A Cyber-Physical System integrates computations and dynamics of physical processes. It is an engineering discipline focused on technology with a strong foundation in mathematical abstractions. It shares many of these abstractions with engineering and computer science, but still requires adaptation to suit the dynamics of the physical world. In such a dynamic system, mobility management is one of the key issues against developing a new service. For example, in the study of a new mobile network, it is necessary to simulate and evaluate a protocol before deployment in the system. Mobility models characterize mobile agent movement patterns. On the other hand, they describe the conditions of the mobile services. The focus of this thesis is on mobility modeling in cyber-physical systems. A macroscopic model that captures the mobility of individuals (people and vehicles) can facilitate an unlimited number of applications. One fundamental and obvious example is traffic profiling. Mobility in most systems is a dynamic process and small non-linearities can lead to substantial errors in the model. Extensive research activities on statistical inference and filtering methods for data modeling in cyber-physical systems exist. In this thesis, several methods are employed for multimodal data fusion, localization and traffic modeling. A novel energy-aware sparse signal processing method is presented to process massive sensory data. At baseline, this research examines the application of statistical filters for mobility modeling and assessing the difficulties faced in fusing massive multi-modal sensory data. A statistical framework is developed to apply proposed methods on available measurements in cyber-physical systems. The proposed methods have employed various statistical filtering schemes (i.e., compressive sensing, particle filtering and kernel-based optimization) and applied them to multimodal data sets, acquired from intelligent transportation systems, wireless local area networks, cellular networks and air quality monitoring systems. Experimental results show the capability of these proposed methods in processing multimodal sensory data. It provides a macroscopic mobility model of mobile agents in an energy efficient way using inconsistent measurements.

La humedad del suelo es la variable que regula los intercambios de agua, energía, y carbono entre la tierra y la atmósfera. Mediciones precisas de humedad son necesarias para una gestión sostenible de los recursos hídricos, para mejorar las predicciones meteorológicas y climáticas, y para la detección y monitorización de sequías e inundaciones. Esta tesis se centra en la medición de la humedad superficial de la Tierra desde el espacio, a escalas global y regional. Estudios teóricos y experimentales han demostrado que la teledetección pasiva de microondas en banda L es optima para la medición de humedad del suelo, debido a que la atmósfera es transparente a estas frecuencias, y a la relación directa de la emisividad del suelo con su contenido de agua. Sin embargo, el uso de la teledetección pasiva en banda L ha sido cuestionado en las últimas décadas, pues para conseguir la resolución temporal y espacial requeridas, un radiómetro convencional necesitaría una gran antena rotatoria, difícil de implementar en un satélite. Actualmente, hay tres principales propuestas para abordar este problema: (i) el uso de un radiómetro de apertura sintética, que es la solución implementada en la misión Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) de la ESA, en órbita desde noviembre del 2009; (ii) el uso de un radiómetro ligero de grandes dimensiones y un rádar operando en banda L, que es la solución que ha adoptado la misión Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) de la NASA, con lanzamiento previsto en 2014; (iii) el desarrollo de técnicas de desagregación de píxel que permitan mejorar la resolución espacial de las observaciones. La primera parte de la tesis se centra en el estudio del algoritmo de recuperación de humedad del suelo a partir de datos SMOS, que es esencial para obtener estimaciones de humedad con alta precisión. Se analizan diferentes configuraciones con datos simulados, considerando (i) la opción de añadir información a priori de los parámetros que dominan la emisión del suelo en banda L —humedad, rugosidad, temperatura del suelo, albedo y opacidad de la vegetación— con diferentes incertidumbres asociadas, y (ii) el uso de la polarización vertical y horizontal por separado, o del primer parámetro de Stokes. Se propone una configuración de recuperación de humedad óptima para SMOS. La resolución espacial de los radiómetros de SMOS y SMAP (40-50 km) es adecuada para aplicaciones globales, pero limita la aplicación de los datos en estudios regionales, donde se requiere una resolución de 1-10 km. La segunda parte de esta tesis contiene tres novedosas propuestas de mejora de resolución espacial de estos datos: • Se ha desarrollado un algoritmo basado en la deconvolución de los datos SMOS que permite mejorar la resolución espacial de las medidas. Los resultados de su aplicación a datos simulados y a datos obtenidos con un radiómetro aerotransportado muestran que es posible mejorar el producto de resolución espacial y resolución radiométrica de los datos. • Se presenta un algoritmo para mejorar la resolución espacial de las estimaciones de humedad de SMOS utilizando datos MODIS en el visible/infrarrojo. Los resultados de su aplicación a algunas de las primeras imágenes de SMOS indican que la variabilidad espacial de la humedad del suelo se puede capturar a 32, 16 y 8 km. • Un algoritmo basado en detección de cambios para combinar los datos del radiómetro y el rádar de SMAP en un producto de humedad a 10 km ha sido desarrollado y validado utilizando datos simulados y datos experimentales aerotransportados. Este trabajo se ha desarrollado en el marco de las actividades preparatorias de SMOS y SMAP, los dos primeros satélites dedicados a la monitorización de la variación temporal y espacial de la humedad de la Tierra. Los resultados presentados contribuyen a la obtención de estimaciones de humedad del suelo con la precisión y la resolución espacial necesarias para un mejor conocimiento del ciclo del agua y una mejor gestión de los recursos hídricos. / Soil moisture is a key state variable of the Earth's system; it is the main variable that links the Earth's water, energy and carbon cycles. Accurate observations of the Earth's changing soil moisture are needed to achieve sustainable land and water management, and to enhance weather and climate forecasting skill, flood prediction and drought monitoring. This Thesis focuses on measuring the Earth's surface soil moisture from space at global and regional scales. Theoretical and experimental studies have proven that L-band passive remote sensing is optimal for soil moisture sensing due to its all-weather capabilities and the direct relationship between soil emissivity and soil water content under most vegetation covers. However, achieving a temporal and spatial resolution that could satisfy land applications has been a challenge to passive microwave remote sensing in the last decades, since real aperture radiometers would need a large rotating antenna, which is difficult to implement on a spacecraft. Currently, there are three main approaches to solving this problem: (i) the use of an L-band synthetic aperture radiometer, which is the solution implemented in the ESA Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, launched in November 2009; (ii) the use of a large lightweight radiometer and a radar operating at L-band, which is the solution adopted by the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, scheduled for launch in 2014; (iii) the development of pixel disaggregation techniques that could enhance the spatial resolution of the radiometric observations. The first part of this work focuses on the analysis of the SMOS soil moisture inversion algorithm, which is crucial to retrieve accurate soil moisture estimations from SMOS measurements. Different retrieval configurations have been examined using simulated SMOS data, considering (i) the option of adding a priori information from parameters dominating the land emission at L-band —soil moisture, roughness, and temperature, vegetation albedo and opacity— with different associated uncertainties and (ii) the use of vertical and horizontal polarizations separately, or the first Stokes parameter. An optimal retrieval configuration for SMOS is suggested. The spatial resolution of SMOS and SMAP radiometers (~ 40-50 km) is adequate for global applications, but is a limiting factor to its application in regional studies, where a resolution of 1-10 km is needed. The second part of this Thesis contains three novel downscaling approaches for SMOS and SMAP: • A deconvolution scheme for the improvement of the spatial resolution of SMOS observations has been developed, and results of its application to simulated SMOS data and airborne field experimental data show that it is feasible to improve the product of the spatial resolution and the radiometric sensitivity of the observations by 49% over land pixels and by 30% over sea pixels. • A downscaling algorithm for improving the spatial resolution of SMOS-derived soil moisture estimates using higher resolution MODIS visible/infrared data is presented. Results of its application to some of the first SMOS images show the spatial variability of SMOS-derived soil moisture observations is effectively captured at the spatial resolutions of 32, 16, and 8 km. • A change detection approach for combining SMAP radar and radiometer observations into a 10 km soil moisture product has been developed and validated using SMAP-like observations and airborne field experimental data. This work has been developed within the preparatory activities of SMOS and SMAP, the two first-ever satellites dedicated to monitoring the temporal and spatial variation on the Earth's soil moisture. The results presented contribute to get the most out of these vital observations, that will further our understanding of the Earth's water cycle, and will lead to a better water resources management.

The mapping of sea ice is an important task for understanding global climate and for safe shipping. Currently, sea ice maps are created by human analysts with the help of remote sensing imagery, including synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. While the maps are generally correct, they can be somewhat subjective and do not have pixel-level resolution due to the time consuming nature of manual segmentation. Therefore, automated sea ice mapping algorithms such as the multivariate iterative region growing with semantics (MIRGS) sea ice image segmentation algorithm are needed. MIRGS was designed to work with one-channel single-polarization SAR imagery from the RADARSAT-1 satellite. The launch of RADARSAT-2 has made available two-channel dual-polarization SAR imagery for the purposes of sea ice mapping. Dual-polarization imagery provides more information for distinguishing ice types, and one of the channels is less sensitive to changes in the backscatter caused by the SAR incidence angle parameter. In the past, this change in backscatter due to the incidence angle was a key limitation that prevented automatic segmentation of full SAR scenes. This thesis investigates techniques to make use of the dual-polarization data in MIRGS. An evaluation of MIRGS with RADARSAT-2 data was performed and showed that some detail was lost and that the incidence angle caused errors in segmentation. Several data fusion schemes were investigated to determine if they can improve performance. Gradient generation methods designed to take advantage of dual-polarization data, feature space fusion using linear and non-linear transforms as well as image fusion methods based on wavelet combination rules were implemented and tested. Tuning of the MIRGS parameters was performed to find the best set of parameters for segmentation of dual-polarization data. Results show that the standard MIRGS algorithm with default parameters provides the highest accuracy, so no changes are necessary for dual-polarization data. A hierarchical segmentation scheme that segments the dual-polarization channels separately was implemented to overcome the incidence angle errors. The technique is effective but requires more user input than the standard MIRGS algorithm.

The motivation for this thesis work is the need for improving reliability of equipment and quality of service to railway passengers as well as a requirement for cost-effective and efficient condition maintenance management for rail transportation. This thesis work develops a fusion of various machine vision analysis methods to achieve high performance in automation of wooden rail track inspection.The condition monitoring in rail transport is done manually by a human operator where people rely on inference systems and assumptions to develop conclusions. The use of conditional monitoring allows maintenance to be scheduled, or other actions to be taken to avoid the consequences of failure, before the failure occurs. Manual or automated condition monitoring of materials in fields of public transportation like railway, aerial navigation, traffic safety, etc, where safety is of prior importance needs non-destructive testing (NDT).In general, wooden railway sleeper inspection is done manually by a human operator, by moving along the rail sleeper and gathering information by visual and sound analysis for examining the presence of cracks. Human inspectors working on lines visually inspect wooden rails to judge the quality of rail sleeper. In this project work the machine vision system is developed based on the manual visual analysis system, which uses digital cameras and image processing software to perform similar manual inspections. As the manual inspection requires much effort and is expected to be error prone sometimes and also appears difficult to discriminate even for a human operator by the frequent changes in inspected material. The machine vision system developed classifies the condition of material by examining individual pixels of images, processing them and attempting to develop conclusions with the assistance of knowledge bases and features.A pattern recognition approach is developed based on the methodological knowledge from manual procedure. The pattern recognition approach for this thesis work was developed and achieved by a non destructive testing method to identify the flaws in manually done condition monitoring of sleepers.In this method, a test vehicle is designed to capture sleeper images similar to visual inspection by human operator and the raw data for pattern recognition approach is provided from the captured images of the wooden sleepers. The data from the NDT method were further processed and appropriate features were extracted.The collection of data by the NDT method is to achieve high accuracy in reliable classification results. A key idea is to use the non supervised classifier based on the features extracted from the method to discriminate the condition of wooden sleepers in to either good or bad. Self organising map is used as classifier for the wooden sleeper classification.In order to achieve greater integration, the data collected by the machine vision system was made to interface with one another by a strategy called fusion. Data fusion was looked in at two different levels namely sensor-level fusion, feature- level fusion. As the goal was to reduce the accuracy of the human error on the rail sleeper classification as good or bad the results obtained by the feature-level fusion compared to that of the results of actual classification were satisfactory.

The mapping of sea ice is an important task for understanding global climate and for safe shipping. Currently, sea ice maps are created by human analysts with the help of remote sensing imagery, including synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. While the maps are generally correct, they can be somewhat subjective and do not have pixel-level resolution due to the time consuming nature of manual segmentation. Therefore, automated sea ice mapping algorithms such as the multivariate iterative region growing with semantics (MIRGS) sea ice image segmentation algorithm are needed. MIRGS was designed to work with one-channel single-polarization SAR imagery from the RADARSAT-1 satellite. The launch of RADARSAT-2 has made available two-channel dual-polarization SAR imagery for the purposes of sea ice mapping. Dual-polarization imagery provides more information for distinguishing ice types, and one of the channels is less sensitive to changes in the backscatter caused by the SAR incidence angle parameter. In the past, this change in backscatter due to the incidence angle was a key limitation that prevented automatic segmentation of full SAR scenes. This thesis investigates techniques to make use of the dual-polarization data in MIRGS. An evaluation of MIRGS with RADARSAT-2 data was performed and showed that some detail was lost and that the incidence angle caused errors in segmentation. Several data fusion schemes were investigated to determine if they can improve performance. Gradient generation methods designed to take advantage of dual-polarization data, feature space fusion using linear and non-linear transforms as well as image fusion methods based on wavelet combination rules were implemented and tested. Tuning of the MIRGS parameters was performed to find the best set of parameters for segmentation of dual-polarization data. Results show that the standard MIRGS algorithm with default parameters provides the highest accuracy, so no changes are necessary for dual-polarization data. A hierarchical segmentation scheme that segments the dual-polarization channels separately was implemented to overcome the incidence angle errors. The technique is effective but requires more user input than the standard MIRGS algorithm.

The probability hypothesis density (PHD), popularized by Ronald Mahler, presents a novel and theoretically-rigorous approach to multitarget, multisensor tracking. Based on random set theory, the PHD is the first moment of a point process of a random track set, and it can be propagated by Bayesian prediction and observation equations to form a multitarget, multisensor tracking filter. The advantage of the PHD filter lies in its ability to estimate automatically the expected number of targets present, to fuse easily different kinds of data observations, and to locate targets without performing any explicit report-to-track association. We apply a particle-filter implementation of the PHD filter to realistic multitarget, multisensor tracking using passive coherent location (PCL) systems that exploit illuminators of opportunity such as FM radio stations. The objective of this dissertation is to enhance the usefulness of the PHD particle filter for multitarget, multisensor tracking, in general, and within the context of PCL, in particular. This involves a number of thrusts, including: 1) devising intelligent proposal densities for particle placement, 2) devising a peak-extraction algorithm for extracting information from the PHD, 3) incorporating realistic probabilities of detection and signal-to-noise ratios (including multipath effects) to model realistic PCL scenarios, 4) using range, Doppler, and direction of arrival (DOA) observations to test the target detection and data fusion capabilities of the PHD filter, and 5) clarifying the concepts behind FISST and the PHD to make them more accessible to the practicing engineer. A goal of this dissertation is to serve as a tutorial for anyone interested in becoming familiar with the probability hypothesis density and associated PHD particle filter. It is hoped that, after reading this thesis, the reader will have gained a clearer understanding of the PHD and the functionality and effectiveness of the PHD particle filter.

In solving target tracking problems, the Kalman filter (KF) is a systematic estimation algorithm. Whether the state of a moving target adapts to the changes in the observations depends on the model assumptions. The interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm uses interaction of a bank of parallel KFs by updating associated model probabilities. Every parallel KF has its model probability adjusted by the dynamic system. For moving targets of different dynamic linear models, an IMM with two KFs generally performs well. In this thesis, in order to improve the performance of target tracking and state estimation, multi-sensor data fusion technique will be used. Same types of IMMs can be incorporated in the cooperative IMM-based algorithm. The IMM-based estimators exchange with each other the estimates, model robabilities and model transition probabilities. A distributed algorithm for multi-sensor tracking usually needs a fusion center that integrates decisions or estimates, but the proposed cooperative IMM-based algorithm does not use the architecture. Cooperative IMM estimator structures exchange weights and estimates on the platforms to avoid accumulation of errors. Performance of data fusion may degrade due to different kinds of undesirable environmental effects. The simulations show that an IMM estimator with smaller measurement noise level can be used to compensate the other IMM, which is affected by larger measurement noise. In addition, failure of a sensor will cause the problem that model probabilities can not be updated in the corresponding estimator. Kalman filters will not be able to perform state correction for the moving target. To tackle the problem, we can use the estimates from other IMM estimators by adjusting the corresponding weights and model probabilities. The simulations show that the proposed cooperative IMM structure effectively improve the tracking performance.

In this study, the performances of the optical sensors and instruments carried on both ground-based and airborne platforms were evaluated for monitoring crop growing status, detecting the vegetation response to aerial applied herbicides, and identifying crop nitrogen status. Geostatistical analysis on remotely sensed data was conducted to investigate spatial structure of crop canopy normalized difference vegetation index and multispectral imagery. A computerized crop monitoring system was developed that combined sensors and instruments that measured crop structure and spectral data with a global positioning system. The integrated crop monitoring system was able to collect real-time, multi-source, multi-form, and crop related data simultaneously as the tractor-mounted system moved through the field. This study firstly used remotely sensed data to evaluate glyphosate efficacy on weeds applied with conventional and emerging aerial spray nozzles. A weedy field was In this study, the performances of the optical sensors and instruments carried on both ground-based and airborne platforms were evaluated for monitoring crop growing status, detecting the vegetation response to aerial applied herbicides, and identifying crop nitrogen status. Geostatistical analysis on remotely sensed data was conducted to investigate spatial structure of crop canopy normalized difference vegetation index and multispectral imagery. A computerized crop monitoring system was developed that combined sensors and instruments that measured crop structure and spectral data with a global positioning system. The integrated crop monitoring system was able to collect real-time, multi-source, multi-form, and crop related data simultaneously as the tractor-mounted system moved through the field. This study firstly used remotely sensed data to evaluate glyphosate efficacy on weeds applied with conventional and emerging aerial spray nozzles. A weedy field was set up in three blocks and four aerial spray technology treatments were tested. Spectral reflectance measurements were taken using ground-based sensors from all the plots at 1, 8, and 17 days after treatment. The results indicated that the differences among the treatments could be detected with spectral data. This study could provide applicators with guidance equipment configurations that can result in herbicide savings and optimized applications in other crops. The main focus of this research was to apply sensor fusion technology to ground-based and airborne imagery data. Experimental plots cropped with cotton and soybean plants were set up with different nitrogen application rates. The multispectral imagery was acquired by an airborne imaging system over crop field; at the same period, leaf chlorophyll content and spectral reflectance measurements were gathered with chlorophyll meter and spectroradiometer at canopy level on the ground, respectively. Statistical analyses were applied on the data from individual sensor for discrimination with respect to the nitrogen treatment levels. Multisensor data fusion was performed at data level. The results showed that the data fusion of airborne imagery with ground-based data were capable of improving the performance of remote sensing data on detection of crop nitrogen status. The method may be extended to other types of data, and data fusion can be performed at feature or decision level.

Ultra Wideband (UWB) signal can offer an accurate location service in wireless sensor networks because its high range resolution. Target tracking by multiple sensors can provide better performance, but the centralized algorithms are not suitable for wireless sensor networks. In additional, the non line of sight (NLOS) propagation error leads to severe degradation of the accuracy in location systems. In this thesis, NLOS identification and mitigation technique utilizing modified biased Kalman filter (KF) is proposed to reduce the NLOS time of arrival (TOA) errors in UWB environments. We combine the modified biased Kalman filter with sliding window to identify and mitigate different degree of NLOS errors immediately. In order to deal with the influence of inaccurate NLOS angle of arrival (AOA) measurements, we also had a discussion on AOA selection and fusion methods. In the distributed location structure, we used the extended Information filter (EIF) to process the formulated time difference of arrival (TDOA) and AOA measurements for the target positioning and tracking. Instead of using extended Kalman filter, extended Information filter can assimilate selected AOA easily without dynamic dimensions. The sensors are divided into different groups for distributed TDOA/AOA location to reduce computation and then each group can assimilate information from other groups easily to maintain precise location. The simulation results show that the proposed architecture can mitigate NLOS errors effectively and improve the accuracy of target positioning and tracking from distributed location and data fusion in wireless sensor networks.

<p>This thesis investigates computer-based support tools to facilitate decision-making in civilian and military operations. As flexibility is essential when preparing for unknown threats to society, this support has to be general. Further motivations for flexible and general solutions include reduced costs for technical development and training, as well as faster and better informed decision-making.</p><p>We use the term <i>Effects-Based Management of Operations</i> to denote the accomplishment of desired effects beyond traditional military goals by the deployment of all types of available capabilities. Supporting this work, DISCCO (Decision Support for Command and Control) is a set of network-based services including <i>Command Support</i>, helping commanders in the human, collaborative and continuous process of evolving, evaluating, and executing solutions to their tasks, Decision Support, improving the human process by integrating automatic and semi-automatic generation and evaluation of plans, and a <i>Common</i> <i>Situation Model</i>, capturing the hierarchical structure of the situation regarding own, allied, neutral, and hostile resources.</p><p>The use of the DISCCO has been investigated in three different applications: planning for establishing surveillance of an operation area, planning for NBC defense, and executing a riot control operation. Together, these studies indicate that DISCCO is applicable in many different classes of Effects-Based Management of Operations. Hence, this generic concept will contribute to the work of both the civilian and military defense in dealing with a broad range of current and future threats to the society.</p>