Faulty manufactured alternators lead to commercial and safety concerns when installed in vehicles. Alternators have a major role in the Electrical Power Generation System (EPGS) of vehicles, and a defective alternator will lead to damaging of the battery and other important electric accessories. Therefore, fault detection and diagnosis of alternators can be implemented to quickly and accurately determine the health of an alternator during end of line testing, and not let faulty components leave the manufacturer. The focus of this research is to develop a Model Based Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) strategy for detecting alternator faults during end of line testing. The proposed solution uses Extended Kalman Smooth Variable Structure Filter (EK-SVSF) to detect common alternator faults. A solution using the Dual Extended Kalman Filter (DEKF) is also discussed. The alternator faults were programmatically simulated on alternator measurements. The experimental results prove that both the EK-SVSF and DEKF strategies were very effective in alternator modeling and detecting open diode faults, shorted diode faults, and stator imbalance faults. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

The reliance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on GPS and other external navigation aids has become a limiting factor for many missions. UAVs are now physically able to fly in many enclosed or obstructed environments, due to the shrinking size and weight of electronics and other systems. These environments, such as urban canyons or enclosed areas, often degrade or deny external signals. Furthermore, many of the most valuable potential missions for UAVs are in hostile or disaster areas, where navigation infrastructure could be damaged, denied, or actively used against the vehicle. It is clear that developing alternative, independent, navigation techniques will increase the operating envelope of UAVs and make them more useful. This thesis presents work in the development of reliable monocular vision-aided inertial navigation for UAVs. The work focuses on developing a stable and accurate navigation solution in a variety of realistic conditions. First, a vision-aided inertial navigation algorithm is developed which assumes uncorrelated feature and vehicle states. Flight test results on a 80 kg UAV are presented, which demonstrate that it is possible to bound the horizontal drift with vision aiding. Additionally, a novel implementation method is developed for integration with a variety of navigation systems. Finally, a vision-aided navigation algorithm is derived within a Bierman-Thornton factored extended Kalman Filter (BTEKF) framework, using fully correlated vehicle and feature states. This algorithm shows improved consistency and accuracy by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude over the previous implementation, both in simulation and flight testing. Flight test results of the BTEKF on large (80 kg) and small (600 g) vehicles show accurate navigation over numerous tests.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Monocular structure from motion (SfM) is a widely researched problem, however many of the existing approaches prove to be too computationally expensive for use on mobile devices. In this thesis we investigate how inertial sensors can be used to increase the performance of SfM algorithms on mobile devices. Making use of the low cost inertial sensors found on most mobile devices we design and implement an extended Kalman filter (EKF) to exploit their complementary nature, in order to produce an accurate estimate of the attitude of the device. We make use of a quaternion based system model in order to linearise the measurement stage of the EKF, thus reducing its computational complexity. We use this attitude estimate to enhance the feature tracking and camera localisation stages in our SfM pipeline. In order to perform feature tracking we implement a hybrid tracking algorithm which makes use of Harris corners and an approximate nearest neighbour search to reduce the search space for possible correspondences. We increase the robustness of this approach by using inertial information to compensate for inter-frame camera rotation. We further develop an efficient bundle adjustment algorithm which only optimises the pose of the previous three key frames and the 3D map points common between at least two of these frames. We implement an optimisation based localisation algorithm which makes use of our EKF attitude estimate and the tracked features, in order to estimate the pose of the device relative to the 3D map points. This optimisation is performed in two steps, the first of which optimises only the translation and the second optimises the full pose. We integrate the aforementioned three sub-systems into an inertial assisted pose estimation pipeline. We evaluate our algorithms with the use of datasets captured on the iPhone 5 in the presence of a Vicon motion capture system for ground truth data. We find that our EKF can estimate the device’s attitude with an average dynamic accuracy of ±5°. Furthermore, we find that the inclusion of sensors into the visual pose estimation pipeline can lead to improvements in terms of robustness and computational efficiency of the algorithms and are unlikely to negatively affect the accuracy of such a system. Even though we managed to reduce execution time dramatically, compared to typical existing techniques, our full system is found to still be too computationally expensive for real-time performance and currently runs at 3 frames per second, however the ever improving computational power of mobile devices and our described future work will lead to improved performance. From this study we conclude that inertial sensors make a valuable addition into a visual pose estimation pipeline implemented on a mobile device. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Enkel-kamera struktuur-vanaf-beweging (structure from motion, SfM) is ’n bekende navorsingsprobleem, maar baie van die bestaande benaderings is te berekeningsintensief vir gebruik op mobiele toestelle. In hierdie tesis ondersoek ons hoe traagheidsensors gebruik kan word om die prestasie van SfM algoritmes op mobiele toestelle te verbeter. Om van die lae-koste traagheidsensors wat op meeste mobiele toestelle gevind word gebruik te maak, ontwerp en implementeer ons ’n uitgebreide Kalman filter (extended Kalman filter, EKF) om hul komplementêre geaardhede te ontgin, en sodoende ’n akkurate skatting van die toestel se postuur te verkry. Ons maak van ’n kwaternioon-gebaseerde stelselmodel gebruik om die meetstadium van die EKF te lineariseer, en so die berekeningskompleksiteit te verminder. Hierdie afskatting van die toestel se postuur word gebruik om die fases van kenmerkvolging en kameralokalisering in ons SfM proses te verbeter. Vir kenmerkvolging implementeer ons ’n hibriede volgingsalgoritme wat gebruik maak van Harris-hoekpunte en ’n benaderde naaste-buurpunt-soektog om die soekruimte vir moontlike ooreenstemmings te verklein. Ons verhoog die robuustheid van hierdie benadering, deur traagheidsinligting te gebruik om vir kamerarotasies tussen raampies te kompenseer. Verder ontwikkel ons ’n doeltreffende bondelaanpassingsalgoritme wat slegs optimeer oor die vorige drie sleutelraampies, en die 3D punte gemeenskaplik tussen minstens twee van hierdie raampies. Ons implementeer ’n optimeringsgebaseerde lokaliseringsalgoritme, wat gebruik maak van ons EKF se postuurafskatting en die gevolgde kenmerke, om die posisie en oriëntasie van die toestel relatief tot die 3D punte in die kaart af te skat. Die optimering word in twee stappe uitgevoer: eerstens net oor die kamera se translasie, en tweedens oor beide die translasie en rotasie. Ons integreer die bogenoemde drie sub-stelsels in ’n pyplyn vir postuurafskatting met behulp van traagheidsensors. Ons evalueer ons algoritmes met die gebruik van datastelle wat met ’n iPhone 5 opgeneem is, terwyl dit in die teenwoordigheid van ’n Vicon bewegingsvasleggingstelsel was (vir die gelyktydige opneming van korrekte postuurdata). Ons vind dat die EKF die toestel se postuur kan afskat met ’n gemiddelde dinamiese akkuraatheid van ±5°. Verder vind ons dat die insluiting van sensors in die visuele postuurafskattingspyplyn kan lei tot verbeterings in terme van die robuustheid en berekeningsdoeltreffendheid van die algoritmes, en dat dit waarskynlik nie die akkuraatheid van so ’n stelsel negatief beïnvloed nie. Al het ons die uitvoertyd drasties verminder (in vergelyking met tipiese bestaande tegnieke) is ons volledige stelsel steeds te berekeningsintensief vir intydse verwerking op ’n mobiele toestel en hardloop tans teen 3 raampies per sekonde. Die voortdurende verbetering van mobiele toestelle se berekeningskrag en die toekomstige werk wat ons beskryf sal egter lei tot ’n verbetering in prestasie. Uit hierdie studie kan ons aflei dat traagheidsensors ’n waardevolle toevoeging tot ’n visuele postuurafskattingspyplyn kan maak.

A lane position system and enhancement techniques, for increasing the robustnessand availability of such a system, are investigated. The enhancements areperformed by using additional sensor sources like map data and GPS. The thesiscontains a description of the system, two models of the system and two implementedfilters for the system. The thesis also contains conclusions and results oftheoretical and experimental tests of the increased robustness and availability ofthe system. The system can be integrated with an existing system that investigatesdriver behavior, developed for fatigue. That system was developed in aproject named Drowsi, where among others Volvo Technology participated. / Ett filpositioneringssystem undersöks och förbättringstekniker för ökandet av robusthetoch tillgängligheten av ett sådant system genom att använda ytterligaresensorkällor som kartdata och GPS. Detta examensarbete presenterar beskrivningenav ett system, två modeller och två implementerade filter. Examensarbetetinnehåller också slutsatser och resultat av teoretiska och experimentella testersom plottar och grafer av ökad robusthet och tillgängligheten av systemet. Dettasystem kan bli integrerat med ett framtaget system som tittar på körrelaterat beteendevid trötthet. Systemet är utvecklat i ett projekt kallat Drowsi, där blandandra Volvo Technology deltog.

Process-based models are used in a diverse array of fields, including environmental engineering to provide supporting information to engineers, policymakers and stakeholdes. Recent advances in remote sensing and data storage technology have provided opportunities for improving the application of process-based models and visualizing data, but also present new challenges. The availability of larger quantities of data may allow models to be constructed and calibrated in a more thorough and precise manner, but depending on the type and volume of data, it is not always clear how to incorporate the information content of these data into a coherent modeling framework. In this context, using process-based models in new ways to provide decision support or to produce more complete and flexible predictive tools is a key task in the modern data-rich engineering world. In standard usage, models can be used for simulating specific scenarios; they can also be used as part of an automated design optimization algorithm to provide decision support or in a data-assimilation framework to incorporate the information content of ongoing measurements. In that vein, this thesis presents and demonstrates extensions and refinements to leverage the best of what process-based models offer using Differential Evolution (DE) the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Coupling multi-objective optimization to a process-based model may provide valuable information provided an objective function is constructed appropriately to reflect the multi-objective problem and constraints. That, in turn, requires weighting two or more competing objectives in the early stages of an analysis. The methodology proposed here relaxes that requirement by framing the model optimization as a sensitivity analysis. For demonstration, this is implemented using a surface water model (HEC-RAS) and the impact of floodplain access up and downstream of a fixed bridge on bridge scour is analyzed. DE, an evoutionary global optimization algorithm, is wrapped around a calibrated HEC-RAS model. Multiple objective functions, representing different relative weighting of two objectives, are used; the resulting rank-orders of river reach locations by floodplain access sensitivity are consistent across these multiple functions. To extend the applicability of data assimilation methods, this thesis proposes relaxing the requirement that the model be calibrated (provided the parameters are still within physically defensible ranges) before performing assimilation. The model is then dynamically calibrated to new state estimates, which depend on the behavior of the model. Feasibility is demonstrated using the EKF and a synthetic dataset of pendulum motion. The dynamic calibration method reduces the variance of prediction errors compared to measurement errors using an initially uncalibrated model and produces estimates of calibration parameters that converge to the true values. The potential application of the dynamic calibration method to river sediment transport modeling is proposed in detail, including a method for automated calibration using sediment grain size distribution as a calibration parameter.

[pt] Este trabalho aborda o problema da Localização e Mapeamento Simultâneos em ambientes estruturados, utilizando um robô móvel equipado com sonares, bússola eletrônica e encoders. Na modelagem sugerida há a construção do mapa do ambiente e a localização do robô de forma interativa. O método proposto, denominado de LMS-H (Localização e Mapeamento Simultâneos - Híbrido), faz uso de duas formas de representação do ambiente: Mapa de Ocupação em Grade e Representação Contínua. O Mapa de Ocupação em Grade divide o ambiente em pequenas partes iguais, classificando-as em ocupadas ou vazias. A Representação Contínua utiliza retas para representar os planos detectados no ambiente, formando um mapa em duas dimensões e cada reta do mapa é considerada um marco. Sempre que um plano é novamente detectado pelo robô a reta correspondente a ele é recalculada com os novos pontos obtidos e a posição do robô é atualizada via Filtro de Kalman Estendido. A eficácia do método foi comprovada através de seis estudos de caso: três em ambientes virtuais e três em ambientes reais. Os estudos de casos em ambientes reais foram realizados utilizando-se um protótipo feito sob a plataforma LEGO Mindstorms. Os resultados obtidos comprovaram a eficácia do método proposto. / [en] This work addresses the problem of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping in structured environments using a mobile robot equipped with sonar, electronic compass and encoders. In the proposed modeling there are the construction of the environment map and the robot localization interactively. The proposed method, called H-SLAM (Hybrid - Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), makes use kinds of environment representation: Occupancy Grid Map and Continuous Representation. The Occupancy Grid Map divides the environment into small equal parts, and classifies it as occupied or empty. The Continuous Representation uses lines to represent detected planes in the environment, forming a two-dimensional map. Each line of the map is considered a landmark. Every time a plan is redetected by the robot the corresponding line to it is rebuild with the new points obtained and the robot s position is updated through Extended Kalman Filter. The model effectiveness was proved with computer simulations in three virtual environments. Using a prototype developed with LEGO Mindstorms platform three other experiments were also performed in real environments. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method.

In this thesis we present a detect-tracking algorithm (see figure 3.1) that combines the detection robustness of static region proposal based object detectors, like the faster region convolutional neural network (R-CNN) and the region-based fully convolutional networks (R-FCN) model, with the tracking prediction strength of extended Kalman filters, by using, what we have called, a translating and non-rigid user input region of interest (RoI-) mapping. This so-called RoI-mapping maps a region, which includes the object that one is interested in tracking, to a featureless three-channeled image. The detection part of our proposed algorithm is then performed on the image that includes only the RoI features (see figure 3.2). After the detection step, our model re-maps the RoI features to the original frame, and translates the RoI to the center of the prediction. If no prediction occurs, our proposed model integrates a temporal dependence through a Kalman filter as a predictor; this filter is continuously corrected when detections do occur. To train the region proposal based object detectors that we integrate into our detect-tracking model, we used TensorFlow®’s object detection api, with a random search hyperparameter tuning, where we fine-tuned, all models from TensorFlow® slim base network classification checkpoints. The trained region proposal based object detectors used the inception V2 base network for the faster R-CNN model and the R-FCN model, while the inception V3 base network only was applied to the faster R-CNN model. This was made to compare the two base networks and their corresponding affects on the detection models. In addition to the deep learning part of this thesis, for the implementation part of our detect-tracking model, like for the extended Kalman filter, we used Python and OpenCV® . The results show that, with a stationary camera reference frame, our proposed detect-tracking algorithm, combined with region proposal based object detectors on images of size 414 × 740 × 3, can detect and track a small object in real-time, like a tennis ball, moving along a horizontal trajectory with an average velocity v ≈ 50 km/h at a distance d = 25 m, with a combined detect-tracking frequency of about 13 to 14 Hz. The largest measured state error between the actual state and the predicted state from the Kalman filter, at the aforementioned horizontal velocity, have been measured to be a maximum of 10-15 pixels, see table 5.1, but in certain frames where many detections occur this error has been shown to be much smaller (3-5 pixels). Additionally, our combined detect-tracking model has also been shown to be able to handle obstacles and two learnable features that overlap, thanks to the integrated extended Kalman filter. Lastly, our detect-tracking model also was applied on a set of infra-red images, where the goal was to detect and track a moving truck moving along a semi-horizontal path. Our results show that a faster R-CNN inception V2 model was able to extract features from a sequence of infra-red frames, and that our proposed RoI-mapping method worked relatively well at detecting only one truck in a short test-sequence (see figure 5.22).

L'un des défis fondamentaux de la robotique d'aujourd'hui est d'obtenir des cartes robustes en utilisant des mécanismes efficaces pour l'exploration et la modélisation des environnements toujours plus complexes. Ce problème est connu comme celui de la planification, de la localisation et de la cartographie simultanée (SPLAM).Dans cette thèse nous avons développé des outils pour obtenir une stratégie de SPLAM. D'abord, l'exploration est faite par le graphe d'exploration aléatoire (REG) basé sur la création d'une structure de graphe et sur un contrôle de frontières. Ensuite, le problème de localisation et de cartographie simultanée (SLAM) est résolu avec une stratégie topologique basée sur des B-Splines. Pour valider notre stratégie, nous avons créé une autre approche de SPLAM basée sur des outils connus comme le Filtre de Kalman étendu pour le SLAM et sur l'arbre aléatoire (SRT) pour l'exploration. Ces résultats sont comparés avec les résultats de notre stratégie. / One of the fundamental challenges of today's robotics is to obtain robust maps using efficient mechanisms for exploring and modeling increasingly complex environments. This is known as simultaneous planning, localization and mapping (SPLAM) problem.Considering this problem, in this thesis we have developed some tools to obtain a SPLAM strategy. First, the exploration is made by the Random Exploration Graph approach (REG) which is based on the creation of a graph structure and on a frontier control. Next, the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem is solved using a B-Spline based topologic strategy. To validate our strategy, we have created another SPLAM approach based on well known tools as the Extended Kalman Filter for SLAM and on the Sensor based Random tree (SRT) for the exploration problem. Its results are confronted with the results obtained by our strategy.

<div>Previous studies have shown that implementing trajectory optimization can reduce state estimations errors. These navigation based path planning problems are often diffcult to solve being computationally burdensome and exhibiting other numerical issues, so former studies have often used lower-delity methods or lacked explanatory power.</div><div><br></div><div><div>This work utilizes indirect optimization methods, particularly optimal control theory, to obtain high-quality solutions minimizing state estimation errors approximated by a continuous-time extended Kalman lter. Indirect methods are well-suited to this because necessary conditions of optimality are found prior to discretization and numerical computation. They are also highly parallelizable enabling application to increasingly larger problems.</div></div><div><br></div><div><div>A simple one dimensional problem shows some potential obstacles to solving problems of this type including regions of the trajectory where the control is unimportant. Indirect trajectory optimization is applied to a more complex scenario to minimize location estimation errors of a single cart traveling in a 2-D plane to a goal location and measuring range from a xed beacon. This resulted in a 96% reduction of the location error variance when compared to the minimum time solution. The single cart problem also highlights the importance of the matrix that encodes the linearization of the vehicle's measurement with respect to state. It is shown in this case that the vehicle roughly attempts to maximize the magnitude of its elements. Additionally, the cart problem further illustrates problematic regions of a design space where the objective is not signicantly affected by the trajectory.</div></div><div><br></div><div><div>An aircraft descent problem demonstrates the applicability of these methods to aerospace problems. In this case, estimation error variance is reduced 28.6% relative to the maximum terminal energy trajectory. Results are shown from two formulations of this problem, one with control constraints and one with control energy cost, to show the benets and disadvantages of the two methods. Furthermore, the ability to perform trade studies on vehicle and trajectory parameters is shown with this problem by solving for dierent terminal velocities and different initial locations.</div></div>

O controle de plantas daninhas é uma importante preocupação para a agricultura tendo em vista as perdas de produtividade que estas causam ao competir com a cultura por água, luz e nutrientes. O uso de herbicida é a forma de manejo mais empregada em todo o mundo para o controle destas plantas. Entretanto, o uso frequente de um dado herbicida, além de causar diversos impactos ambientais, pode levar à diminuição da eficiência do próprio herbicida ao promover a seleção de plantas que são resistentes a este herbicida. Com o crescente número de novos casos de biótipos resistentes aos herbicidas, conter a evolução da resistência tornou-se uma necessidade para a agricultura convencional. Assim, grande esforço tem sido despendido para compreender este fenômeno e tentar contornar este problema. Neste sentido, os modelos computacionais se apresentam como importantes ferramentas para investigar os efeitos dos diversos fatores, em particular das estratégias de aplicação dos herbicidas, que influenciam na dinâmica da evolução da resistência. Com esta motivação, este trabalho tem como objetivo propor e estudar algumas estratégias de aplicação de herbicidas, ou ditos simplesmente controladores, que sejam implementáveis e que diminuam os impactos ambientais considerando a evolução da resistência. Para isto, assumimos que existe um herbicida, denominado neste trabalho por herbicida recomendado, que é o preferível dentre os disponíveis por produzir uma boa relação entre os benefícios produtivos e os malefícios aos ecossistemas. Para projetar os controladores, assumimos que é possível obter informações sobre a identificação visual da resistência em campo, feitas por um agente quando o número de indivíduos resistentes ultrapassa um certo limiar, assim como informações sobre a quantidade de plantas daninhas na área, feita possivelmente empregando técnicas de sensoriamento remoto. Então, para definir os controladores, empregamos diretamente a identificação visual da resistência e estimativas para o banco de sementes e para a fração dos genótipos do banco, geradas por um filtro de Kalman a partir de informações sobre a quantidade de plantas na área. Os controladores foram avaliados em relação à preservação da eficiência do herbicida recomendado, produtividade, impacto ambiental e propagação da resistência. Concluímos destes estudos que o controlador sugerido pode apresentar melhores resultados que os obtidos por controladores ditos convencionais, que se baseiam apenas na informação de identificação da resistência em campo. / Weed control is a major concern in agriculture as it causes significant loss of productivity by competition for water, sunlight and nutrients. The use of herbicides is the most common practice in the world to control them. However, the frequent use of a particular herbicide, besides causing many environmental impacts, may lead to loss of efficiency by promoting herbicide resistance via selection of resistant individuals. Considering the increasing number of herbicide resistant biotic, restraining resistance evolution is becoming a necessity for the conventional agriculture. This motivates a great deal of research effort to understand the involved phenomena and eventually to circumvent the problem. To this end, computational models are of great aid to understand the impact of many different aspects involved in this problem, in particular, to understand how different herbicide strategies usage lead to different resistance evolution dynamics. In this thesis we propose and study some strategies for herbicide application, which we refer to as controllers. We seek for controllers that can be implemented in real word crops growing, while decreasing environmental impacts and restrain resistance evolution. We assume that there exists one herbicide of choice for a given crop, meaning that it is preferred in terms of environmental impact and efficiency. To define the controllers, we assume that it is possible to obtain visual information on resistance, meaning that we observe when the proportion of resistant individuals is above a threshold. Also, we assume noisy observation of the number of adult weed individuals, possibly made by remote sensing. So, the controller directly employs the visual identification information and an estimate for the number of resistant seeds in the seed bank, generated by the Kalman filter using information on the number of adult weed. This strategy was evaluated in terms of herbicide efficiency preservation, crop production, environmental impact and resistance proliferation. We conclude that the proposed control strategies performed better than other strategies, called conventional strategies that are based only on the visual identification information.