We introduce the notion of kinematic controllability for second-order underactuated mechanical systems. For systems satisfying this property, the problem of planning fast collision-free trajectories between zero velocity states can be decoupled into the computationally simpler problems of path planning for a kinematic system followed by timeoptimal time scaling. While this approach is well know...

This paper deals with the wavelet-based performance analysis of the safety barrier for use in a full-scale test. The test involves a vehicle, a Ford Fiesta, which strikes the safety barrier at a prescribed angle and speed. The vehicle speed before the collision was measured. Vehicle accelerations in three directions at the centre of gravity were measured during the collision. The yaw rate was m...

Non-cooperative channel assignment, i.e., channel assignment for selfish wireless devices, is highly challenging, especially in multiple collision domains. In this paper, we study the problem of noncooperative multi-radio channel assignment in multiple collision domains and focus on the fairness issue. We first conduct an analysis of the fairness property of the system assuming no incentive-com...

The shear viscosity η for a dilute classical gas of hard-sphere particles is calculated by solving the Boltzmann kinetic equation in terms of the weakly absorbed plane waves. For the rare-collision regime, the viscosity η as a function of the equilibrium gas parameters-temperature T, particle number density n, particle mass m, and hard-core particle diameter d-is quite different from that of th...

This paper introduces a new wireless MAC protocol, MACA-BI (MACA By Invitation). The protocol is a simplified version of the well known MACA (Multiple Access Collision Avoidance) based on the Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS) handshake. The Clear to Send (CTS) control message is retained, while the Request to Send (RTS) part of the RTS/CTS handshake is suppressed. MACA-BI, preserving the ...

A fundamental property of most animals is the ability to see whether an object is approaching on a direct collision course and, if so, when it will collide. Using highdensity electroencephalography in 5to 11-month-old infants and a looming stimulus approaching under three different accelerations, we investigated how the young human nervous system extracts and processes information for impending...