Recently, active suspension has been applied to many commercial automobiles. To develop the control algorithm for active suspension, a quarter-car test bed was built by using a direct-drive tubular linear brushless permanent-magnet motor (LBPMM) as a force-generating component. Two accelerometers and a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) are used in this quarter-car test bed. Three pulse-width-modulation (PWM) amplifiers supply the currents in three phases. Simulated road disturbance is generated by a rotating cam. Modified lead-lag control, linear-quadratic (LQ) servo control with a Kalman filter, and the fuzzy control methodologies were implemented for active-suspension control. In the case of fuzzy control, asymmetric membership functions were introduced. This controller could attenuate road disturbance by up to 78%. Additionally, a sliding-mode controller (SMC) is developed with a different approach from the other three control methodologies. While SMC is developed for the position control, the other three controllers are developed for the velocity control. SMC showed inferior performance due to the drawback of the implemented chattering-proof method. Both simulation and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of these four control methodologies.

In the past decade, the technologies of computer communication and PC hardware/software evolve in a very fast pace. Many conventional industries are refurbished with these new tools. Hence the operation of the industry can be improved, and even the products, equipped with new technology, demonstrate a new dimension of their function. Among all these new ideas or tools, we would like to study the feasibility of integrating WWW server, Java JNI, Real-time Linux and PC-based hardware components together to form an internet-based manufactory service server. In this work, we use Linux Redhat OS as the platform, and its Apache homepage server to provide users to access the services, such as activating a relay or retrieving the status of a limit switch. Enhanced with Java JNI, the WWW server can access the control of PC's hardware. More importantly, patching the OS with real-time packages, the WWW server is transformed into real-time controller which is much cheaper and much reliable than its opponents, such as Microsoft NT. RS 232 serial ports, an 8255 multi-function I/O card, optical encoder card, D/A card and a servo motor are integrated under the command of the WWW server. By browsing the control center's homepage, users can easily acquire the status of the peripherals, or send out control command remotely. Experiment results confirm the performance of the system. The structure of this experimental server can be modified to fit the requirement of a remotely operated or tele-monitoring system by rewriting the homepage.

Single cell manipulation techniques have important applications in laboratory and clinical procedures such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and polar body biopsy for preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Conventionally, manipulation of cells conducted in these procedures have been performed manually, which entails long training hours and stringent skills. Conventional single cell manipulation also has the limitation of low success rates and poor reproducibility due to human fatigue and skill variations across operators. This research focuses on the integration of computer vision microscopy and control algorithms into a system for the automation of the following single cell manipulation techniques: (1) sperm immobilization, (2) cell aspiration into a micropipette, and cell positioning inside a micropipette, and (3) rotational control of cells in three dimensions. These automated techniques eliminate the need for significant human involvement and long training. Through experimental trials on live cells, the automated techniques demonstrated high success rates.

A servo system intended to steer antennas on board ships is designed, built and tested. It uses a Brushless Direct Current (BLDC) motor with an encoder to keep track of its position, and Field Oriented Control (FOC) implemented on Toshibas microprocessor TMPM373 in order to control the current flowing to the motor. The servo system will be connected in cascade to another already existing servo system and controlled with two input signals. The first signal determines if the antenna axis should rotate clockwise or counter clockwise. The second signal is a stream of pulses, where each pulse means that the motor should move one encoder point. A printed circuit board is designed and built to complete these tasks. A proportional-integral regulator is used to control the position of the motor, using the position error as the controller input. The servo system is tested. The performance of the resulting servo system is sufficient to satisfy the required position error limit of 0.5 degrees. In order to reduce the periodic disturbances presented in the system in experiments, Iterative Learning Control (ILC) is implemented. It is shown that using ILC further decreases the position error.

Produzierende Unternehmen sehen sich einem stetig wachsenden Kostendruck ausgesetzt, der durch steigende Rohstoffpreise zusätzlich verschärft wird. In diesem Umfeld wächst die Notwendigkeit einer möglichst fehlerfreien Produktion. Eine vollständige Vermeidung von Fehlern und Ausfällen durch konstruktive Maßnahmen sowie durch die Berücksichtigung von Sicherheiten ist während des Entwurfs nicht mit akzeptablem Aufwand zu verwirklichen. Eine Möglichkeit, die Prozesssicherheit dennoch weiter zu steigern, ist die Überwachung von Prozess‐ und Maschinenparametern. Obwohl geregelte Antriebe eine zentrale Position in der industriellen Fertigung einnehmen, spielen diese bei der Überwachung bisher in Wissenschaft und Praxis kaum eine Rolle. Der durch die Antriebsregelung wesentlich beeinflusste Punkt der Dynamik und die Regelkreise selbst werden nicht oder nur ungenügend in die Überwachung einbezogen. Aus folgenden Trends in der Produktionstechnik lässt sich jedoch ein steigender Einfluss der Antriebsregelkreise auf das gesamte Maschinenverhalten ableiten: - Durch den Einsatz von Direktantrieben entfallen mechanische Übertragungsglieder und deren Filterwirkung. Somit wirken einerseits die Prozessgrößen unmittelbarer auf Antriebsgrößen und zum anderen steigt der Einfluss des Regelverhaltens auf den Prozess. - Durch Leichtbau und Reduzierung der Reibung werden die dämpfenden Eigenschaften der Mechanik reduziert. - Leichtere, flexiblere Strukturen mit sinkender Dämpfung stellen hohe Ansprüche an die eingesetzten Regler. Unter Umständen werden arbeitspunktabhängige Reglereinstellungen oder die Adaption der Reglerparameter notwendig. Ein zeitgemäßes Maschinenmonitoring erfordert daher die Einbeziehung des Reglerverhaltens in die Überwachungsstrategie. Voraussetzung dafür sind auf die Anforderungen der Antriebsregelung zugeschnittene Methoden. Als zentraler Regelkreis besitzt die Drehzahl bzw. Geschwindigkeitsregelung großen Einfluss auf die Dynamik der Lageregelung. Typischerweise wird für den geschlossenen Drehzahlregler eine möglichst große Bandbreite bei einer Dämpfung von 0,5 ‐ 0,7 angestrebt. Die beschriebene Herangehensweise überwacht die Güte der Drehzahlregelung anhand deren Dämpfungsverhaltens und detektiert insbesondere aggressive, zu Schwingungen neigende Parametrierungen (D<0,3). Zu diesem Zweck wird die Regelabweichung der Geschwindigkeit mithilfe der Prony‐Methode analysiert. Es werden Vorteile der beschriebenen Methode dargestellt und potentielle Anwendungsgebiete aufgezeigt. Zudem wird kurz die prototypische Umsetzung auf Standardsteuerungshardware und Untersuchungen an verschiedenen Versuchsständen behandelt.

Integration of knowledge to the control system of a robot is the best way to emerge intelligence to robot. The most useful knowledge for a robot control system that aims to visit the landmarks in an environment is the enviromental knowledge. The most natural representation of the robot&rsquo / s environment is a map. This study presents a behavior based robot control system architecture that is based on subsumption and motor schema architectures and enables the robot to construct the map of the environment by using proximity sensors, odometry sensors, compass and image. The knowledge produced after processing the sensor values, is stored in Short Term Memory (STM) or Long Term Memory (LTM) of the robot, according to the persistence requirements of the knowledge. The knowledge stored in the STM acts as a sensor value, while LTM stores the map of the environment. The map of the environment is not a priori information for the robot, but it constructs the map as it moves in the environment. By the help of the map constructed the robot will be enabled to visit non-visited areas in the environment and to localize itself in its internal world. The controller is designed for a real robot Khepera equipped with the sensors required. The controller was tested on simulator called Webots version 2.0 on Linux operating system.

Visando apoiar o desenvolvimento de controladores para servoposicionadores pneumáticos, é apresentada no presente trabalho uma proposta de um procedimento baseado no uso de redes neurais para a determinação de modelos matemáticos precisos que possam ser aplicados tanto para a simulação do seu comportamento dinâmico quanto na estrutura de controladores que utilizam estratégias baseadas em modelos. No âmbito do trabalho, esse procedimento foi testado por meio de sua aplicação na identificação das forças de atrito e da relação pressão/vazão mássica nos orifícios de controle da servoválvula (que consistem nas principais não-linearidades envolvidas em tais sistemas). Além disso, determinou-se através de redes neurais a relação inversa entre as vazões desejadas e o sinal de controle da servoválvula (difeomorfismo), a qual é aplicada em técnicas de controle baseadas em modelos. Visando validar o procedimento de modelagem proposto, foram realizadas simulações em malha aberta e malha fechada, cujos resultados são comparados com os de experimentos realizados em uma bancada de testes. Com o intuito de comprovar sua eficácia em aplicações de controle, o modelo baseado em redes neurais foi utilizado no desenvolvimento de um controlador não-linear sintetizado de acordo com uma estratégia em cascata (a qual foi já testada em outros trabalhos, mostrando resultados satisfatórios quando aplicada ao controle de servoposicionadores pneumáticos). No entanto, essa estratégia apresenta dificuldades de implantação em decorrência das dificuldades associadas ao processo de identificação dos parâmetros do sistema, que são especialmente trabalhosos neste caso. As características de estabilidade em malha fechada foram analisadas por meio do segundo método Lyapunov. Os resultados experimentais em malha fechada obtidos atestam a eficácia da estratégia de controle proposta. / The development of a precise positioning system has motivated several researches in the pneumatic systems control area to overcome the problems caused by these nonlinearities, by appropriate feedback control algorithms. In this work it is proposed a methodology based on neural networks to achieve accurate mathematical models that can be used in simulation as in controllers techniques based on models. This methodology was tested through its application in identifying the phenomenon of friction and the relationship pressure/mass flow through servo valve orifices control holes. Furthermore, using neural networks, the inverse relationship between the desired flow rates and control signal of servo valve (diffeomorphism), which is applied in various control techniques based on models, was determined. To evaluate the proposed modeling methodology, simulations were done in open and closed loop, and the results were compared with experiments conducted on a real pneumatic servo positioning system. A neural network based model was used to develop a nonlinear controller according to a cascade strategy with friction compensation (which has been tested on other studies showing satisfactory results when applied to pneumatic servo positioning control). The cascade control strategy, despite showing a good performance in trajectory tracking, presents significant difficulties in implementation due mainly to difficulties associated with the system parameters identification process, which are especially expensive. The characteristics of the closed loop stability were analyzed by Lyapunov method. The experimental results obtained in closed loop attest the efficiency of the proposed control strategy.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta tese tem como objeto de estudo, o primeiro Cântico do Servo de Yahweh em Is 42.1-4, e o quarto, em Is 52.13-53.12. A interpretação messiânica desses textos pelos escritores do Novo Testamento tem sido criticada e considerada uma adequação aos propósitos particulares dos discípulos de Jesus Cristo. Contudo, a tese indica a partir da exegese dos textos e do levantamento das antigas tradições sobre a figura do Messias no Antigo Testamento, e entre os povos vizinhos de Israel no Antigo Oriente Médio, que esses Cânticos contêm antigas tradições sobre o Messias, e ao mesmo tempo propõe uma combinação peculiar de esperanças, oferecendo renovação às tradições acerca da mesma figura. Os Cânticos do Servo de Yahweh analisados aqui lançam mão, cada um à sua maneira, de tradições da realeza e da profecia, sobrepujando amplamente as duas tradições. Em Dêutero- Isaías, o antigo tema do Messias desenvolvido a partir da figura do rei, ganha traços novos, e apresenta o Messias na figura do servo. Características literárias, éticas e antropológicas do conceito mítico de herói ajudam a renovar e compor essa figura. Considerando a pesquisa e a noção de que os Cânticos do Servo são tramas textuais de alto contexto, não se justifica a exigência da crítica de uma afirmação explícita e definitiva para se considerar esses textos como integrantes no desenvolvimento da tradição do Messias. Uma das maneiras que dinamizam a antiga tradição é o uso da linguagem e padrão do mito, que é capaz de fazer do servo, o herói e o rei, e, por conseguinte o Messias. / The study object is the first Servant Song of Isaiah in Isa 42:1-4 and the fourth, in Isa 52:13-53:12. The messianic interpretation of these texts by the writers of the New Testament has been criticized and considered an adaptation for the specific purpose of the disciples of Jesus Christ. However, the thesis indicates, based on the exegesis of the texts and the survey of the ancient traditions about the Messianic figure of the Old Testament, and among the neighboring peoples of Israel in the Ancient Middle East, that these Songs contain ancient traditions about the Messiah, and at the same time it proposes a peculiar combination of hopes, offering a renovation of the traditions around the same figure. The Servant Songs of Yahweh analyzed here, each one in its own way, resort to the traditions of the royalty and of prophecy, broadly surmounting the two traditions. In Deutero Isaiah, the ancient theme of the Messiah developed on the figure of the king, gains new features and presents the Messiah in the figure of the servant. Literary, ethical and anthropological characteristics of the mythical concept of the hero help to renovate and compose this figure. Considering the research and the notion that the Servant Songs are textual plots of high context, the demand of the critics for an explicit and definitive affirmation to consider these texts as integrating the development of the tradition of the Messiah is not justified. One of the ways of making the ancientness of the tradition more dynamic is the use of mythical language and patterns, which are capable of making the servant into the hero and the king, and consequently, the Messiah.

Visando apoiar o desenvolvimento de controladores para servoposicionadores pneumáticos, é apresentada no presente trabalho uma proposta de um procedimento baseado no uso de redes neurais para a determinação de modelos matemáticos precisos que possam ser aplicados tanto para a simulação do seu comportamento dinâmico quanto na estrutura de controladores que utilizam estratégias baseadas em modelos. No âmbito do trabalho, esse procedimento foi testado por meio de sua aplicação na identificação das forças de atrito e da relação pressão/vazão mássica nos orifícios de controle da servoválvula (que consistem nas principais não-linearidades envolvidas em tais sistemas). Além disso, determinou-se através de redes neurais a relação inversa entre as vazões desejadas e o sinal de controle da servoválvula (difeomorfismo), a qual é aplicada em técnicas de controle baseadas em modelos. Visando validar o procedimento de modelagem proposto, foram realizadas simulações em malha aberta e malha fechada, cujos resultados são comparados com os de experimentos realizados em uma bancada de testes. Com o intuito de comprovar sua eficácia em aplicações de controle, o modelo baseado em redes neurais foi utilizado no desenvolvimento de um controlador não-linear sintetizado de acordo com uma estratégia em cascata (a qual foi já testada em outros trabalhos, mostrando resultados satisfatórios quando aplicada ao controle de servoposicionadores pneumáticos). No entanto, essa estratégia apresenta dificuldades de implantação em decorrência das dificuldades associadas ao processo de identificação dos parâmetros do sistema, que são especialmente trabalhosos neste caso. As características de estabilidade em malha fechada foram analisadas por meio do segundo método Lyapunov. Os resultados experimentais em malha fechada obtidos atestam a eficácia da estratégia de controle proposta. / The development of a precise positioning system has motivated several researches in the pneumatic systems control area to overcome the problems caused by these nonlinearities, by appropriate feedback control algorithms. In this work it is proposed a methodology based on neural networks to achieve accurate mathematical models that can be used in simulation as in controllers techniques based on models. This methodology was tested through its application in identifying the phenomenon of friction and the relationship pressure/mass flow through servo valve orifices control holes. Furthermore, using neural networks, the inverse relationship between the desired flow rates and control signal of servo valve (diffeomorphism), which is applied in various control techniques based on models, was determined. To evaluate the proposed modeling methodology, simulations were done in open and closed loop, and the results were compared with experiments conducted on a real pneumatic servo positioning system. A neural network based model was used to develop a nonlinear controller according to a cascade strategy with friction compensation (which has been tested on other studies showing satisfactory results when applied to pneumatic servo positioning control). The cascade control strategy, despite showing a good performance in trajectory tracking, presents significant difficulties in implementation due mainly to difficulties associated with the system parameters identification process, which are especially expensive. The characteristics of the closed loop stability were analyzed by Lyapunov method. The experimental results obtained in closed loop attest the efficiency of the proposed control strategy.

Uma câmera pan-tilt é capaz de se movimentar em torno de dois eixos de rotação (pan e tilt), permitindo que sua lente possa ser apontada para um ponto qualquer no espaço. Uma aplicação possível dessa câmera é mantê-la apontada para um determinado alvo em movimento, através de posicionamentos angulares pan e tilt adequados. Este trabalho apresenta uma técnica de controle servo visual, em que, inicialmente, as imagens capturadas pela câmera são utilizadas para determinar a posição do alvo. Em seguida, calculam-se as rotações necessárias para manter a projeção do alvo no centro da imagem, em um sistema em tempo real e malha fechada. A técnica de rastreamento visual desenvolvida se baseia em comparação de uma região de referência, utilizando a soma dos quadrados das diferenças (SSD) como critério de correspondência. Sobre essa técnica, é adicionada uma extensão baseada no princípio de estimação incremental e, em seguida, o algoritmo é mais uma vez modificado através do princípio de estimação em multiresolução. Para cada uma das três configurações, são realizados testes para comparar suas performances. O sistema é modelado através do princípio de fluxo óptico e dois controladores são apresentados para realimentar o sistema: um proporcional integral (PI) e um proporcional com estimação de perturbações externas através de um filtro de Kalman (LQG). Ambos são calculados utilizando um critério linear quadrático e os desempenhos deles também são analisados comparativamente. / A pan-tilt camera can move around two rotational axes (pan and tilt), allowing its lens to be pointed to any point in space. A possible application of the camera is to keep it pointed to a certain moving target, through appropriate angular pan-tilt positioning. This work presents a visual servoing technique, which uses first the images captured by the camera to determinate the target position. Then the method calculates the proper rotations to keep the target position in image center, establishing a real-time and closed-loop system. The developed visual tracking technique is based on template region matching, and makes use of the sum of squared differences (SSD) as similarity criterion. An extension based on incremental estimation principle is added to the technique, and then the algorithm is modified again by multiresolution estimation method. Experimental results allow a performance comparison between the three configurations. The system is modeled through optical flow principle and this work presents two controllers to accomplish the system feedback: a proportional integral (PI) and a proportional with external disturbances estimation by a Kalman filter (LQG). Both are determined using a linear quadratic method and their performances are also analyzed comparatively.