av mikrofonernas riktningskänslighet, det vill säga hur väl de uppfattar ljud från olika håll. Modellen skapas genom att mäta mikrofonens riktningskänslighet i ett ekofritt rum. Genom att först mäta detta i en kontrollerad miljö, utan ekon, kan vi sedan använda modellen för att beräkna ljudriktningen i mer varierande miljöer och för olika typer av ljud. Till exempel har vi använt ljud såsom pistolskott, elefanttrumpeter, sirener och skrik för att testa vår metod. Resultaten visar att vår metod kan beräkna riktningar med hög noggrannhet för de ovan nämnda ljuden, även i en utomhusmiljö med mer realistiska nivåer av bakgrundsljud. När vi jämfört vår metod med traditionella metoder, presterar vår lösning lika bra eller bättre för de testade ljuden. En stor fördel med vår metod är att den inte kräver att mikrofonerna är placerade på ett visst avstånd från varandra, vilket innebär att vi kan bygga mindre och mer kompakta enheter. Detta kan leda till nya typer av produkter för att identifiera ljudriktningar i olika situationer. En nackdel är dock att mikrofonernas riktningskänslighet måste kalibreras i ett ljudlabb, men denna kalibrering har visat sig vara robust och det räcker att utföra en kalibrering som kan användas i flera olika miljöer. I avhandlingen inkluderas även en annan tillämpning av riktningsskattning, nämligen att uppskatta riktningen till elefanter med hjälp av geofoner som mäter vibrationer i marken. Elefanter är stora djur som skapar tydliga vibrationer i marken när de går. Genom att mäta dessa vibrationer med geofoner kan vi uppskatta riktningen till elefanten. Vi visar att traditionella metoder kan uppskatta riktningen med hög noggrannhet på ett avstånd upp till 40 meter. Genom att avgöra när elefanter närmar sig människor och varifrån de kommer kan parkvakter vidta åtgärder för att undvika konflikter mellan människor och elefanter, vilket är ett stort problem i vissa delar av världen.

Decentralized Estimation Using Conservative Information Extraction

Decentralized Estimation Using Conservative Information Extraction PDF Author: Robin Forsling
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9179297242
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 110

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Book Description
Sensor networks consist of sensors (e.g., radar and cameras) and processing units (e.g., estimators), where in the former information extraction occurs and in the latter estimates are formed. In decentralized estimation information extracted by sensors has been pre-processed at an intermediate processing unit prior to arriving at an estimator. Pre-processing of information allows for the complexity of large systems and systems-of-systems to be significantly reduced, and also makes the sensor network robust and flexible. One of the main disadvantages of pre-processing information is that information becomes correlated. These correlations, if not handled carefully, potentially lead to underestimated uncertainties about the calculated estimates. In conservative estimation the unknown correlations are handled by ensuring that the uncertainty about an estimate is not underestimated. If this is ensured the estimate is said to be conservative. Neglecting correlations means information is double counted which in worst case implies diverging estimates with fatal consequences. While ensuring conservative estimates is the main goal, it is desirable for a conservative estimator, as for any estimator, to provide an error covariance which is as small as possible. Application areas where conservative estimation is relevant are setups where multiple agents cooperate to accomplish a common objective, e.g., target tracking, surveillance and air policing. The first part of this thesis deals with theoretical matters where the conservative linear unbiased estimation problem is formalized. This part proposes an extension of classical linear estimation theory to the conservative estimation problem. The conservative linear unbiased estimator (CLUE) is suggested as a robust and practical alternative for estimation problems where the correlations are unknown. Optimality criteria for the CLUE are provided and further investigated. It is shown that finding an optimal CLUE is more complicated than finding an optimal linear unbiased estimator in the classical version of the problem. To simplify the problem, a CLUE that is optimal under certain restrictions will also be investigated. The latter is named restricted best CLUE. An important result is a theorem that gives a closed form solution to a restricted best CLUE. Furthermore, several conservative estimation methods are described followed by an analysis of their properties. The methods are shown to be conservative and optimal under different assumptions about the underlying correlations. The second part of the thesis focuses on practical aspects of the conservative approach to decentralized estimation in configurations where the communication channel is constrained. The diagonal covariance approximation is proposed as a data reduction technique that complies with the communication constraints and if handled correctly can be shown to preserve conservative estimates. Several information selection methods are derived that can reduce the amount of data being transmitted in the communication channel. Using the information selection methods it is possible to decide what information other actors of the sensor network find useful.

Timing-Based Localization using Multipath Information

Timing-Based Localization using Multipath Information PDF Author: Andreas Bergström
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9179299172
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
The measurements of radio signals are commonly used for localization purposes where the goal is to determine the spatial position of one or multiple objects. In realistic scenarios, any transmitted radio signal will be affected by the environment through reflections, diffraction at edges and corners etc. This causes a phenomenon known as multipath propagation, by which multiple instances of the transmitted signal having traversed different paths are heard by the receiver. These are known as Multi-Path Components (MPCs). The direct path (DP) between transmitter and receiver may also be occluded, causing what is referred to as non-Line-of-Sight (non-LOS) conditions. As a consequence of these effects, the estimated position of the object(s) may often be erroneous. This thesis focuses on how to achieve better localization accuracy by accounting for the above-mentioned multipath propagation and non-LOS effects. It is proposed how to mitigate these in the context of positioning based on estimation of the DP between transmitter and receiver. It is also proposed how to constructively utilize the additional information about the environment which they implicitly provide. This is all done in a framework wherein a given signal model and a map of the surroundings are used to build a mathematical model of the radio environment, from which the resulting MPCs are estimated. First, methods to mitigate the adverse effects of multipath propagation and non-LOS conditions for positioning based on estimation of the DP between transmitter and receiver are presented. This is initially done by using robust statistical measurement error models based on aggregated error statistics, where significant improvements are obtained without the need to provide detailed received signal information. The gains are seen to be even larger with up-to-date real-time information based on the estimated MPCs. Second, the association of the estimated MPCs with the signal paths predicted by the environmental model is addressed. This leads to a combinatorial problem which is approached with tools from multi-target tracking theory. A rich radio environment in terms of many MPCs gives better localization accuracy but causes the problem size to grow large—something which can be remedied by excluding less probable paths. Simulations indicate that in such environments, the single best association hypothesis may be a reasonable approximation which avoids the calculation of a vast number of possible hypotheses. Accounting for erroneous measurements is crucial but may have drawbacks if no such are occurring. Finally, theoretical localization performance bounds when utilizing all or a subset of the available MPCs are derived. A rich radio environment allows for good positioning accuracy using only a few transmitters/receivers, assuming that these are used in the localization process. In contrast, in a less rich environment where basically only the DP/LOS components are measurable, more transmitters/receivers and/or the combination of downlink and uplink measurements are required to achieve the same accuracy. The receiver’s capability of distinguishing between multiple MPCs arriving approximately at the same time also affects the localization accuracy.

Control, Models and Industrial Manipulators

Control, Models and Industrial Manipulators PDF Author: Erik Hedberg
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9179297404
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 83

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Book Description
The two topics at the heart of this thesis are how to improve control of industrial manipulators and how to reason about the role of models in automatic control. On industrial manipulators, two case studies are presented. The first investigates estimation with inertial sensors, and the second compares control by feedback linearization to control based on gain-scheduling. The contributions on the second topic illustrate the close connection between control and estimation in different ways. A conceptual model of control is introduced, which can be used to emphasize the role of models as well as the human aspect of control engineering. Some observations are made regarding block-diagram reformulations that illustrate the relation between models, control and inversion. Finally, a suggestion for how the internal model principle, internal model control, disturbance observers and Youla-Kucera parametrization can be introduced in a unified way is presented.

On Complexity Certification of Active-Set QP Methods with Applications to Linear MPC

On Complexity Certification of Active-Set QP Methods with Applications to Linear MPC PDF Author: Daniel Arnström
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9179296920
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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Book Description
In model predictive control (MPC) an optimization problem has to be solved at each time step, which in real-time applications makes it important to solve these efficiently and to have good upper bounds on worst-case solution time. Often for linear MPC problems, the optimization problem in question is a quadratic program (QP) that depends on parameters such as system states and reference signals. A popular class of methods for solving such QPs is active-set methods, where a sequence of linear systems of equations is solved. The primary contribution of this thesis is a method which determines which sequence of subproblems a popular class of such active-set algorithms need to solve, for every possible QP instance that might arise from a given linear MPC problem (i.e, for every possible state and reference signal). By knowing these sequences, worst-case bounds on how many iterations, floating-point operations and, ultimately, the maximum solution time, these active-set algorithms require to compute a solution can be determined, which is of importance when, e.g, linear MPC is used in safety-critical applications. After establishing this complexity certification method, its applicability is extended by showing how it can be used indirectly to certify the complexity of another, efficient, type of active-set QP algorithm which reformulates the QP as a nonnegative least-squares method. Finally, the proposed complexity certification method is extended further to situations when enhancements to the active-set algorithms are used, namely, when they are terminated early (to save computations) and when outer proximal-point iterations are performed (to improve numerical stability).