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1 – 10 of over 4000Zhiyu Li, Hongguang Li, Yang Liu, Lingyun Jin and Congqing Wang
Autonomous flight of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in global position system (GPS)-denied environments has become an increasing research hotspot. This paper aims to realize the…
Abstract
Purpose
Autonomous flight of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in global position system (GPS)-denied environments has become an increasing research hotspot. This paper aims to realize the indoor fixed-point hovering control and autonomous flight for UAVs based on visual inertial simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and sensor fusion algorithm based on extended Kalman filter.
Design/methodology/approach
The fundamental of the proposed method is using visual inertial SLAM to estimate the position information of the UAV and position-speed double-loop controller to control the UAV. The motion and observation models of the UAV and the fusion algorithm are given. Finally, experiments are performed to test the proposed algorithms.
Findings
A position-speed double-loop controller is proposed, by fusing the position information obtained by visual inertial SLAM with the data of airborne sensors. The experiment results of the indoor fixed-points hovering show that UAV flight control can be realized based on visual inertial SLAM in the absence of GPS.
Originality/value
A position-speed double-loop controller for UAV is designed and tested, which provides a more stable position estimation and enabled UAV to fly autonomously and hover in GPS-denied environment.
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Hossam Wefki, Mona Salah, Emad Elbeltagi, Asser Elsheikh and Rana Khallaf
Given the growing interest in modern construction techniques and the emergence of innovative technologies, construction site layout planning research has progressively been…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the growing interest in modern construction techniques and the emergence of innovative technologies, construction site layout planning research has progressively been investigating approaches to adopt innovative concepts and incorporate renewed approaches to improve widespread efficiency. This research develops a decision-making tool that optimizes construction site layout plans. The developed model targets two main objectives: minimizing material transportation costs and maximizing safety by optimally placing facilities on construction sites.
Design/methodology/approach
A novel approach is devised based on the integration of Building Information Modeling and Generative Design (BIM-GD). This engine is used to optimize the multi-objective site layout problems to identify layout alternatives in the early project stages. Parametric modeling uses Dynamo to construct the model and explore constraints initially. Finally, the GD environment is utilized to create different design alternatives, and then the decision-making procedure selects the most appropriate design alternative. Additionally, a case study is applied to validate the effectiveness of the developed model.
Findings
The results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed GD tool and its potential for more complex applications. The GD engine examined optimal layout plans, balancing different objectives and adhering to appointed geometric constraints. A case study was conducted to assess the model's effectiveness and showcase its suitability. Construction Site Layout Planning (CSLP) is an essential step in design that can influence considerable aspects, such as material transportation expenses and different safety standards on the site. Employing visual programming for parametric modeling within Dynamo-Revit creates an expedient and user-friendly platform for planning engineers who may require more programming expertise to create and program algorithmic models visually. Utilizing GD in CSLP has proven to be a powerful tool with consequential prospects for improving applications and executing more models.
Practical implications
The findings from this framework are intended to help construction practitioners select the most appropriate site layout during early project stages while incorporating different safety criteria inside construction sites to alleviate actual safety risks.
Originality/value
A new approach is proposed that utilizes an integrated BIM-GD engine to optimize multi-objective site layout problems. This approach targets two main objectives: minimizing material transportation costs and maximizing safety by optimally placing facilities in construction sites.
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Feiyu Hou, Chaofeng Liu, Hongbo Jiang, Zhiren Tang, Pingtan Fang and Shenglan Wang
This paper explores the challenges of using cable-driven parallel robots on high-altitude, large-span facades, where redundancy in multicable systems and the elastic deformation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the challenges of using cable-driven parallel robots on high-altitude, large-span facades, where redundancy in multicable systems and the elastic deformation of the cables are significant issues. This study aims to improve the accuracy and stability of the work platform through enhanced control strategies. These strategies address the redundancy in multicable systems and reduce the risks associated with cable deformation and mechanical failures during large-span movements.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper proposes a dynamic model for a four-rope parallel robot designed explicitly for large-span applications. The study introduces a position–force control strategy incorporating kinematic inverse solutions and a rope dynamics model to account for rope elasticity and its effects. This approach increases the number of system equations to match the unknowns, effectively solving the redundancy problem inherent in multicable systems. In addition, the tension changes of ropes and the stability of the working platform are examined under different motion distances (X = 50 m and X = 100 m) and varying Young’s modulus values (K = 5000 MPa and K = 8000 MPa).
Findings
This study’s large-span rope force–position control strategy successfully resolves the typical nonlinear characteristics and external disturbances in multicable parallel systems. By continuously monitoring and adjusting cable tension and end positions, this strategy ensures precise control over each cable’s tension, optimizes the distribution of cable tensions and maintains the system’s stability and response speed. The analysis in this paper indicates that this control strategy significantly improves the motion accuracy of robots operating on large-span high-altitude facades.
Practical implications
Industry adoption: The design and control strategies developed for the four-cable-driven parallel robot can be adopted by companies specializing in facade maintenance, construction or inspection. This could lead to safer, more efficient and cost-effective operations, especially in challenging environments like high-rise buildings. Innovation in robotic solutions: The research can inspire innovation within the field of robotics, particularly in developing robots for specific applications such as large surface maintenance. It showcases how adaptive control and stability can be achieved in complex operational scenarios. Safety improvements: By demonstrating a more stable and precise control mechanism for navigating large facades, the study could contribute to significant safety improvements, reducing the risk of accidents associated with manual facade maintenance and inspection tasks.
Originality/value
This paper combines the force/position hybrid control method with actual robotic applications, offering a novel solution to the complex issue of controlling cable-driven parallel robots in challenging environments. Thus, it contributes to the field. The proposed method significantly enhances the precision and stability of such systems and provides robust technical support for high-precision tasks in complex mechanical settings.
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Nasiru Salihu, Poom Kumam, Sulaiman Mohammed Ibrahim and Huzaifa Aliyu Babando
Previous RMIL versions of the conjugate gradient method proposed in literature exhibit sufficient descent with Wolfe line search conditions, yet their global convergence depends…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous RMIL versions of the conjugate gradient method proposed in literature exhibit sufficient descent with Wolfe line search conditions, yet their global convergence depends on certain restrictions. To alleviate these assumptions, a hybrid conjugate gradient method is proposed based on the conjugacy condition.
Design/methodology/approach
The conjugate gradient (CG) method strategically alternates between RMIL and KMD CG methods by using a convex combination of the two schemes, mitigating their respective weaknesses. The theoretical analysis of the hybrid method, conducted without line search consideration, demonstrates its sufficient descent property. This theoretical understanding of sufficient descent enables the removal of restrictions previously imposed on versions of the RMIL CG method for global convergence result.
Findings
Numerical experiments conducted using a hybrid strategy that combines the RMIL and KMD CG methods demonstrate superior performance compared to each method used individually and even outperform some recent versions of the RMIL method. Furthermore, when applied to solve an image reconstruction model, the method exhibits reliable results.
Originality/value
The strategy used to demonstrate the sufficient descent property and convergence result of RMIL CG without line search consideration through hybrid techniques has not been previously explored in literature. Additionally, the two CG schemes involved in the combination exhibit similar sufficient descent structures based on the assumption regarding the norm of the search direction.
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Rachid Mharzi, Abderrahmane Ben Kacem and Abdelmajid Elouadi
The purpose of this study is to analyze the operations and performance dynamics of a supply chain (SC) subject to disruptions. The preparedness of Moroccan responders in handling…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze the operations and performance dynamics of a supply chain (SC) subject to disruptions. The preparedness of Moroccan responders in handling emergencies could be enhanced significantly, by devising digital twin-based decision support systems (DSSs).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors create a discrete-event simulation model to investigate proactively risks and resilience of a Moroccan basic-items SC (BISC). In this study, the authors analyze the effects of catastrophe-related disruptions (CRDs) on the Moroccan BISC, by the use of a simulation-based decision-supporting quantitative method.
Findings
In the disruption-free simulation experiment, the outcome was a satisfactory 100% coverage. By implementing CRDs, inventory levels have dropped, service levels decreased, lead time raised and there was an increase in backlogged products and late orders numbers. The highest impact was observed for the shutdown of paths linking suppliers to warehouses, whereas the increase in demand had a comparatively minor effect. The risk analysis approach helps to identify critical products for which the time-to-recover is longer and requires more commitment to enhance their resilience.
Practical implications
The model serves to deduce quantitative resilience assessment from simulation, streamline the selection of recovery strategies and enable the best-informed reactive decision-making to minimize the impact.
Originality/value
The research brings organizing solutions to catastrophe-related emergencies in Morocco. It would contribute significantly by visualizing, examining and unveiling the effects of disruptions on a BISC and offering actionable recommendations for remedial measures.
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Long Li, Binyang Chen and Jiangli Yu
The selection of sensitive temperature measurement points is the premise of thermal error modeling and compensation. However, most of the sensitive temperature measurement point…
Abstract
Purpose
The selection of sensitive temperature measurement points is the premise of thermal error modeling and compensation. However, most of the sensitive temperature measurement point selection methods do not consider the influence of the variability of thermal sensitive points on thermal error modeling and compensation. This paper considers the variability of thermal sensitive points, and aims to propose a sensitive temperature measurement point selection method and thermal error modeling method that can reduce the influence of thermal sensitive point variability.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking the truss robot as the experimental object, the finite element method is used to construct the simulation model of the truss robot, and the temperature measurement point layout scheme is designed based on the simulation model to collect the temperature and thermal error data. After the clustering of the temperature measurement point data is completed, the improved attention mechanism is used to extract the temperature data of the key time steps of the temperature measurement points in each category for thermal error modeling.
Findings
By comparing with the thermal error modeling method of the conventional fixed sensitive temperature measurement points, it is proved that the method proposed in this paper is more flexible in the processing of sensitive temperature measurement points and more stable in prediction accuracy.
Originality/value
The Grey Attention-Long Short Term Memory (GA-LSTM) thermal error prediction model proposed in this paper can reduce the influence of the variability of thermal sensitive points on the accuracy of thermal error modeling in long-term processing, and improve the accuracy of thermal error prediction model, which has certain application value. It has guiding significance for thermal error compensation prediction.
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Lixia Sun, Yuanwu Cai, Di Cheng, Xiaoyi Hu and Chunyang Zhou
Under the high-speed operating conditions, the effects of wheelset elastic deformation on the wheel rail dynamic forces will become more notable compared to the low-speed…
Abstract
Purpose
Under the high-speed operating conditions, the effects of wheelset elastic deformation on the wheel rail dynamic forces will become more notable compared to the low-speed condition. In order to meet different analysis requirements and selecting appropriate models to analyzing the wheel rail interaction, it is crucial to understand the influence of wheelset flexibility on the wheel-rail dynamics under different speeds and track excitations condition.
Design/methodology/approach
The wheel rail contact points solving method and vehicle dynamics equations considering wheelset flexibility in the trajectory body coordinate system were investigated in this paper. As for the wheel-rail contact forces, which is a particular force element in vehicle multibody system, a method for calculating the Jacobian matrix of the wheel-rail contact force is proposed to better couple the wheel-rail contact force calculation with the vehicle dynamics response calculation. Based on the flexible wheelset modeling approach in this paper, two vehicle dynamic models considering the wheelset as both elastic and rigid bodies are established, two kinds of track excitations, namely normal measured track irregularities and short-wave irregularities are used, wheel-rail geometric contact characteristic and wheel-rail contact forces in both time and frequency domains are compared with the two models in order to study the influence of flexible wheelset rotation effect on wheel rail contact force.
Findings
Under normal track irregularity excitations, the amplitudes of vertical, longitudinal and lateral forces computed by the flexible wheelset model are smaller than those of the rigid wheelset model, and the virtual penetration and equivalent contact patch are also slightly smaller. For the flexible wheelset model, the wheel rail longitudinal and lateral creepages will also decrease. The higher the vehicle speed, the larger the differences in wheel-rail forces computed by the flexible and rigid wheelset model. Under track short-wave irregularity excitations, the vertical force amplitude computed by the flexible wheelset is also smaller than that of the rigid wheelset. However, unlike the excitation case of measured track irregularity, under short-wave excitations, for the speed within the range of 200 to 350 km/h, the difference in the amplitude of the vertical force between the flexible and rigid wheelset models gradually decreases as the speed increase. This is partly due to the contribution of wheelset’s elastic vibration under short-wave excitations. For low-frequency wheel-rail force analysis problems at speeds of 350 km/h and above, as well as high-frequency wheel-rail interaction analysis problems under various speed conditions, the flexible wheelset model will give results agrees better with the reality.
Originality/value
This study provides reference for the modeling method of the flexible wheelset and the coupling method of wheel-rail contact force to the vehicle multibody dynamics system. Furthermore, by comparative research, the influence of wheelset flexibility and rotation on wheel-rail dynamic behavior are obtained, which is useful to the application scope of rigid and flexible wheelset models.
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Feng Yao, Qinling Lu, Yiguo Sun and Junsen Zhang
The authors propose to estimate a varying coefficient panel data model with different smoothing variables and fixed effects using a two-step approach. The pilot step estimates the…
Abstract
The authors propose to estimate a varying coefficient panel data model with different smoothing variables and fixed effects using a two-step approach. The pilot step estimates the varying coefficients by a series method. We then use the pilot estimates to perform a one-step backfitting through local linear kernel smoothing, which is shown to be oracle efficient in the sense of being asymptotically equivalent to the estimate knowing the other components of the varying coefficients. In both steps, the authors remove the fixed effects through properly constructed weights. The authors obtain the asymptotic properties of both the pilot and efficient estimators. The Monte Carlo simulations show that the proposed estimator performs well. The authors illustrate their applicability by estimating a varying coefficient production frontier using a panel data, without assuming distributions of the efficiency and error terms.
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M. Iadh Ayari and Sabri T.M. Thabet
This paper aims to study qualitative properties and approximate solutions of a thermostat dynamics system with three-point boundary value conditions involving a nonsingular kernel…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study qualitative properties and approximate solutions of a thermostat dynamics system with three-point boundary value conditions involving a nonsingular kernel operator which is called Atangana-Baleanu-Caputo (ABC) derivative for the first time. The results of the existence and uniqueness of the solution for such a system are investigated with minimum hypotheses by employing Banach and Schauder's fixed point theorems. Furthermore, Ulam-Hyers
Design/methodology/approach
This paper considered theoretical and numerical methodologies.
Findings
This paper contains the following findings: (1) Thermostat fractional dynamics system is studied under ABC operator. (2) Qualitative properties such as existence, uniqueness and Ulam–Hyers–Rassias stability are established by fixed point theorems and nonlinear analysis topics. (3) Approximate solution of the problem is investigated by Adomain decomposition method. (4) Convergence analysis of ADM is proved. (5) Examples are provided to illustrate theoretical and numerical results. (6) Numerical results are compared with exact solution in tables and figures.
Originality/value
The novelty and contributions of this paper is to use a nonsingular kernel operator for the first time in order to study the qualitative properties and approximate solution of a thermostat dynamics system.
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Xiao Xiao, Andreas Christian Thul, Lars Eric Müller and Kay Hameyer
Magnetic hysteresis holds significant technical and physical importance in the design of electromagnetic components. Despite extensive research in this area, modeling magnetic…
Abstract
Purpose
Magnetic hysteresis holds significant technical and physical importance in the design of electromagnetic components. Despite extensive research in this area, modeling magnetic hysteresis remains a challenging task that is yet to be fully resolved. The purpose of this paper is to study vector hysteresis play models for anisotropic ferromagnetic materials in a physical, thermodynamical approach.
Design/methodology/approach
In this work, hysteresis play models are implemented to interpret magnetic properties, drawing upon classical rate-independent plasticity principles derived from continuum mechanics theory. By conducting qualitative and quantitative verification and validation, various aspects of ferromagnetic vector hysteresis were thoroughly examined. By directly incorporating the hysteresis play models into the primal formulations using fixed point method, the proposed model is validated with measurements in a finite element (FE) environments.
Findings
The proposed vector hysteresis play model is verified with fundamental properties of hysteresis effects. Numerical analysis is performed in an FE environment. Measured data from a rotational single sheet tester (RSST) are validated to the simulated results.
Originality/value
The results of this work demonstrates that the essential properties of the hysteresis effects by electrical steel sheets can be represented by the proposed vector hysteresis play models. By incorporation of hysteresis play models into the weak formulations of the magnetostatic problem in the h-based magnetic scalar potential form, magnetic properties of electrical steel sheets can be locally analyzed and represented.
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