An (n, k, r)-network is a triple N = (G, in, out) where G = (V,E) is a graph and in, out are nonnegative integer functions defined on V called the input and output functions, such that for any v ∈ V , in(v)+out(v)+deg(v) ≤ 2r where deg(v) is the degree of v in the graph G. The total number of inputs is in(V ) = ∑ v∈V in(v) = n, and the total number of outputs is out(V ) = ∑ v∈V out(v) = n+ k. A...

Introduction Many physical systems experience fluctuating dynamics throughout their lifetime. Variations can be attributed in part to material degradation and decay of mechanical hardware. Designing control strategies that mitigate the negative effects of such variations can be difficult. One approach is to utilize model-free adaptive control (MFAC), which learns how to control a system by cont...

A Problem-Based Learning (PBL) experience for undergraduate students of aerospace engineering is described in this paper. The experience allows the students to build a model rocket using materials which can be easily obtained. They also compute all the relevant quantities to design and characterize the rocket and they test the robustness of their design. They furthermore launch the rocket with ...

International Journal of Robotics Research, v 19, n 11, p. 1066-1074 Mobile manipulator systems hold promise in many industrial and service applications including assembly, inspection, and work in hazardous environments. The integration of a manipulator and a mobile robot base places special demands on the vehicle’s drive system. For smooth accurate motion and coordination with an on-board mani...

A polygon with two distinguished vertices, s and g, is called a street iff the two boundary chains from s t o g are mutually weakly visible. For a mobile robot with on-board vision system we describe a strategy for finding a short path from s t o g in a street not known in advance, and prove that the length of the path created does not exceed 1 + 2. times the length of the shortest path from s ...

This paper briefly described the general production of intelligent agricultural machine in precision agriculture. It summarized the basic principle and the application in precision agricultural demonstration field of those agricultural machines, which mainly included wheat variable ferti-seeder, yield distribution information acquiring system, variable controlled large irrigation system moving ...

Independently developed orbit determination software is used to analyze the orbits of Pioneer 10 and 11 using Doppler data. The analysis takes into account the gravitational fields of the Sun and planets using the latest JPL ephemerides, accurate station locations, signal propagation delays (e.g., the Shapiro delay, atmospheric effects), the spacecrafts’ spin, and maneuvers. New to this analysi...

In this study, we conducted two experiments on visual cognitive performance in reading an on-board information device. Experiment 1: The relation between the gazing time needed for reading and the number of Kanji characters displayed was investigated, as the number of characters was changed in three steps. The gazing time was divided into preparation time and information processing time. The un...

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the suitability of advanced technologies to on-board applications. A generic single-chip computing platform for use on-board small spacecraft, which can be reconfigured remotely from the ground station, is proposed. The platform features a highly modular structure, such that it can be quickly and easily customised to produce specific-purp...