Some modern spacecraft missions require precise knowledge of the attitude, obtained from the ground processing of on-board attitude sensors. A traditional 6-state attitude determination filter, containing three attitude errors and three gyro bias errors, has been recognized for its robust performance when it is used with high quality measurement data from a star tracker for many past and present missions. However, as higher accuracies are required for attitude knowledge in the missions, systematic errors such as sensor misalignment and scale factor errors, which could often be neglected in previous missions, have become serious, and sometimes, the dominant error sources. The star tracker data have gaps and degradation caused by, for example, the Sun and Moon blocking in the filed of view and data time tag errors. Thus, attitude determination based on the gyro data without using the star tracker data is inevitably required for most missions for the period when the star tracker is unable to provide accurate data. However, any gyro-based attitude errors would eventually grow exponentially because of the uncorrected systematic errors of gyros and the uncorrected gyro random noises. An improved understanding of the gyro random noise characteristics and the estimation of the gyro scale factor errors and gyro misalignments are necessary for precise attitude determination for some present and future missions. The 6-state filters have been extended to 15-state filters to estimate the scale factor and misalignment errors of gyros especially during a high-slew maneuver and the performance of theses filters has been investigated. During a starless period, the inevitable drift of the EKF solutions, which are caused by the uncorrected gyro’s systematic errors and the gyro random noises, can be replaced with the batch solutions, which are less affected by the data gap in the star tracker. Power Spectral Density and the Allan Variance Method are used for analyzing the gyro random noises in both ICESat and simulated gyro data, which provide better information about the process noise covariance in the attitude filter. Both simulated and real data are used for analyzing and evaluating the performances of EKF and batch algorithms. / text

Model based fault detection techniques utilize functional redundancies in the static and dynamic relationships among system inputs and outputs for fault detection and isolation. Analytical models based on the underlying physics of the system can capture the dependencies between different measured signals in terms of system states and parameters. These physical models of the system can be used as a tool to detect and isolate system faults. As a machine degrades, system outputs deviate from desired outputs, generating residuals defined by the error between sensor measurements and corresponding model simulated signals. These error residuals contain valuable information to interpret system states and parameters. Setting up the measurements from a faulty system as baseline, the parameters of the idealistic model can be varied to minimize these residuals. This process is called “Parameter Tuning”. A framework to automate this “Parameter Tuning” process is presented with a focus on DC motors and 3-phase induction motors. The parameter tuning module presented is a multi-tier module which is designed to operate on real system models that are highly non-linear. The tuning module combines artificial intelligence techniques like Quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) sampling (Hammersley sequencing) and Genetic Algorithm (Non Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm) with an Extended Kalman filter (EKF), which utilizes the system dynamics information available via the physical models of the system. A tentative Graphical User Interface (GUI) was developed to simplify the interaction between a machine operator and the module. The tuning module was tested with real measurements from a DC motor. A simulation study was performed on a 3-phase induction motor by suitably adjusting parameters in an analytical model. The QMC sampling and genetic algorithm stages worked well even on measurement data with the system operating in steady state condition. But the downside was computational expense and inability to estimate the parameters online – ‘batch estimator’. The EKF module enabled online estimation where update was made based on incoming measurements. But observability of the system based on incoming measurements posed a major challenge while dealing with state estimation filters. Implementation details and results are included with plots comparing real and faulty systems. / text

Methods for estimating vehicle-terrain interaction parameters for small scale robotic vehicles have been formulated and evaluated using both simulation and experimental studies. A model basis was developed, guided by experimental studies with an iRobot PackBot. The intention was to demonstrate whether a nominally instrumented robotic vehicle could be used as a test platform for generating data for vehicle-terrain parameter estimation. A comprehensive skid-steered model was found to be sensitive enough to distinguish between various forms of unknown terrains. This simulation study also verified that the Bekker model for large scale vehicles adopted for this research was applicable to the small scale robotic vehicle used in this work. This fact was also confirmed by estimating coefficients of friction and establishing their dependence on forward velocity and turning radius as the vehicle traverses different terrains. On establishing that mobility measurements for this robotic were sufficiently sensitive, it was found that estimates could be made of key dynamic variables and vehicle-terrain interaction parameters. Four main contributions are described for reliably and robustly using PackBot data for vehicle-terrain property estimation. These estimation methods should contribute to efforts in improving mobility of small scale tracked vehicles on uncertain terrains. The approach is embodied in a multi-tiered algorithm based on the dynamic and kinematic models for skid-steering as well as tractive force models parameterized by key vehicle-terrain parameters. In order to estimate and characterize the key parameters, nonlinear estimation techniques such as the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF), and a General Newton Raphson (GNR) method are integrated into this multi-tiered algorithm. A unique idea in using an EKF with an added State Noise Compensation algorithm is presented which shows its robustness and consistency in estimating slip variables and other parameters for deformable terrains. In the multi-tiered algorithm, a kinematic model of the robotic vehicle is used to estimate slip variables and turning radius. These estimated variables are stored in a truth table and used in a skid-steered dynamic model to estimate the coefficients of friction. The total estimated slip on the left and right track, along with the total tractive force computed using a motor model, are then used in the GNR algorithm to estimate the key vehicle-terrain parameters. These estimated parameters are cross-checked and confirmed with EKF estimation results. Further, these simulation results verify that the tracked vehicle tractive force is not dependent on cohesion for frictional soils. This sequential algorithm is shown to be effective in estimating vehicle-terrain interaction properties with relatively good accuracy. The estimated results obtained from UKF and EKF are verified and compared with available experimental data, and tested on a PackBot traversing specified terrains at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Small Robotics Testbed in San Antonio, Texas. In the end, based on the development and evaluation of small scale vehicle testing, the effectiveness of on-board sensing methods and estimation techniques are also discussed for potential use in real time estimation of vehicle-terrain parameters. / text

Scania CV AB is a large manufacturer of heavy duty trucks that, with an increasingly stricter emission legislation, have a rising demand for an effective On Board Diagnosis (OBD) system. One idea for improving the OBD system is to employ a model for the construction of an observer based diagnosis system. The proposal in this report is, because of a nonlinear model, to use a nonlinear filtering method for improving the needed state estimates. Two nonlinear filters are tested, the Particle Filter (PF) and the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The primary objective is to evaluate the use of the PF for Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI), and to compare the result against the use of the EKF. With the information provided by the PF and the EKF, two residual based diagnosis systems and two likelihood based diagnosis systems are created. The results with the PF and the EKF are evaluated for both types of systems using real measurement data. It is shown that the four systems give approximately equal results for FDI with the exception that using the PF is more computational demanding than using the EKF. There are however some indications that the PF, due to the nonlinearities, could offer more if enough CPU time is available.

In today’s heavy industry there are applications demanding high power supply in certain periods of a working cycle. A typical case might be startup of heavy machinery or just keeping a certain point in a distribution network at a certain energy level. To deal with this different techniques might be used, one way is to introduce a battery as an energy reserve in the system. One battery studied at ABB for this purpose is the so called High Temperature Sodium Nickel Chloride battery and a model of this battery has been developed at ABB. When operating a battery of the mentioned type in an application it is important to keep track of the energy stored in the battery. Earlier tests has shown that this is difficult in a noisy environment. This master thesis investigates if a Kalman filter may be used to estimate the energy stored in the battery. The investigation is performed in steps, starting with a simplified model of the battery and then expanding to a more complete model. Evaluation of the methods and algorithms used is made by simulations and based on the assumption that there is a good model available. The model is special in such a way that it has a varying number of states despite that the number of outputs remains the same. Some comparisons with actual measurements are also made and an analysis of the parameters in the model along with an introduction to the system identification problem is discussed, assuming that the structure of the model is correct. / I dagens tunga industri finns applikationer som kräver höga effektuttag under vissa perioder av en arbetscykel. Ett typiskt fall kan vara uppstart av tunga maskiner eller att hålla en given spänningsnivå i en belastningspunkt i ett distributionsnät. För att hantera detta finns olika metoder, en möjlighet är att använda ett batteri som en energireserv. Ett högtemperaturbatteri har studerats på ABB för detta ändamål och en model av detta batteri har tagits fram. När ett sådant batteri används är det viktigt att kontinuerligt veta hur mycket energi som finns till förfogande i batteriet. Tidigare tester har visat att detta är svårt i en brusig miljö. I detta examensarbete kommer det undersökas om ett Kalman filter kan användas för att skatta energin i detta batteri. Undersökningen sker i steg och startar med en förenklad modell som sedan utvecklas till en mer komplett modell. Utvärdering av de metoder och algoritmer som används sker via simuleringar och baseras på antagandet att modellen är komplett och riktig. Denna modell är speciell på det sätt att den har ett variabelt antal tillstånd trots att antalet utsignaler är konstant. Viss jämförelse med de mätningar som finns tillgängliga görs och en inledande analys av de ingående modellparametrarna presenteras. Även en introduktion till det omfattande systemidentifieringsproblemet diskuteras, med antagandet att modellens struktur är korrekt.

Robotar är en självklar del av modern automation och produktion. Användningsområdenaär många och innefattar bland annat repetitiva arbetsuppgifter ochuppgifter som kan vara hälsofarliga för oss människor, så som t.ex. målning,punktsvetsning och materialhantering. Ett problem inom robotik är att noggrant skatta position och orientering för robotensverktyg. Detta examensarbete syftar till att ta fram metoder för dennaskattning baserad på mätningar från en Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sommonteras vid robotens verktyg. En IMU är en kombinationsenhet som består av flera sensorer, vanligtvis accelerometeroch gyroskop. Enheten mäter då acceleration och rotationshastighetbaserat på kroppars tröghet. Examensarbetet presenterar tre metoder för att skatta position och orienteringav robotens verktyg. En skattningsmetod endast är baserad på mätningar frånIMU:n, död räkning, samt två filter där även robotkinematiken tillsammans meduppmätta motorvinklar används, extended Kalmanfilter (EKF) och komplementärfilter(CF). Resultat för skattningsmetoderna visas för experimentell data från en högpresterandeIMU tillsammans med en industrirobot med sex frihetsgrader. / Industrial robots have a well established part within modern automation and production.The uses for robots are many and include e.g. repetitive tasks, painting, spot welding and material handling. One problem in robotics is to sufficiently well estimate the position and orientation for the end effector of the robot. This thesis aims to present estimationmethods based on data from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) mounted onthe end effector of the robot. An IMU is a combination unit typically containing accelerometers and gyroscopes.The unit measures acceleration and rotational speed based on the inertia of bodies. The thesis presents three methods for position and orientation estimation. One based exclusively on IMU data, dead reckoning, and two filters based on IMUdata in combination with robot kinematics and motor angles, extended Kalmanfilter (EKF) and complementary filter (CF). Results for the estimation methods are shown based on experimental data froma high-performance IMU and a industrial robot with six degrees of freedom.

O presente trabalho trata do desenvolvimento de um sistema de sensoriamento de orientação utilizando sensores inerciais de baixo custo, de tecnologia MicroElectroMechanical Systems, MEMS, que apresentam altas taxas de ruído. Assim, é realizada a filtragem e fusão dos dados dos sensores para obtenção de uma estimativa confiável, com a aplicação do filtro de Kalman estendido. O sistema é utilizado para a navegação e controle em um veículo aquático de superfície autônomo. No desenvolvimento do trabalho são investigados os princípios da navegação inercial, da representação da orientação e os sistemas de coordenadas envolvidos, apresentando o método por ângulos de Euler, quatérnios e DCM e o procedimento de atualização conforme a variação da orientação. O sistema desenvolvido foi testado em bancada e em um barco com formato de trimarã construído no Laboratório de Controle e Eletrônica de Potência, na Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos, mostrando os resultados dos testes realizados navegando em uma represa, obtendo resultados satisfatórios para essa aplicação. É mostrado também o comportamento dinâmico dos veículos aquáticos de superfície através do estudo da dinâmica de corpos rígidos. / This work describes the development of an orientation sensing system composed of low cost inertial sensors with MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, which presents high noise levels. Thus, filtering and sensor\'s measurements fusion is done in order to achieve a reliable estimation, trough an extended Kalman filter. The system is used for navigation and control of an autonomous aquatic surface vehicle. In this work, the principles of inertial navigation, orientation representation as well as the coordinate frames involved are investigated, presenting the methods trough Euler angles, quaternions and DCM, and the update proceeding according to the orientation changes. The developed system was tested in the lab and on a trimaran shaped vessel navigating on a dam, wich was developed in the Control and Power Electronics Laboratory at the São Carlos School of Engineering, achieving satisfactory results for this application. It is also shown the dynamic behavior of the surface aquatic vehicles, using rigid-body dynamics.

This thesis has explored if it is feasible to produce a good estimation of the rotational position of a stepper motor by using sensor fusion schemes to merge a sensorless position estimation (based on the back electromotive force) with the measurement from a magnetic rotational position sensor. The purpose was to find a cheaper alternative for position feedback in closed loop control from conventionally used rotational encoders and resolvers. Beyond the sensor fusion a suitable position control logic was also developed to verify the concept of a low cost closed loop hybrid stepper motor solution for high precision position applications. The sensor fusion and position control were simulated offline to first test the feasibility of the implementation, after which laboratory tests were performed to assess online performance. The extended Kalman filter implemented improved the performance of the magnetic rotational position sensor which was used exclusively at lower speeds (between 0-75 rpm) by decreasing its root-mean-square error by almost half from 0.0733 unfiltered to 0.0370 filtered (in mechanical degrees). When fusing both position signals at higher rotational speeds (75-400rpm) did the extended Kalman filter clearly improve position estimation accuracy compared to the single sources. It is not meaningful however to discuss the numeric improvement of the filter at these working points as this result is not conclusive but based on some fortunate conditions. This is because the two signals used for the fusion is diverging towards positive and negative error respectively for increasing rotational speeds making the fused estimate result in between. This basically means that the result from the fusion is outperforming two very bad signals, and is then not meaningful to use as a measure of how well the fusion is actually performing. Further work on the raw signals used for fusion need to be performed before a proper assessment on the fusion performance could be made.

Numerical models often fail to accurately simulate and forecast a hydrological state in operation due to its inherent uncertainties. Data Assimilation (DA) is a promising technology that uses real-time observations to modify a model's parameters and internal variables to make it more representative of the actual state of the system it describes. In this thesis, hydrological DA is first reviewed from the perspective of its objective, scope, applications and the challenges it faces. Special attention is then given to nonlinear Kalman filters such as the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Based on a review of the existing studies, it is found that the potential of EKF has not been fully exploited. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a semi-distributed rainfall-runoff model that is widely used in agricultural water management and flood forecasting. However, studies of hydrological DA that are based on distributed models are relatively rare because hydrological DA is still in its infancy, with many issues to be resolved, and linear statistical models and lumped rainfall-runoff models are often used for the sake of simplicity. This study aims to fill this gap by assimilating streamflow and surface soil moisture observations into the SWAT model to improve its state simulation and forecasting capability. Unless specifically defined, all ‘forecasts’ in Italic font are based on the assumption of a perfect knowledge of the meteorological forecast. EKF is chosen as the DA method for its solid theoretical basis and parsimonious implementation procedures. Given the large number of parameters and storage variables in SWAT, only the watershed scale variables are included in the state vector, and the Hydrological Response Unit (HRU) scale variables are updated with the a posteriori/a priori ratio of their watershed scale counterparts. The Jacobian matrix is calculated numerically by perturbing the state variables. Two case studies are carried out with real observation data in order to verify the effectiveness of EKF assimilation. The upstream section of the Senegal River (above Bakel station) in western Africa is chosen for the streamflow assimilation, and the USDA ARS Little Washita experimental watershed is chosen to examine surface soil moisture assimilation. In the case of streamflow assimilation, a spinoff study is conducted to compare EKF state-parameter assimilation with a linear autoregressive (AR) output assimilation to improve SWAT’s flood forecasting capability. The influence of precipitation forecast uncertainty on the effectiveness of EKF assimilation is discussed in the context of surface soil moisture assimilation. In streamflow assimilation, EKF was found to be effective mostly in the wet season due to the weak connection between runoff, soil moisture and the curve number (CN2) in dry seasons. Both soil moisture and CN2 were significantly updated in the wet season despite having opposite update patterns. The flood forecast is moderately improved for up to seven days, especially in the flood period by applying the EKF subsequent open loop (EKFsOL) scheme. The forecast is further improved with a newly designed quasi-error update scheme. Comparison between EKF and AR output assimilation in flood forecasting reveals that while both methods can improve forecast accuracy, their performance is influenced by the hydrological regime of the particular year. EKF outperformed the AR model in dry years, while AR outperformed the EKF in wet years. Compared to AR, EKF is more robust and less sensitive to the length of the forecast lead time. A combined EKF-AR method provides satisfying results in both dry and wet years. The assimilation of surface soil moisture is proved effective in improving the full profile soil moisture and streamflow estimate. The setting of state and observation vector has a great impact on the assimilation results. The state vector with streamflow and all-layer soil moisture outperforms other, more complicated state vectors, including those augmented with intermediate variables and model parameters. The joint assimilation of surface soil moisture and streamflow observation provides a much better estimate of soil moisture compared to assimilating the streamflow only. The updated SWAT model is sufficiently robust to issue improved forecasts of soil moisture and streamflow after the assimilation is ‘unplugged’. The error quantification is found to be critical to the performance of EKF assimilation. Nevertheless, the application of an adaptive EKF shows no advantages over using the trial and error method in determining time-invariant model errors. The robustness of EKF assimilation is further verified by explicitly perturbing the precipitation ‘forecast’ in the EKF subsequent forecasts. The open loop model without previous EKF update is more vulnerable to erroneous precipitation estimates. Compared to streamflow forecasting, soil moisture forecasting is found to be more resilient to erroneous precipitation input.

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.