Thesis (MTech (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / A precise orbit propagator was developed for implementing on a CubeSat's on-board computer for real-time orbital position and velocity determination and prediction. Knowledge of the accurate orbital position and velocity of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Cubesat is required for various applications such as antenna and imager pointing. Satellite motion is governed by a number of forces other than Earth's gravity alone. The inclusion of perturbation forces such as Earth's aspheric gravity, third body attraction (e.g. Moon and Sun), atmospheric drag and solar radiation pressure, is subsequently required to improve the accuracy of an orbit propagator. Precise orbit propagation is achieved by numerically integrating a set of coupled second order differential equations derived from satellite's perturbed equations of motion. For the purpose of this study two numerical integrators were selected: RK4 - Fourth order Runge Kutta method and RKF78 - results from embedding RK7 into RK8. The former is a single-step integrator while the latter is a multi-step integrator. These integrators were selected for their stability, high accuracy and computational efficiency. An orbit propagation software tool is presented in this study. Considering the processing power of Central Processing Unit (CPU) of CubeSat's on-board computer and a trade-off between precision and computational cost, the 10 x 10 and 20 x 20 gravity field models, the Exponential atmospheric model and Jacchia 70 static atmospheric model, were implemented. A 60 x 60 gravity field model is also investigated for reference. For validation purpose the developed software tool results were compared with results from Systems Tool Kit (STK) and Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) using SUNSAT satellite reference orbit. / National Research Foundation

Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar e propor o melhor método de Gestão Orçamentária na empresa Metalcorte Metalurgia Ltda., que atua no ramo metalúrgico e está localizada em Caxias do Sul. O estudo de caso é descritivo, pois o tema escolhido é favorável para este formato, com coleta de informações na empresa e por meio de entrevistas com os gestores da empresa selecionada para tal estudo. Os conceitos apresentados no terceiro capítulo são utilizados como referencial teórico no decorrer do estudo de caso, podendo-se perceber a aderência da teoria apresentada com a prática da empresa, que está procurando desenvolver instrumentos seguros de tomada de decisão visando manter sua competitividade. O orçamento empresarial é analisado como um elemento participante da dinâmica organizacional e inserido nos processos empresariais, fazendo com que as pessoas na organização se conscientizem dos objetivos a serem alcançados. / This study has the purpose of analyzing and proposing the best Orçamental Management method at the company Metalcorte Metalurgia Ltda., which operates in the metallurgic line and is located in Caxias do Sul. The case study is descriptive being the selected subject favorable to this format. The data were collected within the company as well as by performing interviews with managers of the company chosen for such study. The concepts shown in the third chapter are used as theoretical reference throughout the study, allowing knowledge acquisition about the adherence of the presented theory to the company performance, whose objective is to develop safe instruments for decision making, so as to maintain its competitivity. The company budget is analyzed as being a part of the organizational dynamics and as being inserted in company processes, allowing its personnel to be aware of the goals to be met.

Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de um modelo simplificado dos membros inferiores de um robô bípede, composto basicamente por uma cintura, dois fêmures, duas tíbias e dois pés. A estrutura mecânica do modelo em questão, possui seis graus de liberdade e tem as dimensões aproximadas de um ser humano de estrutura mediana. Seu sistema de controle e de geração de trajetórias é desenvolvido utilizando funcionalidades disponíveis no Robot Operating System (ROS), porém ao contrário da maioria dos controladores existentes no ROS, este projeto propõe implementar um pacote contendo um controlador multivariável (multi-input, multi-output (MIMO)), utilizando a técnica de controle por torque calculado. Para a geração de trajetórias das pernas do robô, implementam-se três tipos diferentes de geração, a interpolação linear, cubica e de quinto grau. Para os testes de validação do sistema de controle e de geração de trajetórias utiliza-se o simulador Gazebo. / This work presents the development of a simplified model of a biped robot’s lower limbs, composed basically by the waist, two femurs, two tibia and two feet. The model’s mechanical structure has six degree of freedom and its dimensions are comparable to a human being’s body. Its control and trajectory generation systems are developed making use of some features available in the Robot Operation System (ROS) tool. However, contrary to most of the controllers offered by ROS, this project suggests the implementation of a new package, including a MIMO (multi-input multi-output) controller, making use of the calculated torque technique. As for the trajectory generation system, three different methodologies are applied of the interpolation: linear, cubic and polynomial quintic. To validate both control and trajectory generation systems, the Gazebo simulator is used.

abstract: The need for multi-core architectural trends was realized in the desktop computing domain fairly long back. This trend is also beginning to be seen in the deeply embedded systems such as automotive and avionics industry owing to ever increasing demands in terms of sheer computational bandwidth, responsiveness, reliability and power consumption constraints. The adoption of such multi-core architectures in safety critical systems is often met with resistance owing to the overhead in migration of the existing stable code base to the new system setup, typically requiring extensive re-design. This also brings about the need for exhaustive testing and validation that goes hand in hand with such a migration, especially in safety critical real-time systems. This project highlights the steps to develop an asymmetric multiprocessing variant of Micrium µC/OS-II real-time operating system suited for a multi-core system. This RTOS variant also supports multi-core synchronization, shared memory management and multi-core messaging queues. Since such specialized embedded systems are usually developed by system designers focused more so on the functionality than on the coding standards, the adoption of automatic production code generation tools, such as SIMULINK's Embedded Coder, is increasingly becoming the industry norm. Such tools are capable of producing robust, industry compliant code with very little roll out time. This project documents the process of extending SIMULINK's automatic code generation tool for the AMP variant of µC/OS-II on Freescale's MPC5675K, dual-core Microcontroller Unit. This includes code generation from task based models and multi-rate models. Apart from this, it also de-scribes the development of additional software tools to allow semantically consistent communication between task on the same kernel and those across the kernels. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2014

For many years OSE has been a common used operating system, with real time extensions enhancements, in embed-ded systems. But in the last decades, Linux has grown and became a competitor to common operating systems and, in recent years, even as an operating system with real time extensions. With this in mind, ÅF was interested in replacing the quite expensive OSE with some distribution of the open source based Linux on a PowerPC MPC8360. Therefore, our purpose with thesis is to implement Linux on the named platform and make some tests to see if it is possible to replace OSE with Linux. Using Linux has several advantages, for example it is free of charge to use and over the years the popularity of Linux within the developer community has resulted in numerous tools and utilities available for free. As a result, this study shows that Linux with real time extensions on the MPC8360 PowerPC platform is a viable alternative to OSE regarding cost efficiency, flexibility, adaptability and competence available on the market. Further studies can be done towards benchmarking for I/O systems and implementing support for more hardware on the MPC8360 AF platform.

Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de um modelo simplificado dos membros inferiores de um robô bípede, composto basicamente por uma cintura, dois fêmures, duas tíbias e dois pés. A estrutura mecânica do modelo em questão, possui seis graus de liberdade e tem as dimensões aproximadas de um ser humano de estrutura mediana. Seu sistema de controle e de geração de trajetórias é desenvolvido utilizando funcionalidades disponíveis no Robot Operating System (ROS), porém ao contrário da maioria dos controladores existentes no ROS, este projeto propõe implementar um pacote contendo um controlador multivariável (multi-input, multi-output (MIMO)), utilizando a técnica de controle por torque calculado. Para a geração de trajetórias das pernas do robô, implementam-se três tipos diferentes de geração, a interpolação linear, cubica e de quinto grau. Para os testes de validação do sistema de controle e de geração de trajetórias utiliza-se o simulador Gazebo. / This work presents the development of a simplified model of a biped robot’s lower limbs, composed basically by the waist, two femurs, two tibia and two feet. The model’s mechanical structure has six degree of freedom and its dimensions are comparable to a human being’s body. Its control and trajectory generation systems are developed making use of some features available in the Robot Operation System (ROS) tool. However, contrary to most of the controllers offered by ROS, this project suggests the implementation of a new package, including a MIMO (multi-input multi-output) controller, making use of the calculated torque technique. As for the trajectory generation system, three different methodologies are applied of the interpolation: linear, cubic and polynomial quintic. To validate both control and trajectory generation systems, the Gazebo simulator is used.

Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar e propor o melhor método de Gestão Orçamentária na empresa Metalcorte Metalurgia Ltda., que atua no ramo metalúrgico e está localizada em Caxias do Sul. O estudo de caso é descritivo, pois o tema escolhido é favorável para este formato, com coleta de informações na empresa e por meio de entrevistas com os gestores da empresa selecionada para tal estudo. Os conceitos apresentados no terceiro capítulo são utilizados como referencial teórico no decorrer do estudo de caso, podendo-se perceber a aderência da teoria apresentada com a prática da empresa, que está procurando desenvolver instrumentos seguros de tomada de decisão visando manter sua competitividade. O orçamento empresarial é analisado como um elemento participante da dinâmica organizacional e inserido nos processos empresariais, fazendo com que as pessoas na organização se conscientizem dos objetivos a serem alcançados. / This study has the purpose of analyzing and proposing the best Orçamental Management method at the company Metalcorte Metalurgia Ltda., which operates in the metallurgic line and is located in Caxias do Sul. The case study is descriptive being the selected subject favorable to this format. The data were collected within the company as well as by performing interviews with managers of the company chosen for such study. The concepts shown in the third chapter are used as theoretical reference throughout the study, allowing knowledge acquisition about the adherence of the presented theory to the company performance, whose objective is to develop safe instruments for decision making, so as to maintain its competitivity. The company budget is analyzed as being a part of the organizational dynamics and as being inserted in company processes, allowing its personnel to be aware of the goals to be met.

A hipótese aqui construída é que a partir da noção de gambiarra, pode-se entender a gambiarração como um modo do corpo operar dispositivos para a composição em dança. Deste modo, se faz relevante pensar acerca das práticas cotidianas, vistas em Michel de Certeau como produções poéticas que desencadeiam formulações acerca das relações imanentes à produção de gambiarras, assim como possibilitam perceber uma potência para a criação de procedimentos e ações voltados à composição artística. No âmbito das composições coreográficas, o método de Composição em Tempo Real, em desenvolvimento pelo coreógrafo português João Fiadeiro desde o início da década de 1990, e o Modo Operativo AND, estruturado pela antropóloga Fernanda Eugénio, foram os responsáveis por partilharem sentidos que compõem com o tema gambiarra, contribuindo para a pesquisa em seu desdobramento teórico-prático. Assim, a noção de gambiarração surge como um estado-ação do e no corpo, percepções que são também modos de fazer ou de ser que operam à semelhança das gambiarras, a partir do improviso, da capacidade de agenciar ações em tempo real, de lidar com acidentes, com a instabilidade e precariedade e com a suficiência daquilo que há em determinada circunstância compositiva. Identificamos no pensamento de Baruch Spinoza e Gilles Deleuze (e Félix Guattari) modos de perceber afetos, corpo, experiência e composição, que fortalecem essa proposição artística. / The hypothesis here constructed is that from the notion of gambiarra, gambiarração can be understood as a way for the body to operate devices for dance composition. In this way, it becomes relevant to think about the daily practices, seen in Michel de Certeau as poetic productions that trigger formulations about the immanent relations to the production of gambiarras, as well as make possible to perceive a power for the creation of procedures and actions directed to the artistic composition. Within the framework of choreographic compositions, the Real Time Composition method, developed by the portuguese choreographer João Fiadeiro since the beginning of the 1990s, and the AND Operational Mode, structured by the anthropologist Fernanda Eugénio, were responsible for sharing senses that compose with The subject gambiarra, contributing to the research in its theoretical-practical unfolding. Thus, the notion of gambiarração appears as a state of action of and in the body, perceptions that are also ways of doing or of being that operate in the likeness of gambiarras, from the improvisation, the ability to act actions in real time, to deal With accidents, with instability and precariousness and with the sufficiency of what there is in a certain compositional circumstance. We have identified in the thinking of Baruch Spinoza and Gilles Deleuze (and Félix Guattari) ways of perceiving affection, body, experience and composition, which strengthen this artistic proposition.

The task of creating the operating procedures for a processing plant is time consuming and requires the involvement of key members of the design team. As one of the consequences, the writing of operating procedures is often put off till the final stages of the design process. However, some operability problems will remain hidden in the design until the operating procedure is considered. These problems are expensive to fix because they require undoing some of the design decisions that have already been made. This thesis reports on research into the automatic creation of operating procedures, a field of research sometimes called Operating Procedure Synthesis (OPS). One motivation for OPS research is to develop a tool that can detect operability problems in the design of a plant and thus allow operability problems to be considered earlier in the design process reducing the cost of resolving these problems. Previous OPS systems are generally based around single techniques such as mixed integer linear programming. All the techniques that have been examined in the past are strong in some aspects of OPS and weak in some other aspects. There is no single technique that is strong in all areas of OPS. As a result, no previous OPS system is able to generate all the procedures used as examples in the OPS literature. This thesis presents a new approach to OPS. In this approach, OPS is viewed as a set of distinct but related subtasks. Three subtasks have been identified and examined in this work, namely planning, safety and valve sequencing. Algorithms have been developed to address each of these three subtasks individually. These algorithms have been integrated to form a single OPS system by using a common representation of the operating procedure to be created.

As databases grow in size, the need for optimizing databases is becoming a necessity. Choosing the right operating system to support your database becomes paramount to ensure that the database is fully utilized. Furthermore with the virtualization of operating systems becoming more commonplace, we find ourselves with more choices than we ever faced before. This paper demonstrates why the choice of operating system plays an integral part in deciding the right database for your system in a virtual environment. This paper contains an experiment which measured benchmark performance of a Database management system on various virtual operating systems. This experiment shows the effect a virtual operating system has on the database management system that runs upon it. These findings will help to promote future research into this area as well as provide a foundation on which future research can be based upon.