The advancement in computing in the last three decades has introduced many devices in our daily lives including personal computers, laptops, cellular devices and many more. The data we need for our processing needs is scattered among these devices. The availability of all the scattered data in the devices in use associated to an individual user as one is achieved in a Personal Information Environment. Data recharging is a technique used to achieve a Personal Information Environment for an individual user using data replication. In this thesis, we propose a data recharging scheme for an individual user’s Personal Information Environment. We study the data availability to a user by conducting a simulation using the data recharging algorithm. This data recharging approach is achieved by using master-slave data replication technique. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2009-08-06 00:18:00.19

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This report describes a docking system to allow autonomous battery charging of a mobile robot, and a Web interface that allows long-term unaided use of a sophisticated mobile robot by untrained Web users around the world. The docking system and Web interface are applied to the biologically inspired RatSLAM system as a foundation for testing both its long-term stability and its practicality for real-world applications. While there are existing battery charging and Web interface systems for mobile robots, the developed solution combines the two, resulting in a self-sufficient robot that can recharge its own batteries and stay accessible from the Web. Existing mobile robots on the Internet require manual charging by a human operator, leading to significant periods when the robot is offline. Furthermore, since the robot may be operational for extended periods without powering down, it may perform learning operations that require significantly longer operation than a single battery-recharge cycle would allow. The implemented Web interface makes use of the RatSLAM navigation system. RatSLAM provides the onboard intelligence for the robot to navigate to the user-supplied goal locations (such as “go to location X”), despite long paths or obstacles in the environment. The majority of the existing robot interfaces on the Internet provide direct control of the robot (such as “drive forward”) and therefore the users suffer greatly from the inherent delays of the Internet due to the time lag between performing an action and seeing the feedback. Instead, the robot in this study uses an onboard intelligent navigation system to generate all low-level commands. Due to the minimal input required to give high-level commands to the robot, the system is robust to the long and highly unpredictable delays of Internet communication. Traditional methods of autonomous battery charging for mobile robots have had limited reliability, often due to the mechanical docking system requiring a highly precise connection. Therefore, the mechanical design of the implemented battery charging system improves reliability by allowing for a significantly larger navigation error. In addition, the robot uses a standard vision sensor for both the long-range and short-range stages of navigation to the battery charger, compared to the many systems that require an omnidirectional camera and a high-resolution Laser range finder for this process. The result of this study is a public web interface at "http://ratslam.itee.uq.edu.au/robot.html" (currently offline), where any Web user in the world can watch and control the live mobile robot that is using RatSLAM for navigation, as it drives in its laboratory environment without human assistance.

The theme of this diploma thesis is design of recharging station for electrical cars. The result of this thesis is a conceptual design of this station. It summarizes technological, structural, economic, ergonomic and visual aspects with respect to current trends and technical solution.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been a topic of research for decades. Researchers have been exploring different uses for UAVs with their growing popularity. In this thesis I develop a wireless sensor network (WSN) and introduce the theoretical effects of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for wireless recharging of individual nodes in the WSN. My research focuses on understanding how to use wireless recharging technology to maximize the lifetime of a WSN by simulating recharging on the physical nodes. Using a three by three grid of nine sensor nodes, I proved that recharging the lowest powered node in the network at each sink iteration increased the lifetime of the WSN by 538% when compared to no recharging. I also further investigate the potential uses of a WSN and UAV for detecting and deterring animals. Using wireless sensor nodes to initially detect movement, and the UAV to find the object proved to be a viable solution for offloading the more power intensive tasks from the WSN to the UAV.

Monitoring the structural health of civil infrastructures with wireless sensor networks aids in detecting failures early, but faces power challenges in ensuring reasonable network lifetimes. Recharging select nodes with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) provides a solution that currently can recharge a single node; however, questions arise on the effectiveness of a limited recharging system, the appropriate node to recharge, and the best sink selection algorithm for improving network lifetime given a limited recharging system. This paper simulates such a network in order to answer those questions. This thesis first determines whether or not recharging with a UAV is an effective method of delivering limited power to the network. It then determines the best way to deliver that power. Finally, this thesis explores five different sink positioning algorithms to find which optimize the network lifetime by load-balancing the energy in the network, all in combination with the added capability of a UAV.

This thesis presents a microbattery recharging circuit suitable for autonomous microsystems. The battery charger chosen for this design is a constant current battery charger. Two methods of regulating the constant-current are discussed. A published shunt regulator design is analyzed and is presented with enhancements to the design. A series regulator that controls the current to the battery with a switch is designed and fabricated in a 1.5µm CMOS process. The fabricated prototype occupies less than 2.20x2.20mm and is expected to dissipate less than 25µW of power. A discrete model of the integrated circuit is constructed and tested to demonstrate that the series regulator will work using a solar cell as the energy source. The design of the charger is a major step toward the construction of a completely integrated autonomous system.

Climate change is being fought with policies and measures implemented worldwide to reduce Greenhouse Gases (GHG). One of these policies is to reduce the use of fossil fuels because they accelerate climate change and harm human health through pollution. The automotive industry is a significant player in this transition. The automotive industry is shifting from vehicles powered by a fossil energy powertrain to one that consumes clean energy. The industry is moving towards electric mobility, but this technology has a disadvantage compared to traditional mobility. Electric Vehicles (EVs) need more time to regain their range than conventional vehicles (CV) that use fossil fuels, a massive reason why users do not adopt this technology. This thesis focuses on an optimised charging process to make EVs a realistic alternative for user transport and meet the Paris Climate Accords goals. To this end, a study has been carried out analysing various points and technologies such as Electro-Mobility (e-mobility), recharging technologies, or Cloud-based systems that could optimise the charging process and have a scalable, scalable system that all EVs can use. This project has used the Internet of Things (IoT) to enable EVs to communicate with charging stations in a reliable manner with a scalable system. In addition, it has been possible to store data in the cloud, where it is processed in real-time, and mathematical equations have been developed in the python programming language. The user has access to the information through an interface that allows them to check the most optimal charging points (CPs) in different categories such as total charging time, distance from the various stations, charging total price and the CPs services. These technologies used in this thesis will contribute to optimising the charging process, leaving the door open to future developments in the e-mobility field. / <p>Universidad de Granada, Spanien och  Universidad de Málaga, Spanien</p>

Autonomy in multi-robot systems is bounded by coordination among its agents. Coordination implies simultaneous task decomposition, task allocation, team formation, task scheduling and routing; collectively termed as task planning. In many real-world applications of multi-robot systems such as commercial cleaning, delivery systems, warehousing and inventory management: spatial & temporal constraints, variable execution time, and energy limitations need to be integrated into the planning module. Spatial constraints comprise of the location of the tasks, their reachability, and the structure of the environment; temporal constraints express task completion deadlines. There has been significant research in multi-robot task allocation involving spatio-temporal constraints. However, limited attention has been paid to combine them with team formation and non- instantaneous task execution time. We achieve team formation by including quota constraints which ensure to schedule the number of robots required to perform the task. We introduce and integrate task activation (time) windows with the team effort of multiple robots in performing tasks for a given duration. Additionally, while visiting tasks in space, energy budget affects the robots operation time. We map energy depletion as a function of time to ensure long-term operation by periodically visiting recharging stations. Research on task planning approaches which combines all these conditions is still lacking. In this thesis, we propose two variants of Team Orienteering Problem with task activation windows and limited energy budget to formulate the simultaneous task allocation and scheduling as an optimization problem. A complete mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation for both variants is presented in this work, implemented using Gurobi Optimizer and analyzed for scalability. This work compares the different objectives of the formulation like maximizing the number of tasks visited, minimizing the total distance travelled, and/or maximizing the reward, to suit various applications. Finally, analysis of optimal solutions discover trends in task selection based on the travel cost, task completion rewards, robot's energy level, and the time left to task inactivation.

Artificial recharge and rainwater harvesting methods are being applied for mitigating effects of groundwater depletions in severe over-drafting urban and rural situations. When the aquifer to be recharged is situated at some depth below the ground surface and topped by a semi-previous layer with a large resistance against vertical water movement, recharge wells are the most appropriate solution. Water is injected by free or forced recharge technique by maintaining constant or variable head or rate of injection in the recharge well. A review of literature, carried out in two parts, looks into the aspects and performance of the practical field applications of recharge wells all over the world in Chapter II, whereas available theoretical solutions are reviewed in chapter III. The review indicates that free recharge conditions are analysed using slug theories and mirror image type curve analysis is helpful in dealing with forced recharge cases. Many slug test and pumping test theories developed focus either on simplistic recharge conditions or homogeneous hydro-geological conditions. Also, separate developments exist in the areas of large diameter well and flow to multi-aquifer system. These developments are mainly concentrated on constant wellhead boundary conditions with no well loss. Many researchers have dealt effect of pumping on base flow numerically, but the study on the impacts of recharge on base flow has not been noticed. One more practical issue, which has not been studied, is the aquifer clogging during well injection, though related background research on filtration phenomena is comparatively well established. Analytical solution for recharge in a finite aquifer from a large diameter well under variable head is obtained in Chapter IV. Furthermore, issues of analytical solution difficulty, in the available solution with constant head boundary condition are resolved and extended using Discrete Kernel approach to variable heads. Usefulness of choosing the variable head boundary condition lies in the advantage that continuous pouring of water in to the recharge well is not a necessary condition. As well and aquifer clogging is minimum in hard rock terrains, present solution is useful for estimating the pressure heads and recharge rates in the well flooding techniques frequently used in hard rock regions. For the case of free recharge in confined aquifers, available slug test theories do not consider appropriate well storage and well loss, as these may not be significant in the case of short duration test with instantaneous slug. Also slug theories are not extendable to multi-aquifer wells. Analytical solutions are obtained for free recharge condition for both single and multiple layer aquifers in chapter V, also incorporating well loss, well storage and friction loss. Parametric studies are made to see the effect of hydro-geological parameter namely; transmissivity and storativity, on recharge rates and head buildups. Theis (1935) solution is provided with well storage effects for the entire period of recharge, using Duhamel’s convolution theorem. Comparison with Cooper et al. (1967) shows, that the present solution could be useful for long-term non-instantaneous free recharge data analysis. Relationship between diffusivity and time to decay has been developed, which is useful for aquifer parameter estimation using recharge test data. Similar improvement is feasible for other existing type curves also including leaky aquifers. Analytical solutions for free recharge with constant well loss, variable well loss and losses due to friction have been developed. Comparison indicates better solution with losses due friction, which is also a more easily measurable physical parameter as compared to other well loss constants. Free recharge solutions provide unique opportunity to estimate the recharge rates in the individual aquifers of single and multi-layered aquifer. Well bore interaction has been accounted through recharge well injecting water to multi-aquifers. Specific analytical solutions are developed for the cases of free recharge in hard rock multi-layered aquifers. Present state of the art for recharge well considers forced recharge as mirror image of the pumping test solutions, type curves of which are found more difficult to fit in to the recharge test data. Again, deviation in type curve match lies in considering well storage, well clogging and aquifer clogging effects. In chapter VI analytical forced recharge solutions are developed for constant and variable rate of injection. Mirror image Theis (1935) solution is coupled with well storage during the recharge period to improve the existing solution and make it suitable for recharge computation after comparing it with Popodopulos and Cooper (1967) solution. Well bore interaction in case of multi-layered aquifer has been considered. Similar exercises are possible with existing solutions other than Theis (1935) including those for leaky aquifers. Type curves for recharge for various diffusivity ratios have been developed. Constant and variable well loss is considered for forced recharge in single as well as multi-layered aquifer. Results say that present solutions are more accurate in terms of well storage, which has significant influence on well injection as compared to well pumping. In the case of pumping, well storage effects are dominant in the initial times, where as it effects the entire recharge cycle, also depend upon the aquifer diffusivity and the recharge column dimensions. Significant influence of well loss in case of forced well recharge has been taken care of by considering linear trend of deteriorating well condition between times dependant Walton’s well loss constant. In Chapter VII, aquifer clogging, changing with time has been analysed using numerical modelling technique and applying the results of the filtration experiments reported in the literature. Inclined initial piezometric water table condition is found effective towards observation well water level and is considered for simulation of the observation well water level of Hansol project. The methodology is transferable for analyzing other injection project also. Base flow on regional scale is affected by the location, rate of injection and number of wells. In the case of Bamnod injection well project, base flow retained in the aquifer, is reducing with the increase in the quantity of injected water. This conclusion may not always be same everywhere, however, this aspect needs to be investigated. Chapter VIII summaries and highlights the conclusions drawn out of the present research study. It has been summarized that the Chapters IV, V and VI develop analytical solutions for recharge rates under unsteady wellhead condition by coupling existing groundwater flow solution with Duhamel’s convolution theorem. It provides the well storage effects throughout the recharge cycle, which unlike in pumping cases, could be significant in recharge cases. Second foremost specific requirement for a well recharge may be the consideration of head loss. In free recharge cases friction factor per unit diameter of recharge well is found a better physically computable parameter, where as well loss constants suggested by Walton (1962) could bring the head loss effects in the developed solutions for forced recharge. Free and forced recharge solutions developed for single aquifer are further extended to multi-aquifer system with respective head loss effects and well bore interaction. This is an useful contribution owing to the fact that no multi-aquifer solution considers aquifer interactions through recharge well and equivalent single aquifer theory worked for the multi-aquifer system without head loss All the solutions in Chapters IV, V and VI are found sensitive towards well radius and could analyze recharge behavior at the well face with horizontal initial piezometric surface. Simulation of the response in an observation well situated 50 m away from the recharge well is found inappropriate with the present solution. Therefore in the Chapter VII, to solve the solution difficulty, analysis is extended for the observation well, some distant away from the recharge well face, using numerical solution technique. Heterogeneity in the flow medium between the recharge well and the observation well is considered as per the time dependant aquifer clogging, based upon theory of filtration. Recharge well in general has been considered as a technology, which would increase the groundwater storage. With a case study it is found that groundwater regime also plays a crucial role in this respect. Present thesis also provides specific solution to practical issues like; estimation of diffusivity from time to decay of recharge, friction loss in the recharge well, time variant well loss as per recharge well condition, effect of sudden pump shut down, control of injection rates against recharge well over flooding, recharge rates to individual aquifers of a multi-aquifer system and multiple well recharge options. Though the scope of the present research is confined to aquifer-aquiclude system only, it could easily be extended to various other hydro-geological setups also. Unique feature of the applied analytical solution technique lies in the flexibility of transformation between head and flux boundary conditions. This provides an opportunity to compute recharge rates and corresponding heads simultaneously with any kind of boundary conditions.