Quantized-states-based adaptive control against unknown slippage effects of uncertain mobile robots with input and state quantization

An adaptive tracking design strategy based on quantized state feedback is developed for uncertain nonholonomic mobile robots with unknown wheel slippage effects. All state variables and control torques are assumed to be quantized by the state and input quantizers, respectively, in a network control environment. Thus, the quantized state feedback information is only available for the tracking control design. An approximation-based adaptive controller using quantized states is recursively designed to ensure the robust adaptive tracking against unknown wheel slippage effects where the quantized-states-based adaptive mechanism is derived to compensate for unknown wheel slippage effects, system nonlinearities, and quantization errors. The boundedness of the quantization errors and estimated parameters in the closed-loop system is analyzed by presenting some theoretical lemmas. Based on these lemmas, we prove the uniform ultimate boundedness of closed-loop signals and the convergence of the trajectory tracking error in the presence of wheel slippage effects. Simulations verify the effectiveness of the resulting tracking scheme.     

Multifunctional material Bi4Ge3O12: thermodynamic properties

Thermodynamic characteristics of a single crystal of bismuth orthogermanate (Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂), which are necessary to improve device portfolio, have been studied. It has been shown that bismuth orthogermanate is thermodynamically stable against decomposition into binary oxides at 50 °C, which gives us grounds to consider this compound promising for various applications.     

Hyperparameter on-line learning of stochastic resonance based threshold networks

Aiming at training the feed-forward threshold neural network consisting of nondifferentiable activation functions, the approach of noise injection forms a stochastic resonance based threshold network that can be optimized by various gradient-based optimizers. The introduction of injected noise extends the noise level into the parameter space of the designed threshold network, but leads to a highly non-convex optimization landscape of the loss function. Thus, the hyperparameter on-line learning procedure with respective to network weights and noise levels becomes of challenge. It is shown that the Adam optimizer, as an adaptive variant of stochastic gradient descent, manifests its superior learning ability in training the stochastic resonance based threshold network effectively. Experimental results demonstrate the significant improvement of performance of the designed threshold network trained by the Adam optimizer for function approximation and image classification.     

基于贝叶斯参数优化的无模型自适应硅单晶直径控制

直拉硅单晶的生长过程涉及多场多相耦合与复杂的物理化学变化,其中工艺参数的波动是导致晶体直径不均匀的重要原因,如何实现工艺参数的控制以获得理想的、均匀的晶体直径具有重要的研究意义。本文分析现有控制方法存在不稳定以及控制效果不佳的问题后,提出基于贝叶斯参数优化的无模型自适应控制模型来控制硅单晶生长过程中的晶体直径。首先以坩埚上升速度与加热器的功率作为控制输入参数,晶体直径作为输出,搭建无模型自适应控制模型,并分析算法的稳定性。其次将控制模型进行仿真实验,发现硅单晶直径控制模型中不同的超参数设定会影响控制过程的迭代次数以及控制效果。最后,利用贝叶斯优化超参数的取值范围,并进行最终的仿真实验,结果表明,经贝叶斯参数优化后的控制模型计算快、迭代次数少,输出的晶体直径稳定,同时将生长工艺参数控制在实际生产要求范围内。因此,基于贝叶斯参数优化的无模型自适应控制实现了硅单晶直径均匀稳定的有效控制,具有结合工程背景的实际应用前景。     

A control volume finite element method for three-dimensional three-phase flows

A novel control volume finite element method with adaptive anisotropic unstructured meshes is presented for three-dimensional three-phase flows with interfacial tension. The numerical framework consists of a mixed control volume and finite element formulation with a new P₁DG-P₂ elements (linear discontinuous velocity between elements and quadratic continuous pressure between elements). A “volume of fluid” type method is used for the interface capturing, which is based on compressive control volume advection and second-order finite element methods. A force-balanced continuum surface force model is employed for the interfacial tension on unstructured meshes. The interfacial tension coefficient decomposition method is also used to deal with interfacial tension pairings between different phases. Numerical examples of benchmark tests and the dynamics of three-dimensional three-phase rising bubble, and droplet impact are presented. The results are compared with the analytical solutions and previously published experimental data, demonstrating the capability of the present method.     

A modified SPH method to model the coalescence of colliding non-Newtonian liquid droplets

This paper develops a modified smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method to model the coalescence of colliding non-Newtonian liquid droplets. In the present SPH, a van der Waals (vdW) equation of state is particularly used to represent the gas-to-liquid phase transition similar to that of a real fluid. To remove the unphysical behavior of the particle clustering, also known as tensile instability, an optimized particle shifting technique is implemented in the simulations. To validate the numerical method, the formation of a Newtonian vdW droplet is first tested, and it clearly demonstrates that the tensile instability can be effectively removed. The method is then extended to simulate the head-on binary collision of vdW liquid droplets. Both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid flows are considered. The effect of Reynolds number on the coalescence process of droplets is analyzed. It is observed that the time up to the completion of the first oscillation period does not always increase as the Reynolds number increases. Results for the off-center binary collision of non-Newtonian vdW liquid droplets are lastly presented. All the results enrich the simulations of the droplet dynamics and deepen understandings of flow physics. Also, the present SPH is able to model the coalescence of colliding non-Newtonian liquid droplets without tensile instability.     

Time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau equations for multi-gap superconductors

We numerically solve the time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau equations for two-gap superconductors using the finite-element technique. The real-time simulation shows that at low magnetic field, the vortices in small-size samples tend to form clusters or other disorder structures. When the sample size is large, stripes appear in the pattern. These results are in good agreement with the previous experimental observations of the intriguing anomalous vortex pattern, providing a reliable theoretical basis for the future applications of multi-gap superconductors.     

Influence of friction and asymmetric freeplay on the limit cycle oscillation in aeroelastic system: An extended Hénon’s technique to temporal integration

Nonlinear effects such as friction and freeplay on the control surfaces can affect aeroelastic dynamics during flight. In particular, these nonlinearities can induce limit cycle oscillations (LCO), changing the system stability, and because of this it is essential to employ computational methods to predict this type of motion during the aircraft development cycle. In this context, the present article presents a matrix notation for describing the Hénon’s method used to reduce errors when considering piecewise linear nonlinearities in the numerical integration process. In addition, a new coordinate system is used to write the aeroelastic system of equations. The proposal defines a displacement vector with generalized and physical variables to simplify the computational implementation of the Hénon’s technique. Additionally, the article discusses the influence of asymmetric freeplay and friction on the LCO of an airfoil with control surface. The results show that the extended Hénon’s technique provides more accurate LCO predictions, that friction can change the frequency and amplitude of these motions, and the asymmetry of freeplay is important to determine the LCO behavior.