Increased levels of science objectives expected from spacecraft systems necessitate the ability to carry out fast on-board autonomous mission planning and scheduling. Heterogeneous radiation-hardened Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) with embedded multiplier and memory modules are well suited to support the acceleration of scheduling algorithms. A methodology to design circuits specifically to accelerate Simulated Annealing Kernels (SAKs) in event scheduling algorithms is shown. The main contribution of this thesis is the low complexity scoring calculation used for the heuristic mapping algorithm used to balance resource allocation across a coarse-grained pipelined data-path. The methodology was exercised over various kernels with different cost functions and problem sizes. These test cases were benchedmarked for execution time, resource usage, power, and energy on a Xilinx Virtex 4 LX QR 200 FPGA and a BAE RAD 750 microprocessor.

Depuis quelques années, les polyoléfines et en particulier le Polyéthylène présentent un intérêt économique qui se traduit par un marché en croissance constante. Cependant, il est souvent nécessaire d’améliorer leurs propriétés d’usage notamment pour des problématiques liées à l’industrie automobile. Dans ce contexte, une amélioration des propriétés thermomécaniques et barrière aux vapeurs et liquides du Polyéthylène sur une gamme de température étendue constitue un nouveau challenge scientifique et environnemental. Dans cette étude, nous avons tout d’abord étudié l’impact de charges inorganiques et d’un recuit à 125°C sous air sur les propriétés thermomécaniques d’un HDPE. Le deuxième axe de recherche s’est concentré sur l’amélioration des propriétés barrière aux essences de ce polymère en favorisant les charges lamellaires pour leur haut facteur de forme induisant un effet de tortuosité élevé. L’impact de ce type de charges sur les phénomènes de sorption et d’extraction a été étudié dans le but de définir une formulation à base HDPE optimale pour limiter la perte physique d’oligomères et d’antioxydants. Le but de ces travaux étant de mieux comprendre les différents mécanismes mis en jeu, nous avons cherché à établir les relations Structure / Morphologie / Propriétés pour les deux axes d’étude développés / In the recent years, the use of polyolefin and especially Polyethylene are of economic interest resulting in a growing attention concerning the improvement of its properties of use, especially for automotive application. In this context, the reinforcement of its thermomechanical properties and the improvement of its barrier properties to different fuels over an extended temperature range constitute a major scientific and environmental challenge. In this study, we first decided to analyze the impact of silica particles and of an annealing at 125°C under air atmosphere on thermomechanical properties of a HDPE. The second area of research was focused on the improvement of its barrier properties to fuels by the addition of lamellar charges known for their high aspect ratio inducing a tortuosity effect. The impact of these particles on sorption and extraction phenomena was also studied to determine an optimal HDPE-based formulation in order to limit the physical loss of oligomers and antioxidants. The guideline of this project was the determination of Structure / Morphology / Properties relationships to have a better understanding of the involved mechanisms

The simulation program GTperform is used to estimate the machine settings from performance measurements for the gas turbine model STG-800 at Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery in Finspång, Sweden. By evaluating different settings within the program, the engineers try to estimate the one that generatesthe performance measurement. This procedure is done manually at Siemens and is very time-consuming. This project aims to establish an algorithm that automatically establishes the correct machine setting from the performance measurements. Two algorithms were implemented in Python: Simulated Annealing and Gradient Descent. The algorithms analyzed two possible objective functions, and objective were tested on three gas turbines located at different locations. The first estimated the machine setting that generated the best fit to the performance measurements, while the second established the most likely solution for the machine setting from probability distributions. Multiple simulations have been run for the two algorithms and objective functions to evaluate the performances. Both algorithms successfully established satisfactory results for the second objective function. The Simulated Annealing, in particular, established solutions with a lower spread compared to Gradient Descent. The algorithms give a possibility to automatically establish the machine settings for the simulation program, reducing the work for the engineers.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第18286号 / 工博第3878号 / 新制||工||1595(附属図書館) / 31144 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科電子工学専攻 / (主査)教授 木本 恒暢, 教授 白石 誠司, 准教授 浅野 卓 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第18587号 / 工博第3948号 / 新制||工||1607(附属図書館) / 31487 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科機械理工学専攻 / (主査)教授 北條 正樹, 教授 北村 隆行, 教授 琵琶 志朗 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(エネルギー科学) / 甲第18698号 / エネ博第310号 / 新制||エネ||63(附属図書館) / 31631 / 京都大学大学院エネルギー科学研究科エネルギー社会・環境科学専攻 / (主査)教授 石原 慶一, 教授 佐川 尚, 准教授 奥村 英之 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Energy Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第19184号 / 工博第4061号 / 新制||工||1626(附属図書館) / 32176 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科マイクロエンジニアリング専攻 / (主査)教授 田畑 修, 教授 琵琶 志朗, 准教授 土屋 智由, 教授 松原 厚 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

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A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg 2016 / Quantifying risk in the absence of hard data presents a significant challenge. Onshore mining of the diamondiferous linear beach deposit along the south western coast of Namibia has been ongoing for more than 80 years. A historical delineated campaign from the 1930s to 1960s used coast perpendicular trenches spaced 500 m apart, comprising a total of 26 000 individual samples, to identify 6 onshore raised beaches. These linear beaches extend offshore and are successfully mined in water depths deeper than 30 m. There is, however, a roughly 4 km wide submerged coast parallel strip adjacent to the mostly mined out onshore beaches for which no real hard data is available at present. The submerged beaches within the 4 km coast parallel strip hold great potential for being highly diamondiferous. To date hard data is not yet available to quantify or validate this potential. The question is how to obtain sufficient hard data within the techno economic constraints to enable a resource with an acceptable level of confidence to be developed. The work presented in this thesis illustrates how virtual orebodies (VOBs) are created based on geological proxies in order to have a basis to assess and rank different sampling and drilling strategies. Overview of 4 papers Paper I demonstrates the challenge of obtaining a realistic variogram that can be used in variogram-based geostatistical simulations. Simulated annealing is used to unfold the coastline and improve the detectable variography for a number of the beaches. Paper II shows how expert opinion interpretation is used to supplement sparse data that is utilised to create an indicator simulation to study the presence and absence of diamondiferous gravel. When only the sparse data is used the resultant simulation is unsuitable as a VOB upon which drilling strategies can be assessed. Paper III outlines how expert opinion hand sketches are used to create a VOB. The composite probability map based on geological proxies is adjusted using a grade profile based on adjacent onshore data before it is seeded with stones and used as a VOB for strategy testing. Paper IV illustrates how the Nachman model based on a Negative Binomial Distribution (NBD) is used to predict a minimum background grade by considering only the zero proportions (Zp) of the grade data. v Conclusions and future work In the realm of creating spatial simulations that can serve as VOBs it is very difficult to attempt to quantify uncertainty when no hard data is available. In the absence of hard data, geological proxies and expert opinion are the only inputs that can be used to create VOBs. Subsequently these VOBs are used as a base to be analysed in order to evaluate and rank different sampling and drilling strategies based on techno economic constraints. VOBs must be updated and reviewed as hard data becomes available after which sampling strategies should be reassessed. During early stage exploration projects the Zp of sample results can be used to predict a minimum background grade and rank different targets for further sampling and valuation. The research highlights the possibility that multi point statistics (MPS) can be used. Higher order MPS should be further investigated as an additional method for creating VOBs upon which sampling strategies can be assessed. / MT2017