This thesis deals with design and implementation application, that should be equivalent to several eletronic devices such as DVD player or videotape recorder. Computer used for this purpose is often branded as Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC). This thesis studies available multimedia libraries and software in operating system Linux, that is used to create designed application. It shows some similar existing application to create HTPC either commercial or opensource.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite signals provide not only traditional radionavigation service but inexpensive and convenient radio beacons for signal propagation studies on ionosphere and atmosphere. This thesis describes the development and testing of a specialized GPS sensor which measures, plots and records real-time high-resolution L1 (1575.42MHz) GPS signal strength at a data rate of up to 10Hz. The instrument is based on an open architecture GPS receiver development kit that can be modified and rebuilt. The signal strength is defined as mean-square signal strength in the thesis. The coarse/acquisition code (C/A-code) correlation is applied and the raw correlation data from a GPS correlator chip is obtained to calculate the signal strength. The gain variation of the automatic gain control (AGC) in the GPS signal link is considered, and a model is designed and implemented in data post-processing to reduce the AGC distortion to GPS signal strength measurements. Speed limitation of 1,000 knots and height limitation of 60,000 feet are removed so that it can track spacecraft such as low earth orbit (LEO) satellite. Four testing plans are developed and conducted to test the GPS signal strength sensor. A GPS simulator is used and the testing results prove that the space-borne sensor is fully operational and the signal strength resolution can be smaller than 0.05dB. Additionally, a COM-port-to-TCP/IP GPS simulation remote control gateway is designed and implemented for the senor and the GPS simulator to conduct formation flying. A graphic user interface (GUI) program is also built to retrieve data from a commercial high-performance space-borne GPS receiver for comparison. A Red Hat Linux signal strength sensor based on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) PiVoT GPS receiver is achieved by modifications. The NASA PiVoT sensor, working together with the former signal strength sensor and the commercial space-borne GPS receiver, will strengthen our academic research strength in the studies on the ionospheric and atmospheric effects and irregularities which cause GPS signal degradation and scintillations. / Master of Science

This dissertation offers demonstrations of autonomous catalytic microtubes (microjet engines) with tunable diameters ranging from micro- to nanoscale and lengths from 50 μm to 1 mm. These results open the door to effective microengines and represent the entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for “the smallest man-made jet engine.” Several attractive methodologies of machine-based functions at the micro- and nanoscale are shown. For instance, catalytic Ti/Cr/Pt microjets, which are integrated on a planar substrate, can operate as “on chip” chemical micropumps by decomposition of hydrogen peroxide fuel into oxygen bubbles and water. When released from a substrate, microjets self-propel autonomously in solution. The incorporation of ferromagnetic layer (Fe) into the rolled-up geometry enables their remote control using external magnetic field. Such microjets were used to load, transport, deliver and assemble multiple cargo particles, including biological cells in bulk solutions and microfluidic channels. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that for microjets that are fixed to or self-propelled above a platinum patterned surface, the microengine power/speed can be controlled using a white lightsource. A change in intensity of the white light leads to a controllable switching “off” and “on” of the microengine power on demand. Light degrades a local concentration of the hydrogen peroxide fuel and surface tension and subsequently suppresses the generation of oxygen microbubbles. In the next step, the diameter of the microjets was rigorously reduced to 250 nm by using hybrid heteroepitaxial/catalytic InGaAs/GaAs/Cr/Pt nanotubes. Due to asymmetry of the rolled-up layers, these nanojets move in corkscrew-like motions and act as “self-propelled nanotools,” which were used in the next step to transport yeast cells and drill into fixed cancer Hela cells. Although it is well-known that hydrogen peroxide cannot be used to sustain viable cellular function, it is however conceivable that alternative fuels, such as glucose, might enable operation of such nanotools under biologically compatible conditions. As a first step to achieve this goal, demonstrations were made using metal-enzyme biocatalytic Ti/Au/SAM/Catalase microengines. Synthetic components with competing interactions are well-suited to study the emergence of their collective behavior, such as swarms of large numbers of individuals. Microengines’ self-organization in bistable swarms is shown at the air-liquid interface of the mixture of propylene carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. Microengines act as “water striders.” Buoyed by oxygen bubbles, they self-propel via the microbubble recoiling mechanism and, depending on the bubbles’ sizes, self-organize into swarms due to the meniscus climbing effect. These reversible swarms depend on the microengine power, which competes against attracting surface tension force. The demonstrated microjet engines show great promise for emerging applications, including biomedical, on-chip, environmental, and robotic micromachines. Furthermore, a key method discovered, entitled “rolled-up nanotechnology on polymers,” allowed for the fabrication of highly parallel arrays of microtubes with multiple functionalities and aimed for different purposes.

La démarche scientifique (ou expérimentale) en milieu scolaire nécessite des savoir-faire expérimentaux qui ne s’acquièrent habituellement qu’en présentiel, c’est-à-dire en laboratoire institutionnel où l’enseignant ou le technicien sont présents et peuvent, à tout moment, assister pleinement l’apprenant dans sa démarche d’investigation scientifique et technologique. Ils peuvent l’orienter, le diriger, susciter sa réflexion, faire des démonstrations réelles ou contrôler son expérimentation en lui montrant comment paramétrer les outils d’expérimentation assistée par ordinateur (ExAO). Pour répondre aux besoins de la formation à distance, cette recherche de développement en didactique des sciences et de la technologie propose de mettre à la disposition des apprenants et des enseignants un environnement de laboratoire informatisé, contrôlé et assisté à distance. Cet environnement, axé sur un microlaboratoire d’ExAO (MicrolabExAO), que nous avons nommé Ex@O pour le distinguer, a été testé de manière fonctionnelle, puis évalué en situation réelle par des étudiants-maîtres et des élèves de l’éducation des adultes qui ont pratiqué et expérimenté la démarche scientifique, en situation de laboratoire réel, mais à distance. Pour ce faire, nous avons couplé le logiciel MicrolabExAO à un logiciel de prise en main à distance avec outils audio et vidéo (Teamviewer). De plus, nous avons créé et inséré, dans le logiciel MicrolabExAO, une aide en ligne pour télécharger et faciliter la prise en main à distance. Puisque cet environnement Ex@O permet de multiplier les contacts des apprenants avec une expérimentation concrète, ce prototype répond bien à l’un des objectifs du Programme de formation de l’école québécoise (PFEQ) qui est de rendre l’apprenant plus actif dans ses apprentissages. Et parce que ce premier prototype d’environnement Ex@O permet d’effectuer des activités en laboratoire à distance, nous avons pu vérifier qu’il met aussi l’accent, non seulement sur les savoirs, mais également sur les savoir-faire expérimentaux en sciences et technologie, traditionnellement développés dans les locaux des laboratoires institutionnels. Notons ici que la démarche expérimentale s’acquiert très majoritairement en laboratoire en pratiquant, souvent et régulièrement, le processus inductif et déductif propre à cette démarche. Cette pratique de la démarche expérimentale, à distance, avec la technologie Ex@O qui l’accompagne, nous a permis de vérifier que celle-ci était possible, voire comparable à la réalisation, pas-à-pas, d’un protocole expérimental effectué dans un laboratoire institutionnel. / In the school environment, the scientific (or experimental) approach requires experimental «savoir-faire» which is usually acquired in presential, that is to say in an institutional laboratory where the teacher or technician are present and may, at any time, fully assist the learner in his inquiry-based scientific and technological approach. The teacher or technician can direct, guide and stimulate the learner’s thinking, to do live demonstrations and control experiment by showing the learner how to configures the computer assisted experimentation (expérimentation assistée par ordinateur or ExAO) tools. To meet the needs of distance learning, the R&D in science and technology education, provides learners and teachers with a computer laboratory environment, controlled and attended to from a distance. In order to distinguish between the remote computer lab environment and the ExAO microlaboratory, we named our environment Ex@O. It was first tested in order to werify its functionality and it was then evaluated in classroom situations by student teachers and students of adult education who practiced and experienced the scientific approach. This was done with a computer laboratory environment, but from a distance. To achieve this, we combine the MicrolabExAO software with a grip remote, and audio and video tools (Teamviewer). In addition, we have create and included in the MicrolabExAO software, online help in order to facilitate the download and the grip remote laboratory. Because of Ex@O, the learner benefits from increased contacts with concrete experiments. In doing so, the Ex@O prototype meets the objectives of the « Programme de formation de l’école québécoise » (PFEQ), which is to increase the learner’s active participation in his learnings. With the first version of Ex@O prototype, where the learner can perform activities in remote laboratory, we were able to verify that it also focuses not only on knowledge, but also the experimental science and technology « savoir-faire », traditionally developed in institutional laboratories. Note here that the experimental approach is acquired almost exclusively in the laboratory practicing, often and on a regular basis, both inductive and deductive processes which are specific to this approach. The practice of the experimental approach from a distance with the Ex@O technology, has enabled us to verify that it was possible, even comparable to a real, step-by-step, experimental protocol traditionally conducted in an institutional laboratory.

The thesis deals with the development and realization of a multimedia module with a microcontroller for radio controlled models of ships, cars, and fighting techniques. The module uses commands from the RC transmitter to control the model illumination and accompanying sounds. The thesis summarizes principles generally used in RC models. Based on these general principles, a new control element for the RC transmitter is designed. A relevant multimedia module is designed and implemented. The last part of the thesis is devoted to the description of the basic parts of microcontroller firmware.

The aim of this dissertation is to bring the complete view of the Home System Integration, including public survey based on this data. Households are generally composed of several different systems that are controlled separately and are not interconnected. The purpose of Home System Integration is to connect all electronic equipment to make household safer, more efficient and more comfortable. The public survey, forming a practical part of the thesis, brings the view of Home System Integration in the Czech Republic. It can also serve as an information source for producers, sellers, their further product development and setting sales strategies.

With the improvement of multimedia technologies such as broadband-enabled HDTV, video on demand and internet TV, the computer and the TV are merging to become a single device. Moreover the previously cited technologies as well as DVD or Blu-ray can provide menu navigation and interactive content. The growing interest in video conferencing led to the integration of the webcam in different devices such as laptop, cell phones and even the TV set. Our approach is to directly use an embedded webcam to remotely control a TV set using hand gestures. Using specific gestures, a user is able to control the TV. A dedicated interface can then be used to select a TV channel, adjust volume or browse videos from an online streaming server. This approach leads to several challenges. The first is the use of a simple webcam which leads to a vision based system. From the single webcam, we need to recognize the hand and identify its gesture or trajectory. A TV set is usually installed in a living room which implies constraints such as a potentially moving background and luminance change. These issues will be further discussed as well as the methods developed to resolve them. Video browsing is one example of the use of gesture recognition. To illustrate another application, we developed a simple game controlled by hand gestures. The emergence of 3D TVs is allowing the development of 3D video conferencing. Therefore we also consider the use of a stereo camera to recognize hand gesture.

Orientador: Nobuo Oki / Banca: Alexandre Cesar Rodrigues da Silva / Banca: José Raimundo de Oliveira / Resumo: Neste trabalho descreve-se um Software de comando para o acionamento de um braço mecânico do robô SCORBOT ER - III. O software desenvolvido tem a capacidade de controlar e monitorar o robô remotamente em tempo real através da Rede Mundial de Computadores (WWW), utilizando bibliotecas de JAVA como: métodos nativos (JNI - JAVA Native Interface), Invocação de Métodos Remotos (RMI - Remote Method Invocation), Conectividade com Banco de Dados JAVA (JDBC - JAVA Database Connecvity) e JMF (JAVA Media Frameworks) com o Protocolo de Tempo Real - RTP (Real Time Protocol). Para controle do robô, o circuito de controle originalmente desenvolvido pelo fabricante, foi reprojetado utilizando-se o ambiente Max+Plus II da Altera e a conexão entre Robô e o PC é feita através de um dispositivo lógico programável tipo FPGA, que recebe os comandos provenientes da Porta Paralela do PC, o monitoramento através de câmeras digitais do tipo WEBCAM conectadas em uma Porta do tipo USB. / Abstract: This work describes the development of a Software for the control of a mechanical arm type SCORBOT ER - III. This software has the capacity to control and to monitor the robot remotely in real time through the World Wide Web (WWW), using libraries of JAVA as: native methods (JNI-JAVA Native Interface), Invocation of Remote Methods (RMI - Remote Method Invocation), Connecvity with database JAVA (JDBC - JAVA Database Connecvity) and JMF (JAVA Media Frameworks) with the Protocol of Real Time - RTP (Real Time Protocol). The robot control circuit was redesigned using the Altera Max+Plus II environment and the connection between the robot and personal computer was made by the Parallel Port and digital cameras of the type WEBCAM, connected USB port. / Mestre

Orientador: Maria Cecília Calani Baranauskas / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T23:18:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Miranda_LeonardoCunhade_D.pdf: 4387805 bytes, checksum: b138e75ab0fe002567c99b3af4fd3a50 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: A digitalização da transmissão da televisão terrestre no Brasil e, consequentemente, a possibilidade de oferta de interatividade na televisão estabelece um novo paradigma de interação do telespectador com essa mídia com extremo potencial de impacto social, especialmente para a população brasileira. Entretanto, a existência de artefatos digitais comumente utilizados para a interação com o sistema de televisão hoje praticado não garante que esses dispositivos sejam os mais adequados aos avanços propostos com a Televisão Digital Interativa (TVDI). Além disso, a convivência de um número cada vez maior de equipamentos que fazem uso de controle remoto leva a interfaces mais complexas considerando os problemas existentes com o controle remoto já discutido na literatura por vários autores. O foco desta pesquisa de doutorado foi, portanto, investigar o design da interação nessa nova mídia com o objetivo de propor, desenvolver e validar novas formas de interação entre os usuários e a TVDI. Com base no entendimento de que uma interação mais direta com a TVDI passa pela necessidade de fazer com que o foco da interação se dirija mais à interface das aplicações interativas do que ao artefato físico de interação, chegamos a alguns resultados desta pesquisa. A tecnologia resultante desta pesquisa de doutorado saiu do plano das ideias, passando pelo seu projeto conceitual, de forma participativa, até sua implementação e validação junto a representantes do público-alvo. Podemos destacar algumas contribuições decorrentes da realização desta pesquisa no contexto dos artefatos físicos de interação com a TVDI: i) taxonomia para os artefatos físicos de interação; ii) recomendações de uso dos artefatos físicos de interação conhecidos na literatura; iii) análise sócio-técnica do domínio/contexto de novos artefatos físicos de interação; iv) diretrizes para novos artefatos físicos de interação; v) modelo de interação baseado em gestos via artefato físico de interação; vi) guidelines de design para novos artefatos físicos de interação; vii) especificações do design do produto e da linguagem de interação de um novo artefato digital para a TVDI; viii) implementações de protótipos de hardware e software do novo artefato digital para a TVDI; e ix) validação das especificações e dos protótipos do novo artefato digital para a TVDI junto ao público-alvo. / Abstract: The digitalization of terrestrial television broadcasting in Brazil and consequently the possibility of offering interactivity on television establish a new paradigm of interaction for the spectator with the media that has great potential to make a social impact, especially for the Brazilian population. However, the existence of digital artifacts commonly used to interact with current television system does not guarantee that those devices are adequate to the developments with the Interactive Digital Television (iDTV). Moreover, the coexistence of an increasing number of devices that make use of the remote control could result in more complex interfaces, considering the problems with remote control already discussed in the literature by several authors. The objective of this Ph.D. research was to investigate the interaction design in the iDTV with the purpose of proposing, developing and validating new ways of interaction with this new media. The research results are grounded in the understanding that a more direct interaction with iDTV involves making the focus of the interaction more on the interface of the interactive applications than on the physical artifact of interaction itself. The technology resulting from this research involved since its conceptual design, with a participatory approach, to its implementation and validation with real users from the target audience. Some contributions of this research in the context of physical artifacts of interaction with the iDTV can be highlighted: i) taxonomy for the physical artifacts of interaction; ii) use recommendations of physical artifacts of interaction known in the literature; iii) socio-technical analysis of the domain/context of new physical artifacts of interaction; iv) guidelines for new physical artifacts of interaction; v) gesture based interaction model via physical artifact of interaction; vi) design guidelines for new physical artifacts of interaction; vii) product design and interaction language specifications for new digital artifact for iDTV; viii) implementations of hardware and software prototypes for the new digital artifact for iDTV; and ix) validation of the specifications and prototypes of the new digital artifact for iDTV with the target audience. / Doutorado / Interação Humano-Computador / Doutor em Ciência da Computação

Ce travail porte, de façon théorétique et pratique, sur les sujets plus pertinents autour des drones en navigation autonome et semi-autonome. Conformément à la nature multidisciplinaire des problèmes étudies, une grande diversité des techniques et théories ont été couverts dans les domaines de la robotique, l’automatique, l’informatique, la vision par ordinateur et les systèmes embarques, parmi outres.Dans le cadre de cette thèse, deux plates-formes expérimentales ont été développées afin de valider la théorie proposée pour la navigation autonome d’un drone. Le premier prototype, développé au laboratoire, est un quadrirotor spécialement conçu pour les applications extérieures. La deuxième plate-forme est composée d’un quadrirotor à bas coût du type AR.Drone fabrique par Parrot. Le véhicule est connecté sans fil à une station au sol équipé d’un système d’exploitation pour robots (ROS) et dédié à tester, d’une façon facile, rapide et sécurisé, les algorithmes de vision et les stratégies de commande proposés. Les premiers travaux développés ont été basés sur la fusion de donnés pour estimer la position du drone en utilisant des capteurs inertiels et le GPS. Deux stratégies ont été étudiées et appliquées, le Filtre de Kalman Etendu (EKF) et le filtre à Particules (PF). Les deux approches prennent en compte les mesures bruitées de la position de l’UAV, de sa vitesse et de son orientation. On a réalisé une validation numérique pour tester la performance des algorithmes. Une tâche dans le cahier de cette thèse a été de concevoir d’algorithmes de commande pour le suivi de trajectoires ou bien pour la télé-opération. Pour ce faire, on a proposé une loi de commande basée sur l’approche de Mode Glissants à deuxième ordre. Cette technique de commande permet de suivre au quadrirotor de trajectoires désirées et de réaliser l’évitement des collisions frontales si nécessaire. Etant donné que la plate-forme A.R.Drone est équipée d’un auto-pilote d’attitude, nous avons utilisé les angles désirés de roulis et de tangage comme entrées de commande. L’algorithme de commande proposé donne de la robustesse au système en boucle fermée. De plus, une nouvelle technique de vision monoculaire par ordinateur a été utilisée pour la localisation d’un drone. Les informations visuelles sont fusionnées avec les mesures inertielles du drone pour avoir une bonne estimation de sa position. Cette technique utilise l’algorithme PTAM (localisation parallèle et mapping), qui s’agit d’obtenir un nuage de points caractéristiques dans l’image par rapport à une scène qui servira comme repère. Cet algorithme n’utilise pas de cibles, de marqueurs ou de scènes bien définies. La contribution dans cette méthodologie a été de pouvoir utiliser le nuage de points disperse pour détecter possibles obstacles en face du véhicule. Avec cette information nous avons proposé un algorithme de commande pour réaliser l’évitement d’obstacles. Cette loi de commande utilise les champs de potentiel pour calculer une force de répulsion qui sera appliquée au drone. Des expériences en temps réel ont montré la bonne performance du système proposé. Les résultats antérieurs ont motivé la conception et développement d’un drone capable de réaliser en sécurité l’interaction avec les hommes et les suivre de façon autonome. Un classificateur en cascade du type Haar a été utilisé pour détecter le visage d’une personne. Une fois le visage est détecté, on utilise un filtre de Kalman (KF) pour améliorer la détection et un algorithme pour estimer la position relative du visage. Pour réguler la position du drone et la maintenir à une distance désirée du visage, on a utilisé une loi de commande linéaire. / The present document addresses, theoretically and experimentally, the most relevant topics for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in autonomous and semi-autonomous navigation. According with the multidisciplinary nature of the studied problems, a wide range of techniques and theories are covered in the fields of robotics, automatic control, computer science, computer vision and embedded systems, among others. As part of this thesis, two different experimental platforms were developed in order to explore and evaluate various theories and techniques of interest for autonomous navigation. The first prototype is a quadrotor specially designed for outdoor applications and was fully developed in our lab. The second testbed is composed by a non expensive commercial quadrotor kind AR. Drone, wireless connected to a ground station equipped with the Robot Operating System (ROS), and specially intended to test computer vision algorithms and automatic control strategies in an easy, fast and safe way. In addition, this work provides a study of data fusion techniques looking to enhance the UAVs pose estimation provided by commonly used sensors. Two strategies are evaluated in particular, an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and a Particle Filter (PF). Both estimators are adapted for the system under consideration, taking into account noisy measurements of the UAV position, velocity and orientation. Simulations show the performance of the developed algorithms while adding noise from real GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements. Safe and accurate navigation for either autonomous trajectory tracking or haptic teleoperation of quadrotors is presented as well. A second order Sliding Mode (2-SM) control algorithm is used to track trajectories while avoiding frontal collisions in autonomous flight. The time-scale separation of the translational and rotational dynamics allows us to design position controllers by giving desired references in the roll and pitch angles, which is suitable for quadrotors equipped with an internal attitude controller. The 2-SM control allows adding robustness to the closed-loop system. A Lyapunov based analysis probes the system stability. Vision algorithms are employed to estimate the pose of the vehicle using only a monocular SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) fused with inertial measurements. Distance to potential obstacles is detected and computed using the sparse depth map from the vision algorithm. For teleoperation tests, a haptic device is employed to feedback information to the pilot about possible collisions, by exerting opposite forces. The proposed strategies are successfully tested in real-time experiments, using a low-cost commercial quadrotor. Also, conception and development of a Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) able to safely interact with human users by following them autonomously, is achieved in the present work. Once a face is detected by means of a Haar cascade classifier, it is tracked applying a Kalman Filter (KF), and an estimation of the relative position with respect to the face is obtained at a high rate. A linear Proportional Derivative (PD) controller regulates the UAV’s position in order to keep a constant distance to the face, employing as well the extra available information from the embedded UAV’s sensors. Several experiments were carried out through different conditions, showing good performance even under disadvantageous scenarios like outdoor flight, being robust against illumination changes, wind perturbations, image noise and the presence of several faces on the same image. Finally, this thesis deals with the problem of implementing a safe and fast transportation system using an UAV kind quadrotor with a cable suspended load. The objective consists in transporting the load from one place to another, in a fast way and with minimum swing in the cable.