ITC/USA 2014 Conference Proceedings / The Fiftieth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 20-23, 2014 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA / In this paper we consider the possibility of using a communications system that is operating between probes on the surface of an asteroid and an orbiting satellite to more accurately determine spatial positions. This is done by measuring the round trip communication delay between the orbiter and various surface probes to estimate distance. From these distance measurements, the position can be determined using trilateration - the same basic technique behind the earth-based GPS system. Within the framework of this scenario, the location of the probes or the orbiter can be determined depending on the scenario.

By exploiting context awareness, traditional applications can be extended to offer better quality or new functions. Utilizing a context-aware infrastructure, a variety of context information is merged and processed to produce information that is useful to applications. Applications exploiting such context can provide more intelligent and creative services to end users. This thesis examines two ways to make use of a user’s location along with room occupancy information in context aware applications: a Context Agent and a Call Secretary. In the former case, the application subscribes to room occupancy information via a context server, and provides a Meeting Room Booking System with “real-time” information about the utilization of the rooms which the room booking system is to manage. The Call Secretary acquires both location and room occupancy information from a server. When the user is in one of the meeting rooms and multiple people are present, then this is interpreted as the user being in a meeting -- therefore it triggers a CPL module in a SIP proxy to redirect the user’s incoming call to their voice mail box. A description of the implementation of these two applications will be presented along with an evaluation of these applications’ performance. The evaluation of the Context Agent showed that it was straightforward to integrate information from a presence source and to extend the meeting room booking system to use this information. The Call Secretary needs a more reliable source for the user's location. However, given this location the Call Secretary provides the service which the user expects. / Genom att utnyttja sammanhang medvetenhet, traditionella tillämpningar kan utvidgas till att erbjuda bättre kvalitet eller nya funktioner. Använda en kontextmedvetna infrastruktur, en rad olika kontextuppgifter är sammanslagna och bearbetas för att producera information som är användbar för tillämpningar. Tillämpningar som utnyttjar sådana sammanhang kan ge mer intelligenta och kreativa tjänster till slutanvändare. Denna avhandling undersöker två sätt att använda sig av ett användaren befinner sig längs med rummet beläggningen information i samband medveten program: ett sammanhang av ombud och en uppmaning Sekreterare. I det förra fallet skall ansökan under på rumspris information via ett sammanhang server, och ger ett mötesrum bokningssystem med "realtid" information om användningen av de rum som lokalbokning system är att hantera. Ring sekreterare förvärvar både plats och rumspris information från en server. När användaren är i en av konferenslokaler och flera människor är närvarande, så är det tolkas som att användarna är i ett möte - därför det utlöser en CPL-modul i en SIP-proxy för att dirigera om användarens inkommande samtal till deras telefonsvarare fält. En beskrivning av genomförandet av dessa två program kommer att presenteras tillsammans med en utvärdering av dessa ansökningar resultat. Utvärderingen av det sammanhang ombud visade att det var enkelt att integrera information från en närvaro källa och att utvidga mötesrum bokningssystem att använda denna information. Ring sekreterare behöver en mer tillförlitlig källa för användarens plats. Med tanke på denna plats för samtal sekreterare tillhandahåller tjänster som användaren förväntar sig.

This Master’s thesis studies different ways of exploiting the signal strength measurements from wireless interfaces for position determination. Difficulties include handling the fluctuating observations and their sensitivity to obstruction. We list important factors to take into account before describing a new system based on location fingerprinting and capable of integrating observations from multiple wireless interfaces. Compared to typical fingerprinting solutions, the training time is an order of magnitude shorter, but the location resolution is limited to locations of particular interest. In an office environment, the proposed solution determines the location correctly 80 percent of the time with sufficient precision for being used with context-aware services. In an open space environment, an incorrect location is reported 42 percent of the time. / Det här exjobbet studerar olika sätt att använda signalstyrka från trådlösa gränssnitt för positionsbestämning. Några av svårigheterna ligger i att hantera observationernas fluktuationer och deras känslighet för obstruktion. De viktigaste faktorerna att ta hänsyn till tas upp innan ett nytt system beskrivs. Det är baserat på positionsigenkänning (location fingerprinting) och kan dra nytta av observationer från flera olika trådlösa gränssnitt. Jämfört med vanliga metoder för positionsigenkänning är träningstiden en storleksordning kortare, men positionsupplösningen är begränsad till ett visst antal positioner av särskilt värde. I en kontorsmiljö klarar den föreslagna lösningen att korrekt bestämma positionen i 80 procent av fallen med tillräckligt hög noggrannhet för att användas till kontextmedvetna tjänster (context-aware services). I en öppen rumslösning ger lösningen en felaktig position i 42 procent av fallen.

The mobile robots that are present today are struggling to deal with challenges related to localization, power supply, mobility in the real world with all sorts of obstacles and other issues. At the same time, the demand for service robots for domestic applications has been growing and predictions show that the demand will continue to grow in the future. To meet the demands and to fulfill the expectations, those challenges need to be addressed. This thesis presents the development of a ceiling mounted robot known as Ceilbot. It is a type of mobile service robot except that it works on a track attached to the ceiling. This implies that the robot operates in a structured environment with continuous power supply simplifying some of the issues mentioned above. The development of the Ceilbot includes a simplified DC motor controller development, object recognition development and an easy-to-use graphical user interface design. The developed motor controller provides flexibility for the user to change the control parameters and produces deterministic output with high repeatability when compared to a regular proportional and integral (PI) controller. The designed user interface simplifies the interaction between the user and the Ceilbot by allowing the user to send commands to the Ceilbot and displaying some status parameters for monitoring. In order to have a complete robot system for demonstration purposes, a simple manipulator using two servomotors is also developed. / <p>Validerat; 20140825 (global_studentproject_submitter)</p>

GNSS-Messungen werden neben systembedingten Fehlereinflüssen vor allem von den Auswirkungen der Mehrwegeausbreitung und Signalbeugung insbesondere in der Empfangsumgebung dominiert. Verschiedene Dienste z.B. der Landesvermessungsämter haben deshalb ein primäres Interesse daran, die Auswirkungen der Effekte möglichst gering zu halten oder aber genau bestimmen zu können, um Korrekturwerte zu generieren. Mehrwege- und Beugungseffekte lassen sich besonders innerhalb von Netzstrukturen gut bestimmen. Liegen Sollkoordinaten aller Beobachtungsstationen vor gelingt dies auch in Echtzeit. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden neben einer detaillierten Beschreibung der jeweiligen Einflussgrößen auch Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, die genannten Effekte zu erkennen und Maßnahmen zur Reduktion der Auswirkungen auf das Meßergebnis zu ergreifen. Kern der Untersuchungen ist ein zweistufiges Modell zur Reduzierung von Mehrwegeeffekten in Echtzeit innerhalb von (Referenz-) Stationsnetzen durch Bestimmung von Korrekturwerten für originale und abgeleitete Meßwerte pro Epoche, Station und Satellit.

Proportional valves are widely used in fluid systems for controlling the volume flow rate or fluid pressure. The actuation of this valves is done by PWM-driven proportional solenoids, which enable self-sensing position determination abilities due to air gap-dependent electrical behaviour, e. g. for condition monitoring or position controlling tasks. However, the sensor properties of conventional proportional solenoids are poor due to ambiguities caused by hysteresis effects (magnetic hysteresis, eddy currents) and saturation effects. Thus, a sensor-designed actuator was developed with very low hysteresis effects and unique position determination by using electrical sheet and a particular air gap design. This paper deals with investigations of a novel self-sensing position determination approach on a demonstrator of the sensor-designed solenoid. The advantage of this method is an online consideration of transient effects such as mean current change and armature motion as well as temperature-dependent resistance. For this, a combined evaluation of the differential inductance and flux linkage during PWM periods is proposed.

GNSS-Messungen werden neben systembedingten Fehlereinflüssen vor allem von den Auswirkungen der Mehrwegeausbreitung und Signalbeugung insbesondere in der Empfangsumgebung dominiert. Verschiedene Dienste z.B. der Landesvermessungsämter haben deshalb ein primäres Interesse daran, die Auswirkungen der Effekte möglichst gering zu halten oder aber genau bestimmen zu können, um Korrekturwerte zu generieren. Mehrwege- und Beugungseffekte lassen sich besonders innerhalb von Netzstrukturen gut bestimmen. Liegen Sollkoordinaten aller Beobachtungsstationen vor gelingt dies auch in Echtzeit. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden neben einer detaillierten Beschreibung der jeweiligen Einflussgrößen auch Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, die genannten Effekte zu erkennen und Maßnahmen zur Reduktion der Auswirkungen auf das Meßergebnis zu ergreifen. Kern der Untersuchungen ist ein zweistufiges Modell zur Reduzierung von Mehrwegeeffekten in Echtzeit innerhalb von (Referenz-) Stationsnetzen durch Bestimmung von Korrekturwerten für originale und abgeleitete Meßwerte pro Epoche, Station und Satellit.

Attitude and position determination systems in satellites are absolutely necessary to keep the desired trajectory. A very accurate, reliable and most used sensor for attitude determination is the star tracker, which orient itself in space by observing and comparing star constellations with known star patterns. For on earth tests of movements and docking maneuvers of spacecrafts, the new Spacecraft Maneuvering and Docking (SMD) facility at the chair of Aerospace Information Technology at the University of Würzburg has been built. Air bearing systems on the space ve- hicles help to create micro gravity environment on a smooth surface and simulate an artificial space-like surrounding. A new star tracker based optical sensor for indoor application need to be developed in order to get the attitude and position of the vehicles. The main objective of this thesis is to research on feasible star tracking algorithms for the SMD facility first and later to implement a star detection software framework with new developed voting methods to give the star tracker system its fully autonomous function of attitude determination and position tracking. Furthermore, together with image processing techniques, the software framework is embedded into a controller board. This thesis proposes also a wireless network system for the facility, where all the devices on the vehicles can uniquely communicate within the same network and a devel- opment of a ground station to monitor the star tracker process has also been introduced. Multiple test results with different scenarios on position tracking and attitude determination, discussions and suggestions on improvements complete the entire thesis work.