Tires are the most influential component of the vehicle as they constitute the only contact between the vehicle and the road and have to generate and transmit forces necessary for the driver to control the vehicle. The demand for the tire models are increasing due to the need to study the variations of force generation mechanisms due to various variables such as load, pressure, speed, and road surface irregularities. Another need from the vehicle manufactures is the study of potential incompatibilities associated with safety systems such as Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and tires. For vehicle dynamic simulations pertaining to the design of safety systems such as ABS, ESC and ride controllers, an accurate and computationally efficient tire model is required. As these control algorithms become more advanced, they require accurate and extended validity in the range of frequencies required to cover dynamic response due to short wavelength road disturbances, braking and steering torque variations. Major thrust has been provided by the tire industry to develop simulation models that accurately predict the dynamic response of tires without the use of computationally intensive tools such as FEA. The objectives of this research are • To develop, implement and validate a rigid ring tire model and a simulation tool to assist both tire designers and the automotive industry in analyzing the effects of tire belt vibrations, road disturbances, and high frequency brake and steering torque variations on the handling, braking, and ride performances of the vehicle. • To further enhance the tire model by considering dynamic stiffness changes and temperature dependent friction properties. • To develop, and implement novel control algorithms for braking, stability, and ride performance improvements of the vehicle / Ph. D.

This study evaluates the accuracy of approach volumes and free flow approach speeds collected by the Wavetronix SmartSensor Advance sensor using the field data collected by JAMAR counter boards for free flow approach volumes and a TruCam LiDAR gun for approach speeds. The Advance sensor is primarily designed for dilemma zone reduction. It does not have the capability to differentiate between lanes, but the Advance sensor currently used has a detection range of up to 600 ft. and has the capability to track vehicles approaching the intersection. The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) wanted to use this capability to get added values from their investment in the Advance sensors. The approach volume accuracy was analyzed with three factors: sensor position, number of approach lanes, and approach volume level. The results showed that the high accuracy is achieved when the number of approach lanes is low, or closer to one-lane, and the approach volume level is low. It was found that the accuracy of the approach volume counts was not affected by the sensor position. As a result of the sensor's inability to differentiate lanes, the more cars travel alongside each other, the more likely they are to be detected together as one vehicle. The overall range of accuracy for the approach volume counts was found to range from approximately 76% (24% undercount) to 106% (6% overcount). The accuracy of approach speeds was analyzed with two factors: the number of lanes and offset position of the lanes relative to the location of the speed gun. First, the lane position and offset were tested to see if any effect exists on the difference between the measurements of the speed by the LiDAR gun and the Advance sensor. Then the difference between mean speeds was tested. Each site was analyzed individually and there were some sites which had a statistically significant difference while there were others which did not. However, the difference was considered not to be practically significant because of the difference in mean speeds of the sample being approximately ±2 mph. The speeds were also used to calculate the 85th percentile speed for all sites with more than 50 samples. For these sites, the average difference in 85th percentile speed was -0.43 mph, the biggest negative difference was -1.6 mph, and the biggest positive difference was 1.5 mph. Because of the limited number of samples taken at each site, a statistical resampling method called Bootstrapping was performed to predict the expected distribution of speed differences in 85th percentile speeds. The results of this analysis also showed the 85th percentile speeds by the LiDAR gun and the Advance sensor were not significantly different for practical traffic engineering applications. However, it is recommended that more research be performed to better understand the applicability of 85th percentile speed measurements.

In a dynamically monitored environment the analyst team need timely and accurate information to conduct proactive action over complex situations. Typically, there are thousands of reported activities in a real time operation, therefore steps are taken to direct the analyst’s attention to the most important activity. The data fusion community have introduced the information fusion model, with multiple situational assessments. Each process lends itself to ranking the most important activities into a predetermined order. Unfortunately, the capability of a real time system can be hindered by the knowledge limitation problem, particularly when the underlying system is processing multiple sensor information. Consequently, the situational awareness domains may not rank the identified situation as perfect, as desired by the decision-making resources. This thesis presents advanced research carried out to evaluate the ranking capability of information from the situational awareness domains: perception, comprehension and projection. The Ranking Capability Score (RCS) has been designed for evaluating the prioritisation process. The enhanced (RCS) has been designed for addressing the knowledge representation problem in the user system relation under a situational assessment where the proposed number of tracking activities are dynamically shifted. Finally, the Scheduling Capability Score was designed for evaluating the scheduling capability of the situational awareness system. The proposed performance metrics have been successful in fulfilling their objectives. Furthermore, they have been validated and evaluated using an analytical approach, through conducting a rigorous analysis of the prioritisation and scheduling processes, despite any constraints related to a domain-specific configuration.

Climate change is a global concern as it may affect many aspects of life, including water supply. A tool used to model climate change’s impacts is called a General Circulation Model (GCM). GCMs project future scenarios including temperature and precipitation, but these are designed at a coarse resolution and require downscaling for employment for regional hydrologic modeling. There is a vast amount of research on downscaling and bias-correcting GCMs data, but it is unknown whether these techniques alter precipitation signals embedded in these models or reproduce climate states that are viable for water resource planning and management. Using the Tampa, Florida region for the case study, the first part of the research investigated 1) whether GCM and the downscaled, bias-corrected data were able to replicate important historical climate states; and 2) if climate state and/or transition probabilities in raw GCMs were preserved or lost in translation in the corrected downscaled data. This has an important implication in understanding the limitations of bias-correction methods and shortcomings of future projection scenarios. Results showed that the GCM, and downscaled and bias-corrected data did a poor job in capturing historical climate states for wet or dry states as well as the variability in precipitation including some extremes associated with El Niño events. Additionally, the corrected products ended up creating different cycles compared to the original GCMs. Since the corrected products did not preserve GCMs historical transition probabilities, more than likely similar types of deviations will occur for “future” predictions and therefore another correction could be applied if desired to reproduce the degree of spatial persistence of atmospheric features and climatic states that are hydrologically important. Furthermore, understanding the sustainability of water supply systems in a changing climate is required for undertaking adaptation measures. Many water suppliers employ GCMs to examine climate change’s effect on hydrologic variables such as precipitation, but little is known on the propagation of mismatch errors in downscaled products through cascade of hydrologic and systems models. The second study examined how deviations in downscaled GCMs precipitation propagated into streamflow and reservoir simulation models by using key performance metrics. Findings exhibited that simulations better reproduced the resilience metric, but failed to capture reliability, vulnerability and sustainability metrics. Discrepancies were attributed to multiple factors including variances in GCMs precipitation and streamflow cumulative distribution functions, and divergences in serial correlation and system memory. Finally, the last study examined multiple models, emission scenarios and an ensemble to obtain a range of possible implications on reservation operations for time periods 2030-2053, 2054-2077 and 2077-2100 since the future emission trajectory is uncertain. Currently there are four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) as defined by the IPCC’s fifth Assessment Report which provides time-dependent projections based on different forecasted greenhouse gas emission and land use changes. For this research Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.0, 6.0 and 8.5 were examined. Scenarios were evaluated utilizing reliability, resilience, vulnerability and sustainability performance metrics and compared to a historical baseline. Findings exhibited that RCP 4.5, the lower end of emission scenario, improved reservoir reliability and resilience over time. Conversely, RCP 8.5, highest emissions, resulted in a steady decline of all metrics by 2100. Although vulnerability increased by 2100 for all emission scenarios, on average RCP 4.5 was less vulnerable. Investigation of permits and adjustments to capture extreme flows might be necessary to combat climate changes and precipitation inputs along with improvements to atmospheric emissions, which correlated with system recuperation with time.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciaAC_DISSERT.pdf: 1727038 bytes, checksum: 6d92b0a685d31e2550d0b963726e444f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-19 / This work deals with experimental studies about VoIP conections into WiFi 802.11b networks with handoff. Indoor and outdoor network experiments are realised to take measurements for the QoS parameters delay, throughput, jitter and packt loss. The performance parameters are obtained through the use of software tools Ekiga, Iperf and Wimanager that assure, respectvely, VoIP conection simulation, trafic network generator and metric parameters acquisition for, throughput, jitter and packt loss. The avarage delay is obtained from the measured throughput and the concept of packt virtual transmition time. The experimental data are validated based on de QoS level for each metric parameter accepted as adequated by the specialized literature / Este trabalho trata de estudos experimentais a respeito de conex?es VoIP em redes WiFi 802.11b com mobilidade de um dos usu?rios envolvidos na conex?o de voz e, por conseguinte, na presen?a de handoff. Os experimentos s?o realizados em ambientes indoor e outdoor com foco na medi??o dos ar?metros de desempenho usualmente tidos como indicadores da qualidade de servi?o - QoS em aplica??es VoIP: atraso, vaz?o, jitter, e perda de pacotes. Os par?metros de desempenho s?o obtidos com o aux?lio das ferramentas Ekiga, Iperf e Wimanager que possibilitam, respectivamente, simular uma conex?o VoIP, injetar tr?fego controlado em um ambiente de rede WiFi e medir a vaz?o, o jitter e a perda de pacotes. O atraso m?dio ? obtido analiticamente a partir da vaz?o medida e do uso do conceito de tempo de transmiss?o virtual m?dio de um pacote de voz. A aferi??o da aceita??o dos resultados ? feita com base nos n?veis de servi?os tidos como adequados na literatura para cada uma das m?tricas obtidas nos experimentos

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JulianoRSA_DISSERT.pdf: 4399456 bytes, checksum: 8d53781b4f639461b07950fb560261a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-07-04 / The evolution of automation in recent years made possible the continuous monitoring of the processes of industrial plants. With this advance, the amount of information that automation systems are subjected to increased significantly. The alarms generated by the monitoring equipment are a major contributor to this increase, and the equipments are usually deployed in industrial plants without a formal methodology, which entails an increase in the number of alarms generated, thus overloading the alarm system and therefore the operators of such plants. In this context, the works of alarm management comes up with the objective of defining a formal methodology for installation of new equipment and detect problems in existing settings. This thesis aims to propose a set of metrics for the evaluation of alarm systems already deployed, so that you can identify the health of this system by analyzing the proposed indices and comparing them with parameters defined in the technical norms of alarm management. In addition, the metrics will track the work of alarm management, verifying if it is improving the quality of the alarm system. To validate the proposed metrics, data from actual process plants of the petrochemical industry were used / A evolu??o da automa??o nos ?ltimos anos tornou poss?vel o monitoramento cont?nuo dos processos de plantas industriais. Com esse avan?o, a quantidade de informa??o que os sistemas de automa??o est?o submetidos aumentou significativamente. Os alarmes gerados pelos equipamentos de monitora??o s?o um dos principais respons?veis por esse aumento, sendo que eles geralmente s?o implantados nas plantas industriais sem uma metodologia formal, o que acarreta um aumento do n?mero de alarmes gerados, sobrecarregando, assim, os sistemas de alarmes e por consequ?ncia os operadores dessas plantas. Neste contexto, o trabalho de gerenciamento de alarmes surge com o objetivo de definir uma metodologia formal para a instala??o de novos equipamentos e detectar problemas nas configura??es existentes. Esta disserta??o visa propor um conjunto de m?tricas para a avalia??o dos sistemas de alarmes j? implantados, de forma que seja poss?vel identificar a sa?de deste sistema analisando-se os ?ndices propostos e comparando-os com os par?metros definidos em normas t?cnicas da ?rea de gest?o de alarmes. Al?m disso, as m?tricas permitir?o o acompanhamento do trabalho de gerenciamento de alarmes, verificando se o mesmo est? melhorando a qualidade do sistema de alarme. Para valida??o das m?tricas propostas, utilizou-se dados provenientes de plantas de processo reais da ind?stria petroqu?mica

This thesis provides an understanding of retailers’ performance metrics and measurement. In doing so it lays bare the over reliance on historic published accounting reports as the de facto standard for retail performance reporting. In addition, it exposes the weakness in retail accounting reports as well as retail failure prediction models that are dependent on financial ratios as key variables. This thesis also casts light on the non-financial performance metrics used by retailers. All retailers use performance metrics but do not always report them in a coherent and defined way to give a transparent picture of their actual performance. The subject of performance, and metrics in particular, can be approached from multiple disciplines, yet there is an absence of detailed guidance or discussion of retail performance metrics, for retail boards, in any literature. To comprehend a UK retailer’s performance, it is argued that there is a prerequisite to understand the full context of the UK retail landscape, and the multitude of metrics, both financial and non-financial, this brings into play when discussing performance measurement. Accordingly, the objectives of this thesis were to identify: what retail performance metrics are used by retail boards to manage their performance; what these boards claim about their performance in the public domain; and what disconnect there may be between these two areas. A pragmatic worldview in the interpretative tradition frames the research epistemology. This inductive approach is supported by a multiple case study design strategy using informed grounded theory to conduct research into six case companies (four successful and two failed) in order to discover the retail performance metrics they use and report. The findings show an abundance of metrics in use at retail boardroom level and a ‘sifting matrix’ is devised to cluster the metrics to aid comprehension and ranking into the 20 focus areas which retail boards consider important. These focus areas provide a basis for a suite of metrics, ‘the vital few’ within which six were found to be consistently and persistently used that could form an industry standard. In addition, there was evidence that retailers adapt their metrics as they change, giving substance to the notion of adaptive resilience in performance measurement. Any disconnect between metric use and disclosure was explored through a conceptual framework, ‘a journey matrix’, where retailers are on a journey to becoming trust intelligent with their disclosure of retail performance metrics. The transparent disclosure of retail performance metrics provides the explicit link to gaining trust and demonstrating good governance practice implicit within stewardship theory. The ‘journey matrix’ is also proposed as an alternative developmental viewpoint for analysing retailers’ annual reports and accounts. The development and disclosure of retail performance metrics lacks guidance on definitions, calculation bases and recommended disclosure. Without guidance, the voluntary proliferation of selective reporting is likely to render performance, as published by retailers themselves, opaque and confusing. This thesis starts the debate about board level retail performance metrics research and provides a framework to assist retail boards to evaluate what they use and what they disclose in their journey to gain the trust of stakeholders.

This project has been carried out at the Electronic Embedded Systems Architecture Department at Volvo Construction Equipment (VCE), Eskilstuna, Sweden. It forms the baseline for a stepwise systematic research initiative to convert wired technologies used for certain in-vehicle control and communication components to wireless technologies. In-vehicle wireless networks are being increasingly improvised and researched to minimize the manufacturing and maintenance cost of the total amount of wiring harnesses within the vehicles. Fault tracking and maintenance becomes convenient within a wireless network. Wireless intra-vehicular communication provides an open architecture that can accommodate new components and applications. One such usability has been studied in this thesis for the Display Control Unit of Volvo paver machines. A newly designed hardware demands new technologies to ensure operator safety, security, comfort, convenience, and information. The research conducted in this thesis takes into account five probable use-cases in terms of control and communication around the new hardware, and studies suitable wireless technologies that could replace the wired technology that will be used. From a detailed literature study and the specifications provided by VCE, WAVE/IEEE802.11p and DMG/IEEE 802.11ad have been selected as optimal candidates. These two have been modelled at the physical layer of the system. After comparing the results of WAVE for 4 different channel models and 8 different coding and modulation schemes, it has been found that 1/2BPSK(3 Mbps) and 1/2 QPSK(6 Mbps) are optimal for the 3 Rician Fading Channels of Rural LOS, Urban LOS, and Highway LOS. For use-cases that involve larger distances and a large exchange of control signals, WAVE is a good choice. DMG has 19 modulation schemes for Single Carrier Modes and some of them are extremely robust at low SNR. Around SNR 20, it shows lesser packet errors than WAVE. The lower error rate is also evident from the BER values. For use-cases that involve smaller distances and a lot of image data, DMG is preferable. The work, however, does not study the safety and security aspects. Thean alysis and modelling are theoretical being based on literature studies and the necessary parameters provided by VCE. The model needs to be evaluated against field studies and practical measurements with a prototype before implementation inside the paver.

Over the past few years, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has developed a system called the Signal Performance Metrics System (SPMS) to evaluate the performance of signalized intersections. This system currently provides data summaries for several performance measures including: 1) Purdue Coordination Diagram, 2) Speed, 3) Approach Volume, 4) Purdue Phase Termination Charts, 5) Split Monitor, 6) Turning Movement Volume Counts, 7) Arrivals on Red, and 8) Approach Delay. There is a need to know the accuracy of the data that are being collected by the Wavetronix SmartSensor Matrix and displayed in the SPMS. The TAC members determined that the following factors would affect the accuracy of radar-based traffic sensors the most: sensor position, number of approach lanes, and volume level. The speed limit factor was added to the study after most of the data collection was completed. The purpose of this research was to collect data at various intersections to determine the accuracy of the data collected by the Wavetronix SmartSensor Matrix.A Mixed Model Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to analyze the effects that each factor had on the accuracy of the traffic volume count. A total of 14 tests were performed to examine the effects of the factors on traffic volume count accuracy. The sensor position factor was not found to be a statistically significant factor affecting the accuracy of traffic volume counts. The effect of speed limit on traffic volume count accuracy was determined to be inconclusive due to the lack of samples to be tested. The remaining two factors, volume level and number of approach lanes, were found to have a statistically significant effect on the accuracy of traffic volume counts. Based on these two factors, a matrix was created to meet the needs of UDOT to present accuracy values on the SPMS website. This matrix includes the mean, 95 percent confidence interval of the mean, standard deviation, number of samples, and the minimum number of samples needed.

Linear-motion compliant mechanisms have generally been developed for small displacement applications. The objective of the thesis is to provide a basis for improved large-displacement linear-motion compliant mechanisms (LLCMs). One of the challenges in developing large-displacement compliant mechanisms is the apparent performance tradeoff between displacement and off-axis stiffness. In order to facilitate the evaluation, comparison, and optimization of the performance of LLCMs, this work formulates and presents a set of metrics that evaluates displacement and off-axis stiffness. The metrics are non-dimensionalized and consist of the relevant characteristics that describe mechanism displacement, off-axis stiffness, actuation force, and size. Displacement is normalized by the footprint of the device. Transverse stiffness is normalized by a new performance characteristic called virtual axial stiffness. Torsional stiffness is normalized by a performance characteristic called the characteristic torque. Because large-displacement compliant mechanisms are often characterized by non-constant axial and off-axis stiffnesses, these normalized stiffness metrics are formulated to account for the variation of both axial and off-axis stiffness over the range of displacement. In pursuit of mechanisms with higher performance, this work also investigates the development of a new compliant mechanism element. It presents a pseudo-rigid-body model (PRBM) for rolling-contact compliant beams (RCC beams), a compliant element used in the RCC suspension. The loading conditions and boundary conditions for RCC beams can be simplified to an equivalent cantilever beam that has the same force-deflection characteristics as the RCC beam. Building on the PRBM for cantilever beams, this paper defines a model for the force-deflection relationship for RCC beams. Included in the definition of the RCC PRBM are the pseudo-rigid-body model parameters that determine the shape of the beam, the length of the corresponding pseudo-rigid-body links and the stiffness of the equivalent torsional spring. The behavior of the RCC beam is parameterized in terms of a single parameter defined as clearance, or the distance between the contact surfaces. The RCC beams exhibit a unique force-displacement curve where the force is inversely proportional to the clearance squared. The RCC suspension is modeled using the newly defined PRBM. The suspension exhibits unique performance, generating no resistance to axial motion while providing significant off-axis stiffness. The mechanism has a large range of travel and operates with frictionless motion due to the rolling-contact beams. In addition to functioning as a stand-alone linear-motion mechanism, the RCC suspension can be configured with other linear mechanisms in superposition to improve the off-axis stiffness of other mechanisms without affecting their axial resistance.