Traditional transportation planning models are not very sensitive to many of the benefits derived from Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies. With the recent availability of ITS Deployment Analysis System (IDAS), there is an opportunity to conduct detailed cost-benefit analyses of ITS Alternatives. IDAS is able to estimate the impacts, benefits, and costs resulting from the deployment of many ITS components. This is accomplished by comparing the average cost of deploying and integrating the appropriate technologies, to the estimated benefits experienced by the network. The ratio of average benefits to average costs is termed the B/C ratios. While the use of IDAS has been limited primarily to comparing ITS alternatives, this research goes a step further. After developing a local model, this research develops a strategy to maximize the benefits of using ITS components through prioritized deployment schedules. Effective priority strategies are most often based on B/C ratios and therefore require the outputs from IDAS to accurately reflect local conditions. Because local parameters vary considerably from the national averages used in IDAS as default values, this paper establishes input parameters in all five of IDAS's analysis modules that accurately model conditions in the Tampa Bay area. Outputs from the local Transportation forecasting model (FSUTMS), along with some other specialized IDAS conversion tools supplied by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), were used to develop an accurate control alternative. Instead of default equipment costs, project costs were used to develop User Defined Costs within the cost module, local V/C curves replaced default curves in the benefits module, and the Sunguide report was used to establish Florida specific parameters used to value the benefits associated with each ITS alternative. To develop a scenario that maximized the overall benefits to the system, individual projects were modeled i n IDAS and their corresponding B/C ratio used to re-prioritize projects during deployment. Projects were deployed in order from highest to lowest B/C, while controlling for variations in time available for deployment and budgetary constraints. To account for variations in the time available for deployment, the impact of time was evaluated and the findings used along with project limitations to develop appropriate phase schedules. Three scenarios were developed to test the impact of time. These scenarios were: compressed schedule, actual FDOT schedule, and an extended schedule. The test concluded that compressed schedules offered the highest benefits to the system. Based on this observation, it was desirable to develop a deployment scenario that compressed the time necessary for full deployment. Budget constraints were also a major limiting factor. Because these heavy constraints are often placed on planners, it was desirable that the final scenario accounted for budget constraints in the deployment schedule. To account for budgetary constraints, an average phase budget was developed from current FDOT plans and used as an upper limit for the cost of each phase of the deployment scenarios. Based on project priority, time considerations, and budget constraints, a final deployment scenario was developed and compared to the FDOT deployment scenario. Comparing theses scenarios showed that some considerable improvements to the system can be achieved. By tracking the B/C ratio throughout the lifetime of the project, 80% higher B/C ratio was evident one year after full deployment and a 15% higher B/C ratio after 10 years of full project deployment. This represents an additional $350 million in benefits to the system over the ten year period. These results highlight both the effectiveness of ITS technologies as well as the need to develop more efficient strategies for using them.

This master’s thesis is focused on sensory systems and analysis of such signals. In the frst part, a theoretical analysis of each sensory system is conducted. Followingly, appropriate flters were used to process these signals. The last part of this thesis deals with the analysis of measured data.

ITC/USA 2010 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Sixth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 25-28, 2010 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / The development and qualification of personnel and cargo aerial delivery parachute systems present unique challenges to the instrumentation and data analysis engineers. Some of the areas that must be addressed include: a) system must be low in cost, b) system often has to be operated on ranges that have limited telemetry or other range instrumentation and support (i.e. commercial skydiving centers), c) system is often rigged and operated by parachute support personnel and test jumpers rather than instrumentation engineers, and d) system must be able to be reconfigured in the field to support a variety of test card requirements during a typical test day, e) data must be available for review and the system be prepared for the next test within a few minutes of parachute recovery, and f) system must withstand ground impact velocities as high as 50 ft/sec (15.24 m/sec) without damage. This paper describes such a system as it is being used for the development and qualification testing of a number of parachute systems for sport skydiving, military personnel, as well as cargo parachute systems. This modular system has been developed as a result of previous experience in other parachute development and qualification projects to address the need for a flexible Data Acquisition System (DAS) system that meets the above requirements. This paper describes some of the tools used to meet these requirements.

Διαφυγές αερίων μεθανίου και υδρόθειου από τον πυθμένα του λιμανιού του Κατάκολου, Δυτική Πελοπόννησος, μελετήθηκαν με την χρήση των οργάνων distributed temperature sensor (DTS) και intelligent distributed acoustic sensor (iDAS) από το Εργαστήριο Θαλάσσιας Γεωλογίας & Φυσικής Ωκεανογραφίας, του Παν/μίου Πατρών, σε συνεργασία με την εταιρεία Silixa Ltd. Είναι η πρώτη φορά που τα όργανα DTS & iDAS χρησιμοποιούνται για μελέτη σε υποθαλάσσιο περιβάλλον. Ο σκοπός της παρούσας μεταπτυχιακής διατριβής ειδίκευσης είναι η δημιουργία θερμικών προφίλ και ακουστικών σινιάλων των φυσαλίδων κατά την διαφυγή τους από τον πυθμένα, και η έρευνα για την εφαρμοσιμότητα των δύο οπτικών ινών για ανίχνευση και αναγνώριση των υποθαλάσσιων διαφυγών αερίων. Για την επίτευξη του στόχου δημιουργήθηκαν, αρχικά, χωρικές κατανομές μέσης θερμοκρασίας και τυπικής απόκλισης θερμοκρασίας, καθώς και διαγράμματα θερμοκρασίας-απόστασης ώστε να εντοπιστούν πιθανές διαφυγές αερίων. Στην συνέχεια, οι χωρικές κατανομές συγκρίθηκαν με τα ακουστικά δεδομένα του iDAS με σκοπό την επιβεβαίωση των διαφυγών σε συγκεκριμένα σημεία κατά μήκος του καλωδίου. / A sizeable seepage of gas containing methane and hydrogen sulphide on the seafloor of Katakolo Bay in Western Greece was monitored using both a distributed temperature sensor (DTS) and an intelligent distributed acoustic sensor (iDAS) by the Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography, the Department of Geology, the University of Patras, in association with Silixa, Ltd. It was the first time that DTS and iDAS were used in a sub-marine environment. The aim of this thesis is to produce a thermal profile and study noise signal of seafloor seepages via bubble metrics and to investigate the applicability of both optical fibers to underwater seepage detection and recognition. This aim was to be achieved utilizing a two-fold methodology. Firstly, temperature and standard deviation spatial distributions and temperature-distance diagrams along the fiber were calculated in order to detect possible gas seepage. These figures were then used to ascertain whether and to what extent water current could impact measurement methodology. Secondly, spatial distributions were compared with acoustic data of iDAS in order to confirm the seepages along the fiber.