A new control law is being developed and implemented for the Vision Based Target Tracking (VBTT) system onboard a small unmanned aerial vehicle (SUAV). The new control law allows for coordinated SUAV guidance and vision-based target tracking of stationary and moving targets in the presence of atmospheric disturbances and measurements noise. The new control law is tested for its performance and stability in both the theoretical 6DOF simulation and the Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation. Principal results show that realistic measures of performance of the control law are continuous and exhibit predictable degradation of performance with increase of target speed. The results are encouraging and comparable among theoretical predictions, actual hardware simulation results, and initial flight testing. The control law development, implementation, and trial processes and procedures are also examined and categorically documented in this thesis as future reference on the subject development, as well as for better knowledge retention, continuation and proliferation of the VBTT system.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-85). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Near-fall detection is important for medical research since it can help doctors diagnose fall-related diseases and also help alert both doctors and patients of possible falls. However, in people’s daily life, there are lots of similarities between near-falls and other Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), which makes near-falls particularly difficult to detect. In order to find the subtle difference between ADLs and near-fall and accurately identify the latter, the movement of whole human body needs to be captured and displayed by a computer generated avatar. In this thesis, a wireless inertial motion capture system consisting of a central control host and ten sensor nodes is used to capture human body movements. Each of the ten sensor nodes in the system has a tri-axis accelerometer and a tri-axis gyroscope. They are attached to separate locations of a human body to record both angular and acceleration data with which body movements can be captured by applying Euler angle based algorithms, specifically, single rotation order algorithm and the optimal rotation order algorithm. According to the experiment results of capturing ten ADLs, both the single rotation order algorithm and the optimal rotation order algorithm can track normal human body movements without significantly distortion and the latter shows higher accuracy and lower data shifting. Compared to previous inertial systems with magnetometers, this system reduces hardware complexity and software computation while ensures a reasonable accuracy in capturing human body movements.

A numerical procedure has been developed for the computation of inviscid flows over arbitrary, complex two-dimensional geometries. The Euler equations are solved using a finite-volume method with a non-body-fitted Cartesian grid. A new numerical formulation for complicated body geometries is developed in conjunction with implicit flux-splitting schemes. A variety of numerical computations have been performed to validate the numerical methodologies developed. Computations for supersonic flow over a flat plate with an impinging shock wave are used to verify the numerical algorithm, without geometric considerations. The supersonic flow over a blunt body is utilized to show the accuracy of the non-body-fitted Cartesian grid, along with the shock resolution of flux-vector splitting scheme. Geometric complexities are illustrated with the flow through a two-dimensional supersonic inlet with and without an open bleed door. The ability of the method to deal with subsonic and transonic flows is illustrated by computations over a non-lifting NACA 0012 airfoil. The method is shown to be accurate, efficient and robust and should prove to be particularly useful in a preliminary design mode, where flows past a wide variety of complex geometries can be computed without complicated grid generation procedures. / Ph. D.

Orientador: Sergio Augusto Cunha / Banca: Lilian Teresa Bucken Gobbi / Banca: René Brenzikofer / Resumo: O futsal tem sido estudado sob o enfoque de diversos temas e olhares. Neste trabalho o futsal foi analisado através da perspectiva da Biomecânica. O objetivo do estudo foi descrever o chute executado com o membro dominante e com o membro não dominante realizado com a bola parada e em deslocamento no futsal. Participaram dez jogadores da equipe de futsal adulta da UNESP Campus Rio Claro, os quais realizaram dez chutes com a bola em deslocamento e dez chutes com a bola parada, sendo cinco chutes com cada membro para cada situação. Os chutes foram realizados com o dorso do pé, procurando empregar velocidade máxima a bola e objetivando acertá-la em um alvo de 1m2 colocado no centro do gol. Os movimentos foram filmados por sete câmeras posicionadas de modo que enfocassem os marcadores passivos colocados em ambos os membros inferiores dos participantes. As imagens destes chutes foram transferidas para o computador e trabalhadas no software DVIDEOW, sendo realizado os processos de desentrelaçamento, sincronização, medição e reconstrução 3D. Após isso, ocorreu a suavização das através função LOESS e através do método de Euler foram calculados os ângulos de rotação das articulações. Para isso, foi definida uma base ortonormal associada a cada segmento corporal através dos versores i, j e k. A velocidade angular foi calculada através da derivada dos ângulos em função do tempo para cada articulação. Para o desempenho foram avaliados os acertos e erros do alvo. Para a velocidade da bola e velocidade do pé do membro de chute foi realizada, em função do tempo, uma regressão linear de primeiro grau para os eixos X e Y e uma regressão linear do segundo grau para o eixo Z, sendo a xiii velocidade média da bola e do pé calculada a partir da distância percorrida dividida pelo tempo de percurso...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The futsal has been studied under the focus of several themes. This work analyzed the futsal in the Biomechanics perspective. The aim of this study was to describe the kick with the dominant and non-dominant limb performed with the stationary and in displacement ball in futsal. Ten players participated of the UNESP - Campus Rio Claro futsal adult team. They performed ten kicks with the ball in displacement and ten kicks with the stationary ball (five kicks with each limb for each situation). The kicks performed were the maximal instep kicks and should hit a 1 x 1 m target positioned in the goal centre. The movements were recorded by six cameras with focus in the passive markers placed in the participants inferior limbs. The kicking images were transferred to the computer and worked in the DVIDEOW software. The extracted files of this software were smoothed through the LOESS function and joints rotation angles were calculated by the Euler method. For that, it was defined the ortonormal base associated to each corporal segment through i, j and k versores. The angular speed was calculated through angles derived for the time and for each joint. The kicks performance was analyzed through the observation of the success or failure of hitting in the target. For the ball and kick limb foot speed were carried through, in function of the time, a linear regression of first degree for X and Y axles and a linear regression of second degree for Z axle. Then, the average ball and foot speed was calculated from the covered distance divided for the time for the data parameterized in each kick. The results for the angular kinematic standard and angular speed showed significant differences among dominant and not dominant kick and support limb. For the kick type small differences was 126 detected mainly at the moment of contact with the ball...(Complete abstract click eletronic access below) / Mestre

<p>an Internal Navigational System and a Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS). In navigational warfare the GNSS can be jammed, therefore are a third navigational system is needed. The system that has been tried in this thesis is camera based navigation. Through a video camera and a sensor reference the position is determined. This thesis will process the matching between the sensor reference and the video image.</p><p>Two methods have been implemented: normalized cross correlation and position determination through a homography. Normalized cross correlation creates a correlation matrix. The other method uses point correspondences between the images to determine a homography between the images. And through the homography obtain a position. The more point correspondences the better the position determination will be.</p><p>The results have been quite good. The methods have got the right position when the Euler angles of the UAV have been known. Normalized cross correlation has been the best method of the tested methods.</p>

Environmental, aesthetic and political pressures continue to push for siting off-shore wind turbines beyond sight of land, where waters tend to be deeper, and use of floating structures is likely to be considered. Savings could potentially be realized by reducing hull size, which would allow more compliance with the wind thrust force in the pitch direction. On the other hand, these structures with large-amplitude motions will make dynamic analysis both more challenging and more critical. Prior to the present work, there were no existing dynamic simulation tools specifically intended for compliant wind turbine design. Development and application of a new computational method underlying a new time-domain simulation tool is presented in this dissertation. The compliant floating wind turbine system is considered as a multibody system including tower, nacelle, rotor and other moving parts. Euler's equations of motion are first applied to the compliant design to investigate the large-amplitude motions. Then, a new formulation of multibody dynamics is developed through application of the conservation of both linear momentum and angular momentum to the entire system directly. A base body is prescribed within the compliant wind turbine system, and the equations of motion (EOMs) of the system are projected into the coordinate system associated with this body. Only six basic EOMs of the system are required to capture 6 unknown degrees of freedom (DOFs) of the base body when mechanical DOFs between contiguous bodies are prescribed. The 6 x 6 mass matrix is actually composed of two decoupled 3 x 3 mass matrices for translation and rotation, respectively. Each element within the matrix includes the inertial effects of all bodies. This condensation decreases the coupling between elements in the mass matrix, and so minimizes the computational demand. The simulation results are verified by critical comparison with those of the popular wind turbine dynamics software FAST. The new formulation is generalized to form the momentum cloud method (M- CM), which is particularly well suited to the serial mechanical N-body systems connected by revolute joints with prescribed relative rotation. The MCM is then expanded to multibody systems with more complicated joints and connection types.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-05-09Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:49:11Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 barbieri_fa_me_rcla.pdf: 2262727 bytes, checksum: 09a4c61c625a0d2da558ac1e8cb96947 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O futsal tem sido estudado sob o enfoque de diversos temas e olhares. Neste trabalho o futsal foi analisado através da perspectiva da Biomecânica. O objetivo do estudo foi descrever o chute executado com o membro dominante e com o membro não dominante realizado com a bola parada e em deslocamento no futsal. Participaram dez jogadores da equipe de futsal adulta da UNESP Campus Rio Claro, os quais realizaram dez chutes com a bola em deslocamento e dez chutes com a bola parada, sendo cinco chutes com cada membro para cada situação. Os chutes foram realizados com o dorso do pé, procurando empregar velocidade máxima a bola e objetivando acertá-la em um alvo de 1m2 colocado no centro do gol. Os movimentos foram filmados por sete câmeras posicionadas de modo que enfocassem os marcadores passivos colocados em ambos os membros inferiores dos participantes. As imagens destes chutes foram transferidas para o computador e trabalhadas no software DVIDEOW, sendo realizado os processos de desentrelaçamento, sincronização, medição e reconstrução 3D. Após isso, ocorreu a suavização das através função LOESS e através do método de Euler foram calculados os ângulos de rotação das articulações. Para isso, foi definida uma base ortonormal associada a cada segmento corporal através dos versores i, j e k. A velocidade angular foi calculada através da derivada dos ângulos em função do tempo para cada articulação. Para o desempenho foram avaliados os acertos e erros do alvo. Para a velocidade da bola e velocidade do pé do membro de chute foi realizada, em função do tempo, uma regressão linear de primeiro grau para os eixos X e Y e uma regressão linear do segundo grau para o eixo Z, sendo a xiii velocidade média da bola e do pé calculada a partir da distância percorrida dividida pelo tempo de percurso... / The futsal has been studied under the focus of several themes. This work analyzed the futsal in the Biomechanics perspective. The aim of this study was to describe the kick with the dominant and non-dominant limb performed with the stationary and in displacement ball in futsal. Ten players participated of the UNESP - Campus Rio Claro futsal adult team. They performed ten kicks with the ball in displacement and ten kicks with the stationary ball (five kicks with each limb for each situation). The kicks performed were the maximal instep kicks and should hit a 1 x 1 m target positioned in the goal centre. The movements were recorded by six cameras with focus in the passive markers placed in the participants inferior limbs. The kicking images were transferred to the computer and worked in the DVIDEOW software. The extracted files of this software were smoothed through the LOESS function and joints rotation angles were calculated by the Euler method. For that, it was defined the ortonormal base associated to each corporal segment through i, j and k versores. The angular speed was calculated through angles derived for the time and for each joint. The kicks performance was analyzed through the observation of the success or failure of hitting in the target. For the ball and kick limb foot speed were carried through, in function of the time, a linear regression of first degree for X and Y axles and a linear regression of second degree for Z axle. Then, the average ball and foot speed was calculated from the covered distance divided for the time for the data parameterized in each kick. The results for the angular kinematic standard and angular speed showed significant differences among dominant and not dominant kick and support limb. For the kick type small differences was 126 detected mainly at the moment of contact with the ball...(Complete abstract click eletronic access below)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-11-09Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:49:52Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 limajunior_rs_me_rcla.pdf: 1681647 bytes, checksum: e5724b752b17214a18d35dc5a4d3e0ed (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / As situações de cobranças de pênalti no futebol vêm se tornando um fator decisivo no resultado de muitos jogos e competições. Considerando que o número de cobranças de pênalti desperdiçadas em jogos oficiais seja de 25 a 33% das cobranças de pênalti realizadas e o aumento do número de cobranças de pênalti em jogos oficiais, torna-se evidente a necessidade de novas investigações que possam melhorar o aproveitamento do cobrador, com chutes mais precisos e eficientes sendo convertidos em gol. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar, em cobranças de pênalti, os ângulos da articulação do tornozelo do membro de suporte, durante o posicionamento do pé de apoio, a distância entre o pé de apoio e a bola, a velocidade de saída da bola com chutes convertidos em gol ou desperdiçados. Para o cálculo dos ângulos utilizaramse os ângulos de Euler. Foi utilizado um sistema de bases locais para perna e pé do membro de suporte, construídas a partir da fixação de marcadores passivos em seis proeminências ósseas de interesse. O estudo contou com dez jogadores e um goleiro, todos integrantes da equipe de futebol de campo da categoria adulta da Universidade Estadual Paulista – Campus Rio Claro. Cada um dos jogadores realizou uma série de dez cobranças de pênalti. Entretanto, para análise das variáveis de interesse foram utilizadas apenas sete cobranças de cada participante em função da oclusão de marcadores. O evento analisado consistiu no posicionamento do pé de apoio do membro de suporte, dado pelo toque do calcanhar até o último contato do mesmo com o solo, durante as cobranças pênalti. As imagens foram registradas por quatro câmeras digitais para visualização dos marcadores passivos na perna e no pé dos participantes. Uma quinta câmera foi posicionada fora da grande área do goleiro com a finalidade de visualizar o gol para identificação de cobranças convertidas em gol ou desperdiçadas... / The soccer penalty kick has become a decisive factor in the result of many games and competitions. Considering that the number of penalty kicks wasted in official games is from 25 to 33% of the accomplished penalty kicks and the increase of the number of penalty kicks in official games, becomes evident the need of new investigations that can improve the kickers performance, with more necessary and efficient kicks being converted in goal. Therefore, the aim of this work was to identify, in penalty kicks, the joint angles of the ankle of the support member, during the positioning of the support foot, the distance between the support foot and the ball, the speed of exit of the ball with kicks converted in goal or wasted. The angles were calculated by the Euler angles. It was used a local bases system for the leg and foot of the support member, built starting from the fixation of passive markers in six bone prominences of interest. The study was composed by ten soccer players and one goalkeeper, all members of the adult soccer team of São Paulo State University – Rio Claro Campus. Each one of the players accomplished a series of ten penalty kicks. However, for analysis of the variables of interest only seven kicks of each participant were used in function of the occlusion of markers. The analyzed event consisted of the positioning of the support foot of the support member, given by the touch of the heel to the last contact to the ground, during the penalties kicks. The images were filmed by four digital cameras focusing the passive markers placed on the leg and foot of the participants. A fifty camera was placed out of goalkeeper’s great area with the purpose of focus from goal area, the identification of the kicks converted in goal or wasted. Further on, the cameras images were transferred to a computer and the cartesian coordinates of the passive markers were obtained through DVIDEOW software. It was identified an amplitude of 21.5° for ...

Orientador: Sergio Augusto Cunha / Banca: Anízio Perissinotto Junior / Banca: José Marques Novo Junior / Resumo: As situações de cobranças de pênalti no futebol vêm se tornando um fator decisivo no resultado de muitos jogos e competições. Considerando que o número de cobranças de pênalti desperdiçadas em jogos oficiais seja de 25 a 33% das cobranças de pênalti realizadas e o aumento do número de cobranças de pênalti em jogos oficiais, torna-se evidente a necessidade de novas investigações que possam melhorar o aproveitamento do cobrador, com chutes mais precisos e eficientes sendo convertidos em gol. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar, em cobranças de pênalti, os ângulos da articulação do tornozelo do membro de suporte, durante o posicionamento do pé de apoio, a distância entre o pé de apoio e a bola, a velocidade de saída da bola com chutes convertidos em gol ou desperdiçados. Para o cálculo dos ângulos utilizaramse os ângulos de Euler. Foi utilizado um sistema de bases locais para perna e pé do membro de suporte, construídas a partir da fixação de marcadores passivos em seis proeminências ósseas de interesse. O estudo contou com dez jogadores e um goleiro, todos integrantes da equipe de futebol de campo da categoria adulta da Universidade Estadual Paulista - Campus Rio Claro. Cada um dos jogadores realizou uma série de dez cobranças de pênalti. Entretanto, para análise das variáveis de interesse foram utilizadas apenas sete cobranças de cada participante em função da oclusão de marcadores. O evento analisado consistiu no posicionamento do pé de apoio do membro de suporte, dado pelo toque do calcanhar até o último contato do mesmo com o solo, durante as cobranças pênalti. As imagens foram registradas por quatro câmeras digitais para visualização dos marcadores passivos na perna e no pé dos participantes. Uma quinta câmera foi posicionada fora da grande área do goleiro com a finalidade de visualizar o gol para identificação de cobranças convertidas em gol ou desperdiçadas ... / Abstract: The soccer penalty kick has become a decisive factor in the result of many games and competitions. Considering that the number of penalty kicks wasted in official games is from 25 to 33% of the accomplished penalty kicks and the increase of the number of penalty kicks in official games, becomes evident the need of new investigations that can improve the kickers performance, with more necessary and efficient kicks being converted in goal. Therefore, the aim of this work was to identify, in penalty kicks, the joint angles of the ankle of the support member, during the positioning of the support foot, the distance between the support foot and the ball, the speed of exit of the ball with kicks converted in goal or wasted. The angles were calculated by the Euler angles. It was used a local bases system for the leg and foot of the support member, built starting from the fixation of passive markers in six bone prominences of interest. The study was composed by ten soccer players and one goalkeeper, all members of the adult soccer team of São Paulo State University - Rio Claro Campus. Each one of the players accomplished a series of ten penalty kicks. However, for analysis of the variables of interest only seven kicks of each participant were used in function of the occlusion of markers. The analyzed event consisted of the positioning of the support foot of the support member, given by the touch of the heel to the last contact to the ground, during the penalties kicks. The images were filmed by four digital cameras focusing the passive markers placed on the leg and foot of the participants. A fifty camera was placed out of goalkeeper's great area with the purpose of focus from goal area, the identification of the kicks converted in goal or wasted. Further on, the cameras images were transferred to a computer and the cartesian coordinates of the passive markers were obtained through DVIDEOW software. It was identified an amplitude of 21.5° for ... / Mestre