THE need for serious attention to fire precautions is becoming increasingly important in satisfying the demand for improved overall flight safety. The need arises from a number of…
Abstract
THE need for serious attention to fire precautions is becoming increasingly important in satisfying the demand for improved overall flight safety. The need arises from a number of considerations, of which the following are typical:
Zhemin Zhuang, Zhijie Guo, Alex Noel Joseph Raj and Canzhu Guo
A toy UAV performs tumbling, rolling, racing and other complex activities. It is based on low-cost hardware and hence requires a better algorithm to estimate the attitudes more…
Abstract
Purpose
A toy UAV performs tumbling, rolling, racing and other complex activities. It is based on low-cost hardware and hence requires a better algorithm to estimate the attitudes more accurately with low power consumption. The proposed technique based on optimized Madgwick filter and moving average filter (MAF) ensures improved convergence speed in estimating the attitude, achieves higher accuracy and provides robustness and stability of the toy UAV. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Traditional methods are prone to problems such as slow convergence speed and errors in calculation of the attitude angles. These errors cause the vehicle to drift and tremble, thus affecting the overall stability of the vehicle. The proposed method combines the features of optimized Madgwick filter and MAF to provide better accuracy, achieved through the fusion of gyroscope and accelerometer data, and zero correction to eliminate the random drift error of the gyroscope and removal of high-frequency interference by MAF of the accelerometer data. The experimental results on actual flight data showed that the method was better than the conventional Madgwick and Mahony complementary filters.
Findings
The performance of the proposed method was analyzed by estimating the pitch and roll angles under the static and dynamic condition of the toy UAV. The results were compared with two traditional methods: Madgwick and Mahony complement filter. In the static condition, the variance and average error while estimating the attitudes was comparatively lower than the traditional method. For the dynamic conditions, the convergence time to achieve a prescribed swing angle was again lower than the traditional method. From these two experiments, it can be seen that the proposed method provides better attitude estimation at lower computation time.
Originality/value
The proposed method combines the optimized Madgwick filter and MAF to accuracy estimate the attitude of toy UAV. The algorithm mainly suits the toy UAVs which are based on low-cost hardware and require better control systems to ensure stability of the vehicle. The experimental results on real flight data illustrate that the method not only improves the convergence speed in estimating the attitude angle for large maneuvers of the toy UAV, but also achieves higher accuracy in the attitude estimation, thus ensuring the robustness and stability of the UAV.
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Mohammed Abdullah Al Rashed and Tariq Pervez Sattar
The purpose of this paper is to develop a wireless positioning system. The automation of non-destructive testing (NDT) of large and complex geometry structures such as aircraft…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a wireless positioning system. The automation of non-destructive testing (NDT) of large and complex geometry structures such as aircraft wings and fuselage is prohibitively expensive, though automation promises to improve on manual ultrasound testing. One inexpensive way to achieve automation is by using a small wall-climbing mobile robot to move a single ultrasound probe over the surface through a scanning trajectory defined by a qualified procedure. However, the problem is to guide the robot though the trajectory and know whether it has followed it accurately to confirm that the qualified procedure has been carried out.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is to use sophisticated bulk electronics developed for game playing in combination with MATLAB to develop a wireless positioning system.
Findings
The paper describes the development of an inexpensive wireless system comprising an optical spatial positioning system and inertial measurement unit that relates the 3D location of an NDT probe carried by a mobile robot to a computer-aided drawing (CAD) representation of the test structure in a MATLAB environment. The probe is located to an accuracy of ± 2 mm at distances of 5 m.
Research limitations/implications
Positioning range is limited to 5 m. Further development is required to increase this range.
Practical implications
The wireless system is used to develop tools to guide the robot remotely to follow a desired scanning trajectory, obtain feedback about the actual trajectory executed by the robot, know exactly where an ultrasound pulse echo was captured, map identified defects on the CAD and relate them to the real test object.
Originality/value
An inexpensive spatial positioning system with sufficient accuracy for automated NDT purposes.
Details
Keywords
Della Madgwick and Hannah Wood
The current focus on air tight construction to minimise energy use in homes in the UK requires analysis of the behaviour of the occupants. The purpose of this paper is to review…
Abstract
Purpose
The current focus on air tight construction to minimise energy use in homes in the UK requires analysis of the behaviour of the occupants. The purpose of this paper is to review current literature and explore the methods used to dry clothes, to assess current standards and recommendation for the drying of laundry in new homes and the issues arising with increased moisture within the building envelope where there may be inadequate ventilation caused by impermeable design.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature is reviewed on new housing in the UK and as part of a wider study of behaviour questionnaires were delivered to occupants of a recently completed housing estate in the UK to ask the questions with regard to their laundry practice.
Findings
There are inherent problems in drying laundry in new air tight homes. This case study identifies 95 per cent of residents on a new estate own a tumble dryer and use either this high energy method for clothes drying or hang clothes internally within the property leading to higher energy use or potential mould growth.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is required into how drying laundry impacts on internal air quality in new homes designed to be energy efficient.
Practical implications
The design of new houses needs to be considered to provide a shift in people’s behaviour with regard to low energy clothes drying.
Social implications
Policy and regulation need to be changed urgently to ensure new homes are fit for purpose with regards to laundry drying.
Originality/value
Other research has focussed on tenants in social housing in properties of mixed ages. This is the first study which focusses specifically on new energy efficient housing for owner occupiers.
According to Truth the War Office has selected Mr. C. C. DUNCAN, F.I.C., the Public Analyst for the County of Worcester, for a special post, in which “ he will be responsible for…
Abstract
According to Truth the War Office has selected Mr. C. C. DUNCAN, F.I.C., the Public Analyst for the County of Worcester, for a special post, in which “ he will be responsible for the examination of the water supply for the troops.” “It might be supposed,” our contemporary observes, “that the services of this scientific expert would be worth at least the pay of a Captain. The War Office thinks differently. It is giving Mr. Duncan the pay of a private soldier, a piece of parsimony in no wise excused by the fact that the difference between his military pay and his regular salary will be made up by the Worcestershire County Council.” It appears that MR. DUNCAN has been selected for the post in question on the recommendation of a body described by Truth as “ The Institute of Analysts.” As no such body exists we presume that either the Institute of Chemistry or the cumbrously‐named “ Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists” is referred to. It would be interesting to know what the Councils of either or both of these concerns have got to say about the treatment of this member of the profession which they are supposed to represent and whose dignity and interests they are supposed to maintain. The monstrous advertisement issued by the Woolwich Arsenal authorities about a year ago in which scientific chemists with University degrees were invited to apply for appointments at the munificent remuneration of £2 per week is a sufficient illustration of the value put upon scientific attainments by Government Departments in this country. But even this example of fatuous ignorance and inane parsimony has been eclipsed by the present arrangements for the employment of scientific chemists in the Royal Engineers, in which they are invited to enlist with the rank of Corporal and with Corporal's pay and “allowances.” The sulphuric acid scandal recently exposed by The Globe makes it once more abundantly clear that where scientific advice even of an elementary kind is needed no attempt is made to obtain reliable guidance. The wrong people are invariably applied to for advice and the wrong men are appointed to fill responsible posts. The following remarks appear in The Globe of September 23rd :—“We have evidence of the incompetence of the High Explosives Department which thought it fitting to appoint as the comptroller of the shipment of oleum” (i.e., a form of sulphuric acid shipped from America) “a young man, wholly inexperienced, at a handsome salary, his only qualification apparently being that he was the son of his father. This young man was completely ignorant of the properties of oleum. His first introduction to the acid was when he was called upon to advise as to the best method of shipment.” According to the facts stated in The Globe the result of this bungling has been a loss of some hundreds of thousands of pounds to the taxpayers of this country.
Paul Simshauser and Tim Nelson
The most problematic area of any carbon policy debate is the treatment of incumbent CO2 intensive coal‐fired electricity generators. Policy applied to the electricity sector is…
Abstract
Purpose
The most problematic area of any carbon policy debate is the treatment of incumbent CO2 intensive coal‐fired electricity generators. Policy applied to the electricity sector is rarely well guided by macroeconomic theory and modeling alone, especially in the case of carbon where the impacts are concentrated, involve a small number of firms and an essential service. The purpose of this paper is to examine the consequences of poor climate change policy development on the efficiency of capital markets within the Australian electricity sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey of Australian project finance professionals to determine the risk profiles to be applied to the electricity sector, in the event a poorly‐designed climate change policy is adopted.
Findings
The Australian case study finds that if zero compensation results in the financial distress of project financed coal generators, finance costs for all plant rises, including new gas and renewables, leading to unnecessary increases in electricity prices. Accordingly, an unambiguous case for providing structural adjustment assistance to coal generators exists on the grounds of economic efficiency.
Originality/value
Accordingly, the paper shows that an unambiguous case for providing structural adjustment assistance to coal generators exists, on the grounds of economic efficiency.
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Keywords
Mohammad Bajelani, Morteza Tayefi and Man Zhu
This study aims to minimize the risk of costly failures of flight tests during the path tracking control design, and a noble approach has been proposed in this study to put the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to minimize the risk of costly failures of flight tests during the path tracking control design, and a noble approach has been proposed in this study to put the whole vehicle-in-the simulation loop. Working with the real system is essential for developing intelligent and data-driven controllers for multirotor drones which needs learning the drones' nonlinear complicated dynamics. The vehicle-in-the-loop (VIL) platform developed in this paper is a safe and effective solution to deal with this problem.
Design/methodology/approach
To avoid risky flight test during controller design, the multirotor is hinged to a shaft that allows the multirotor's angular motion but restricts translational motion. The test-bed includes the real system attitude dynamics and the simulation of the position dynamics to model the complete flight based on real-time reactions of the vehicle. For the authors' case study, a hexacopter angular motion provides the real-time attitude data in translational motion simulation loop. To test the set-up, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and a brain emotional learning-based intelligent controller (BELBIC) is implemented for tracking of circle and 8-shape flight trajectories.
Findings
The results show that the platform helps the intelligent controller to learn the system dynamics without worrying about the failure in the early stages of the design and in the real-world flight test. Although the hexacopter translational dynamics is modeled in simulation, the authors still have highly accurate attitude dynamics matching the requirement of the control loop design. The comparison of the two controllers also shows that the performance of BELBIC is better than PID in this test.
Originality/value
The research background is reviewed in the introduction section. The other sections are originally developed in this paper.
Details
Keywords
This paper presents base‐line data about the incumbency or length of time spent in office by Australian vice‐chancellors who held appointments in the years 1963 to 1983. Principal…
Abstract
This paper presents base‐line data about the incumbency or length of time spent in office by Australian vice‐chancellors who held appointments in the years 1963 to 1983. Principal findings of the analysis are that the average length of incumbency has declined from 13.6 years for 1963 to 8.0 years for 1983 vice‐chancellors, that the period 1983 to 1987 will witness an unprecedentedly high rate of turnover among vice‐chancellors, and that an increasing proportion of vice‐chancellors no longer regard their incumbency as their final full‐time professional appointment. The conclusions are related to apparent stratification and ranking among Australian universities in an emerging system of higher education which is becoming more complex.
The purpose of this paper is to identify the key individuals, associations and significant events contributing to the establishment and first 50 years of successful publication of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the key individuals, associations and significant events contributing to the establishment and first 50 years of successful publication of the Journal of Educational Administration.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is historical in design. Information relevant to its 50 years of publication has been obtained from the JEA's 172 Editorials and from minutes of Editorial Advisory Board and Management Committee meetings, supplemented by personal editorial memoranda.
Findings
Recognised as one of the leading generalist international journals in its field, the Journal of Educational Administration has until recently been edited in Australia. The most eminent international scholars in the field have published in the JEA throughout its lifetime. Esteemed scholars have also occupied positions on its Editorial Board. The JEA has enjoyed close and supportive associations with several prominent professional organisations including UCEA and CCEA.
Research limitations/implications
This paper does not include detailed information about the content of the almost 1,000 articles published throughout its history. This is the subject of other specific research undertakings.
Originality/value
The JEA was the first generalist international journal in the field of educational administration. Its first volume appeared in 1963. It has reached the age of 50 years and hence this paper's report of such may provide a basis for similar studies of other journals as they achieve significant milestones.