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The purpose of this study is to analyze direct current (DC) drive stability, including parameter uncertainty and perturbation in the feedback loop, by computing disk margins.

Although the closed-loop stability analysis of a DC drive has been presented well in the referenced papers, the effect of parameter uncertainty and perturbation in the feedback loop has not yet been discussed well. In this study, the conventional and disk-based stability margins were measured and compared for the nominal parameters of the DC drive. Subsequently, the smallest disk-based margins that destabilize the feedback loop for a given perturbation are computed and compared with normal disk margins.

The disk-based margin offered by the DC drive controlled by the JAYA-PID controller is disk gain margins (DGM) = 8.41 dB and disk phase margin (DPM) = 48.410 and the smallest disk-based margin offered is DGM = 1.51 dB and DPM = 9.950. In addition, the effect of the modeled uncertainty on the disk stability margins was analyzed, and it was observed that the maximum allowable parameter uncertainty with the JAYA controller was 73% of its nominal parameters. The simulation results were validated using an experimental testbed.

This research work is not published anywhere else.

The present paper aims to assess the reliability and the limitations of analysing flight stability of a box-wing aircraft configuration known as PrandtlPlane by means of methods conceived for conventional aircraft and well known in the literature.

Results obtained by applying vortex lattice methods to PrandtlPlane configuration, validated previously with wind tunnel tests, are compared to the output of a “Roskam-like” method, here defined to model the PrandtlPlane features.

The comparisons have shown that the “Roskam-like” model gives accurate predictions for both the longitudinal stability margin and dihedral effect, whereas the directional stability is always overestimated.

The method here proposed and related achievements are valid only for subsonic conditions. The poor reliability related to lateral-directional derivatives estimations may be improved implementing different models known from the literature.

The possibility of applying a faster method as the “Roskam-like” one here presented has two main implications: it allows to implement faster analyses in the conceptual and preliminary design of PrandtlPlane, providing also a tool for the definition of the design space in case of optimization approaches and it allows to implement a scaling procedure, to study families of PrandtlPlanes or different aircraft categories.

This paper is part of the activities carried out during the PARSIFAL project, which aims to demonstrate that the introduction of PrandtlPlane as air transport mean can fuel consumption and noise impact, providing a sustainable answer to the growing air passenger demand envisaged for the next decades.

The originality of this paper lies in the attempt of adopting analysis method conceived for conventional airplanes for the analysis of a novel configuration. The value of the work is represented by the knowledge concerning experimental results and design methods on the PrandtlPlane configuration, here made available to define a new analysis tool.

Wheel‐terrain interaction has hardly been taken into consideration in the process of conventional mobile robot design, but its importance has been reflected increasingly towards these categories of mobile robots in rough sandy terrain or obstacle‐dense ground, as the first performance index in this situation is the trafficability of robot whose propulsion is uniquely generated by wheel‐terrain interaction. Consequently, it is valuable to find an optimized design method when the terrain and robot itself are regarded simultaneously. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel and reasonable design approach to mobile robot in sandy terrain.

Leading to some conflicted performance indices of robot, terramechanics describes the non‐linear characteristics in wheel‐terrain interaction mathematically, therefore, trade‐offs must be implemented to get a proper solution by multi‐objective optimization (MOO). In this paper, a five‐wheeled drive and five‐wheeled steering (5WD5WS) reconfigurable mobile robot is taken as demonstration with taxonomy of total‐symmetrical, partial‐symmetrical and asymmetrical prototypes. After function modeling, the MOO is carried out via iSIGHT‐FD using NCGA (Neighborhood Cultivation Genetic Algorithm) to minimize the mass, wheel resistance and maximize the static stability simultaneously.

After MOO, a compact and light weighted asymmetrical prototype is obtained with better trafficability, and other prototypes can produce diversified configurations to meet specific requirements. Significantly reduced masses (about 17 kg) enhance the grade‐ability when robot is in rough terrain. Performed real‐world experiments have also verified these prototypes.

The paper presents a new design approach for a mobile robot which focuses on both robot and terrain simultaneously with respect to conflicted factors. To unveil the insight relation of these factors, MOO is an effective tool to get a trade‐offs prototype.

IN a series of articles entitled “Tailless Aircraft and Flying Wings”, concluded last month, the evolution of the tailless aeroplane and the flying wing was treated. The different trends of the development were classified, and a short discussion of the difficulties which had been experienced during experimental work given.

The purpose of this paper is to address optimal positioning of a group of mobile robots for a successful manipulation and transportation of payloads of any shape.

The chosen methodology to achieve optimal positioning of the robots around the payload to lift it and to transport it while maintaining a geometric multi-robot formation is presented. This appropriate configuration of the set of robots is obtained by combining constraints ensuring stable and safe lifting and transport of the payload. A suitable control law is then used to track a virtual structure in which each elementary robot has to keep its desired position with respect to the payload.

An optimal positioning of mobile robots around a payload to ensure stable co-manipulation and transportation task according to stability multi-criteria constraints. Simulation and experimental results validate the proposed control architecture and strategy for a successful transportation task based on virtual structure navigation approach.

This paper presents a new strategy for co-manipulation and co-transportation task based on a virtual structure navigation approach. An algorithm for optimal positioning of mobile robots around a payload of any mass and shape is proposed while ensuring stability during the whole process by respecting multi-criteria task stability constraints.

In this research, the authors established a hierarchical motion planner for quadruped locomotion, which enables a parallel wheel-quadruped robot, the “BIT-NAZA” robot, to traverse rough three-dimensional (3-D) terrain.

Presented is a novel wheel-quadruped mobile robot with parallel driving mechanisms and based on the Stewart six degrees of freedom (6-DOF) platform. The task for traversing rough terrain is decomposed into two prospects: one is the configuration selection in terms of a local foothold cost map, in which the kinematic feasibility of parallel mechanism and terrain features are satisfied in heuristic search planning, and the other one is a whole-body controller to complete smooth and continuous motion transitions.

A fan-shaped foot search region focuses on footholds with a strong possibility of becoming foot placement, simplifying computation complexity. A receding horizon avoids kinematic deadlock during the search process and improves robot adaptation.

Both simulation and experimental results validated the proposed scenario available and appropriate for quadruped locomotion to traverse challenging 3-D terrains.

This paper analyzes kinematic workspace for a parallel robot with 6-DOF Stewart mechanism on both body and foot. A fan-shaped foot search region enhances computation efficiency. Receding horizon broadens the preview search to decrease the possibility of deadlock minima resulting from terrain variation.

This paper aims to propose a novel balance-assistive control strategy for hip exoskeleton robot.

A hierarchical balance assistive controller based on the virtual stiffness model of extrapolated center of mass (XCoM) is proposed and tested by exoskeleton balance assistive control experiments.

Experiment results show that the proposed controller can accelerate the swing foot chasing XCoM and enlarge the margin of stability.

As a proof of concept, this paper shows the potential for exoskeleton to actively assist human regain balance in sagittal plane when human suffers from a forward or backward disturbing force.

The equations of motion developed by R. P. Coleman have been evaluated for a particular helicopter configuration and a large number of different combinations of rotor and fuselage damping. These results are displayed graphically and reveal the dependence of the unstable range on rotor and fuselage damping. Some of the conclusions are in disagreement with those reached by Coleman. Both viscous and friction rotor dampers are considered.

The paper aims to devise an externally adjustable fluid film bearing whereby the hydrodynamic conditions can be changed as required in a controlled manner. Unlike a tilting pad bearing, in this bearing film thickness can be varied by providing radial and tilt adjustments to the pad, irrespective of the operating conditions. This variation in film thickness in‐turn varies the stiffness and damping coefficients.

The stability characteristics of a centrally loaded 120° single pad externally adjustable fluid film bearing is studied theoretically. The bearing has an aspect ratio of one and operates over a wide range of eccentricity ratios and adjustments. The time dependent form of Reynolds equation in two dimensions is solved numerically using the finite difference method. Dynamic performance characteristics of the bearing are in terms of film stiffness and damping coefficients, critical mass of the journal and the whirl frequency ratio. Stability is determined using a first‐order‐linear‐perturbation method.

The paper finds that a study with various adjustments predicts that negative radial and negative tilt adjustment configuration results in superior dynamic characteristics as compared to a conventional fluid film bearing.

It is possible to have a particular set of radial and tilt adjustments that will provide a stable operation of the rotor bearing system. Single pad externally adjustable fluid film bearing will perform as a conventional partial arc bearing when both the adjustments are set to zero.

The purpose of this paper is to design a robust angle-of-attack (AOA) tracking control system for the hypersonic reentry vehicle (HRV) based on the linear parameter varying (LPV) theory, as the aerodynamic coefficients of the hypersonic vehicle vary quickly during the reentry phase.

First, longitudinal moment trim is done along the desired flight trajectory. The linearized system at each trim point is built and the dynamic characteristics analysis is made. Then the LPV control law with parameter-dependent quadratic Lyapunov function (PDQLF-LPV) is applied to design the AOA tracking autopilot at each trim point. Frequency performance of the autopilot is assessed and the step response simulation is conducted to validate the effectiveness of the control system. Finally, actual AOA command tracking simulations based on the time-varying nonlinear model are carried out to test the correctness and robustness of the PDQLF-LPV autopilot.

Analysis results demonstrate that the PDQLF-LPV control system can track the AOA command perfectly during the whole flight envelop with dynamics parameter variation or disturbances, which indicates that it is effective to integrate the PDQLF-LPV control theory with a parameter-varying reference model for control system design of HRV.

A reference model with varying parameters is utilized to guarantee the transient performance of the autopilot, and induced L2-norm analysis is introduced to describe and guarantee the robust stability of the autopilot.