M.Phil. / Remote monitoring is a process, which involves the gathering of information remotely from a customer's site, a production process or the location of a transport vehicle to reduce the operating costs and improve operational efficiency. In this research document, an investigation into the various remote monitoring options available in the market as well as the viability of using remote monitoring systems in the gases distribution industry will be done.

Climate change has given rise to higher demand of renewable energy. Conventional non-organic solar cells are still seen the most on the market but the last 10-20 years there has been an exponential increase in research about organic solar cells. The research demands measurements done on increasing fast time scales as insights about the topic and technology develops. Here is presented configurations done at the Isaak spectrometer at Freie Universit\"{a}t Berlin. The spectrometer is used for studying charge transport in organic solar cells as well as hybrid solar cells made from organic and inorganic semiconductors. One important feature for the time response is the Q factor property of the resonator in which the sample is placed. The Q factor describes the rate of energy loss relative to the stored energy of the resonator. The Q factor dependency over different temperature was studied in order to gain vital knowledge about the time response of the setup. Further new equipment was been installed at the setup and programmed in FSC2. This in order to increase the sensitivity of the optical setup, secure the personnel from possible dangerous excitation laser and in order to do more automated measurements. As the optical path was modified by installing a new optical fiber a new calibration had to be done. Finally, in order to try the functionality of the new equipment an automated energy dependency measurement was done on the polymer MEH-PPV and the polymer:fullerene blend MEH-PPV:PCBM. The automatic process of measuring was successful.

Virtualisering är något som växer fram mer och mer. Genom fördelar såsom användning av den fysiska hårdvarans fulla kapacitet och lägre energiutnyttjande är det en bra investering att flytta fysiska servrar till virtuella sådana. Automatiserade processer som exempelvis administration av virtualiseringsplattformar kan bidra till mindre arbetsbörda och mer utfört arbete. Det är då viktigt att administrationen går snabbt för att spara så mycket tid som möjligt och kunna utföra så många operationer som möjligt. I arbetet jämförs två stora aktörer på virtualiseringsmarknaden, VMware ESXi samt Citrix XenServer. Dessa två virtualiseringsplattformar jämförs sedan prestanda i administrativa operationer. Jämförelser skedde med skript skrivna i programmeringsspråket Perl mot API:er och dessa utförde sedan de operationer som testades. Genom tester mot virtualiseringsplattformarnas API:er med hjälp av skript visar resultaten att VMware ESXi har bättre prestanda i asynkrona anrop och Citrix XenServer har bättre prestanda i informationsinhämntningsoperationer.

The NASA Space Network (SN), which consists of the geosynchronous Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation and its associated ground elements, is a critical national space asset that provides near-continuous, high-bandwidth telemetry, command, and communications services for numerous spacecraft and launch vehicles. The Space Network includes several key ground system elements, one of which is the White Sands Complex Data Interface Service Capability (WDISC). The WDISC has undergone multiple cycles of modification and technology refresh over its lifetime, making test automation an attractive option for reducing system verification and validation cost. This paper considers the implementation of automated testing for the WDISC as a case study in technology sustainment, discusses the principal benefits and challenges of implementing test automation for a legacy system, and presents findings that demonstrate the effectiveness of such automation models.

This thesis describes the process of finding control loop parameters for a quadrocopter using machine learning techniques and a hardware in the loop evaluation method. A quadrocopter is an Unattended Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with four rotors that can be controlled individually to steer the vehicle. The purpose of the control loop is to keep the roll, pitch and yaw-angles of the quadrocopter to a predefined value by regulating the thrust of each rotor. A quadrocopter is designed and manufactured and a control algorithm is implemented on the built in controller board. An Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) is implemented on a Personal Computer (PC) and an automated search for control parameters using hardware in the loop with the quadrocopter as evaluation model is performed. The results show that a quadrocopter can be used together with hardware in the loop to improve the control algorithm parameters.

Internet of Things, has started to mark its existence from past few years. Right from its inception with a coke machine at Carnegie Mellon University, it has come a long way, connecting billions of devices to internet. This journey is well supported by the advancements in networking, hardware miniaturization and sensing capabilities. Diverse nature of applications of Internet of Things, has cut the communication barriers between the varieties of fields ranging from manufacturing industry to health-care industry. Smart Home is one such application of Internet of Things. Connectivity of home appliances, to achieve automation in living, defines Smart Home. Out of welter of applications that are derived from Internet of Things, this thesis concentrates on Smart Home. Smart Home, in practical is expected to conserve lot of energy, by achieving automation of home appliances, on par with best living experience. Existing technologies such as Z-wave, One-Net, ZigBee, Insteon, had already occupied the Smart Home communication. However, these technologies face the problem of identifying the smart devices uniquely and also exhibit security vulnerabilities. Proposed scheme exploits accelerometer fingerprinting to identify the smart devices uniquely. Security vulnerabilities of existing protocols are addressed by encrypting the data on move with CCM mode of AES encryption.

Det här examensarbetet i maskinteknik har genomförts på Mondi Örebro AB och omfattar 15 högskolepoäng på C- nivå. Företagets verksamhet är plastbeläggning av förpackningspapper som levereras till kunden i form av pappersrullar, vilka till viss del packas på lastpallar och läkter. Med uttrycket pallpackning avses även läktpackning. Arbetet med packningen utförs med flertalet manuella arbetsmoment samtidigt som trucktrafik förekommer på platsen. Detta medför både en oergonomisk och riskfylld arbetsmiljö för personalen. Pallpackningsprocessen har även gradvis blivit en flaskhals i produktionen då andelen rullar som ska pallpackas har ökat de senaste åren, och kommer att öka ytterligare i framtiden. Med anledning av detta har ledningen för Mondi Örebro AB beslutat att vidta förbättringsåtgärder av pallpackningsprocessen i flera avseenden. Främst ska personalens situation förändras med förbättring av ergonomi och säkerhet samt minskning av stress. Andra viktiga punkten är en kapacitetsökning som är nödvändig för att klara av att hantera den kommande volymökningen av rullar som ska pallpackas. Examensarbetets syfte är att inleda ett utvecklingsprojekt av pallpackningsprocessen för de vanligaste rulltyperna som pallpackas liggande. Arbetet inleddes med en förstudie och val av teoretisk grund. Sedan genomfördes en undersökning över hur andra företag inom pappersbranschen hanterade pappersrullar. Två företag verksamma inom rörtillverkning tillfrågades också hur de hanterade rören då de hanteringsmässigt kan anses likna pappersrullar. Idégenereringen resulterade i ett antal dellösningar och metoder som utgör en slags moduler vilka kan byggas samman till en hel pallpackningsstation. Tre olika förslag på hur en sådan produktionslina skulle kunna vara uppbyggd och vilka möjligheter den medför har utarbetats och presenteras i rapporten. Resultatet av examensarbetet är ett material att utveckla vidare med fördjupande arbete och detaljkonstruktion av de olika dellösningarna. Det här examensarbetet bygger i stor utsträckning på personlig kommunikation och en referenslista för berörda personer presenteras i bilaga 3, där varje person tilldelats en referensbeteckning som särskiljer sig från de litterära referenserna in om hakparentes. I de fall en personreferens förekommer i slutet av ett helt stycke avses vanligen referens till hela stycket. Detta gäller även referenser till litterära källor. En personreferens är utformad enligt följande exempel: (P1) där P står för person och 1 för första personen i listan, (P2) för andra personen o.s.v. / This thesis in mechanical engineering has been performed on Mondi Örebro AB and comprises 15 university credits at the C-level. The company's activity is the plastic coating of packaging paper that is delivered to the customer in the form of paper rolls, which to some extent are packed on pallets and laths. The term pallet packaging also refers to lath packaging. Work with the packaging is performed with several manual methods while forklift are driven in the working area. This results in both a non-ergonomic and dangerous working environment for staff. The process of pallet packaging has also gradually become a bottleneck in production when the part of rolls that shall be packaged on pallets has increased in recent years, and will increase further in the future. For this reason, the leadership of the Mondi Örebro AB decided to take improvement measures by the process of pallet packaging in several respects. Mainly it is to improve the staff situation with improved ergonomics and safety, and reduction of stress. The other important point is a capacity increase that is necessary to be able to handle the coming increase of the paper rolls that shall be packaged on pallets. The thesis aims to launch the development project of the pallet packaging process for the most common types of paper rolls that are pallet packaged horizontal. The work began with a feasibility study and choice of theoretical basis. Then conducted an investigation over how other companies in the paper industry managed paper rolls. Two companies active in the pipe manufacture was also asked how they managed the pipes when the management point can be considered similar to paper rolls. The concept generation resulted in a number of partial solutions that constitute a kind of modules which can be combined to form a whole pallet packaging station. Three different proposals on how such a production line could be constructed and what opportunities it presents have been prepared and are presented in the report. The result of the thesis is a material to develop further with in-depth work and detail construction of the partial solutions. Further variants of the pallet packaging stations can of course be combined. This thesis is largely based on personal communication and a reference list of the persons concerned are as presented in appendix 3 where each person assigned to a reference name that distinguishes itself from the literary references in if brackets. In cases where a person reference occurs at the end of a whole paragraph refers normally reference to the entire paragraph. This also applies to references to literary sources

Denna förstudie behandlar robotisering av en process som monterar två stiftade tåtar i en plastkontakt, detta bildar ett kablage. Idag monteras tåten till plastkontakten manuellt. Förstudien undersökte om robotisering är tekniskt möjlig och ekonomiskt försvarbar. Robotiseringen sker genom att en robot fattar tag i en stiftad tåt i stiftmaskinen med ett gripdon, sedan förs den stiftade tåten in i en plastkontakt med hjälp av roboten. Stiftmaskinen är en Schleuniger 67 cc. Simuleringar av två koncept genomfördes med en mock-up av maskinen och ligger som underlag för de uppskattade cykeltiderna för den robotiserade processen. Två laborationer genomfördes för att undersöka svårigheterna vid robotiseringen av processen och om det är tekniskt möjligt. Första laborationen bestod av att utforma ett gripdon som kunde hantera produkterna utan att skada dem. Andra laborationen gav underlag för ett uppskattat kvalitetsbyte för processen.  Första laborationen bestod av hur det konstruerade gripdonet skulle kunde fatta tag i den stiftade tåten utan att skada tåten eller ändra dess position eller orientering. Genomförandet av laborationen var i enlighet med ``try and fail`` metoden. Laborationen gav riktlinjer avseende på konstruktionen av gripdonet och vilket arbetstryck som är lämpligt för operationen. För högt arbetstryck resulterade i att gripdonet skadade tåten, för lågt arbetstryck resulterade i att friktionskraften mellan tåten och gripdonet blev för låg för att stiftet skulle föras in i kontakten. Andra laborationen bestod av att utröna ett approximativt värde av den robotiserade processens kvalitetsutbyte. I denna laboration utfördes 65 stycken försök till att bilda ett kablage med roboten och antalet godkända noterades. Resultatet från laborationen med de berörda produkterna som används idag vid montering av ett kablage gav kvalitetsutbytet 51%. Företaget som skall eventuellt investera har krav på att kvalitetsutbytet är 95% för att robotisering av processen skall genomföras. En omfattande analys av resultatet från denna laboration ger indikationer på att kravet kan uppnås med vidare produktutveckling av berörda produkter och gripdon.   En ekonomisk analys i form av en pay-off kalkyl ligger som underlag för att bedöma om robotiseringen är ekonomiskt försvarbar, och gav ett approximativt värde för hur mycket förädling av produkten som den robotiserade processen skall ta över från den manuella monteringen. Den förädling som görs av den robotiserade processen kallas i denna förstudie för automatiseringsgrad. Analys av pay-off kalkylen, produkterna samt resultat från laborationerna, anser författaren att robotisering av processen är teknisk möjligt och ekonomiskt försvarbart med de approximativa värdena för automatiseringsgrad på 22 % av den manuella monteringen och med 95% kvalitetsutbyte. / This pilot study investigated the robotization of a process that connects two pined conductors to a plastic contact and thereby forming a cabling. The pilot study examined if the process is technically possible and economically feasible to robotize. Today the pined conductors are attached to the cabling manually. Introduction of robotization is done so that a robot seizes one pined conductor at a time in the pin machine (Schleuniger 67) with a gripper and inserts same into the plastic contact. To determine if the process is technical possible to robotize two experiments were conducted with a gripper that was designed for this purpose. The purpose of the first was to investigate how the gripper could engage the pined conductor without damaging same or change its position or orientation. The experiment was carried out as a “try and fail” type. The experiment resulted in guidelines regarding the design of the gripper and which working pressure was recommendable for the process. A too high pressure could damage the pined conductor and a too low would cause the friction force between the conductor and the gripper to be too low to insert the pined conductor into the plastic contact. The goal of second experiment was to find an approximate value for the quality yield of the process (that is the number of approved cablings in %). In this experiment 65 attempts to form a cabling was performed and the number of approved cablings was checked and documented. The result from the experiment – using the present conductors and plastic components – was a quality approval rate of 51%. The company requires that the quality yield is higher than 95% in order to robotize the process. A thorough analysis of the result of the experiment and discussion with company representatives indicates that the required quality yield can be reached with some further development of the involved components and the gripper making the designs more “automation friendly”. A financial analysis was made using a pay-back calculation in order to determine when and if robotization is financially justified and resulted in an approximate value regarding how much of the value –added in the operation that is to be automated. This value-added that will be performed by the robot is defined as the degree of automation. The conclusion is that robotization (automation) is technically feasible with a degree of automation of 22% and a quality yield of 95%. This is based upon: the pay-back analysis, the present design of the used components and the result from the experiments.

[pt] O trabalho consiste em projetar e construir um sistema automatizado de usinagem (fresamento de topo) destinado à fabricação de modelos fotoesláticos planos em geometrias complexas. Objetivo é munir o Laboratório de Fotomecânica da PUC/RJ de um sistema automatizado e totalmente controlado por um computador IBM-PC, que permita realizar experimentos na área de Análise Experimental de tensões em geometrias de difícil usinagem manual. Como avaliação do desempenho do sistema construído, foram usinados furos elípticos em barras retangulares de material fotoelástico, e medidos os fatores de concentração de tensões para carregamento uniaxial trativo cuja solução analítica é conhecida. Finalmente foi feito uma análise dos erros introduzidos pelo sistema de posicionamento automático e foram propostas alterações no sentido de melhoria de qualidade de usinagem. / [en] This work consists in designing and constructing na automatic machining system (milling operation) directed to the manufacture of planar photoelastic models with complex geometries. The purpose is to provide the Photomechanic Laboratory of PUC-RIO with an automatic system completely controlled by an IBM personal computer so that experiments on Experimental Stress Analisys with dificult hand-made geometries can be performed. As a means of evaluating the systems perfomance, eleiptical holes were machined in retangular bars made of photoelastic material, and the corresponding stress concentration factors were measuredm, whose analitical solution is well known, for the case of uniaxil tensile loading. Finally, an errior analysis of the imprecisions introduced by the automatic positioning system was carried out, and modifications in order to improve machine quality were proposed.

Interest in the automation of titration arise from the fact that many acid-base titrations in the process industries rely on manual titration which is time consuming. Miniaturization of these titration processes becomes attractive because of the reduced reagent consumption. These industries must produce higher quality products economically and in a friendly environment. Due to its ease of automation, ability to handle concentrated solutions and simplicity, the application of sequential injection titration is an ideal tool in process effluent streams, food industries, beverage industries and production plants. The sequential injection titration system was optimised with respect to all instrumental parameters of the system and applied for acid-base titrations. The results obtained showed high reliability and reproducibility. The system is fully computerised, inexpensive and suitable for on-line monitoring. / Dissertation (MSc (Chemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Chemistry / unrestricted