Library: Engineering

This dissertation proposes a computational technique for automated "invention" of conceptual schemes of thermal systems. The input provided to the automated problem solver is a description of the streams entering and leaving the system. The output is a network of elementary processes: compression, expansion, heating, cooling, and chemical processes. The problem solver seeks a network that is feasible, and offers an optimal (or at least favorable) combination of energy and capital costs. The synthesis process is modeled as a heuristic search conducted in a state-space of all possible design ver...

(Complete work in Spanish) Remote sensing aerial spectral imaging was one of the first application areas where spectral imaging was used in order to identify and monitor the natural resources and covers on earth surface. Aerial spectral imaging is being developed with the aim of monitoring natural resources like coastal areas, forestry and extensive crops. The information contained in hyperspectral images allows the reconstruction of the energy curve radiated by the terrestrial surface throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. Hence, the characterization, identification and classification of th...

This dissertation involves a preliminary study into the structural dynamic behavior of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), located in the Flight Acceleration Facility, bldg 29, in Houston, Texas. The 50-ft. arm can swing the three-man gondola to create g-forces astronauts will experience during controlled flight and during reentry. The centrifuge was designed primarily for training Apollo astronauts. During operation of the centrifuge, the astronauts can control the motion of the gondola in two gimbal axes, while the gondola is rotatin...

This thesis is concerned with the theoretical and practical development of reliable and robust localisation algorithms for autonomous land vehicles operating at high speeds in unstructured, expansive and harsh environments. Localisation is the ability of a vehicle to determine its position and orientation within an operating environment. The need for such a localisation system is motivated by the requirement of developing autonomous vehicles in applications such as mining, agriculture and cargo handling. The main drivers in these applications are for safety, efficien...

We have experienced different theories of software construction paradigms in the last few decades; such as "structured programming" in the 1970's and "object-oriented programming" in the 1980's. The object-oriented paradigm is considered a standard for many software development activities, from the analysis phase to various support phases. There is little quantitative research, however, regarding the question whether object-oriented programming improves productivity. Many assume that object-oriented programming is more productive than traditional structured programming. This assumption lacks c...

This document shows the current state of the research work done around the SmartSpectra project. The SmartSpectra project is a Research, Technological development and Demonstration (RTD) project funded under EU’s Fifth Framework Programme (FP5) by the Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme. The project pursues the development of a Smart Multispectral System for Commercial Applications. SmartSpectra is an acronym of "Smart Multispectral System for Commercial Applications." In this project, a Smart Multispectral System will be designed and implemented. The system will allow multisp...

The object of this work is the design, programming and integration of the Transition Module (TM4Plus1) in the Test Beam that exists in the European Laboratory of Physics of Particles (CERN). There treats itself about a step before the accomplishment of the System Read Out Driver final (ROD) who will install in the ATLAS detector inside the accelerator of particles (LHC) that is being constructed in the CERN.

The high degree of heterogeneity of textile composites was found to be the primary problem in analysis and testing. A concept was developed based on a description of the local variation of the material stiffness matrix using a spline interpolation. The role of this stiffness function is to facilitate the calculation of the material stiffness matrix at any given position or for arbitrary domains in the form of finite elements.Based on this approach, two different methods were developed. In the first method the average material stiffness matrix is calculated for a finite element and subsequently...

Se analiza el uso de redes neuro-difusas para solucionar problemas de clasificación y modelización. El objetivo es intentar combinar las cualidades de las redes neuronales y de la descripción de sistemas mediante Lógica Difusa. Las redes neuronales son conocidas por su alta capacidad de aprendizaje, lo que permite una adecuada generalización en el tipo de problemas comentado anteriormente. Su aplicación a problemas reales no ha dejado de crecer durante los últimos años. Por otro lado, la Lógica Difusa es una herramienta más novedosa, cuya propiedad más atractiva es la capacidad que pose...

The problem of controlling sensory perception for use in discrete event feedback control systems is addressed in this thesis. The sensory perception controller (SPC) is formulated as a sequential Markov decision problem. The SPC has two main objectives; 1) to collect perceptual information to identify discrete events with high levels of confidence and 2) to keep the sensing costs low. Several event recognition techniques are available where each of the event recognisers produces confidence levels of recognised events. For a discrete event control system running in normal operation, the confid...