Journal of Instrumentation, Automation, and Systems
Journal Title : Journal of Instrumentation, Automation, and Systems Initials : JIAS Frequency : twice a year Online ISSN : 2288-582X Print ISSN : XXXX-XXXX Editor in Chief : DOI : 10.21535/jias Publisher : UNSYS Digital The field of Instrumentation, Automation and Systems is a fast increasing field of engineering due to the more and more need on automation or autonomous operation of various engineering systems, in particular the recent emerging field of Unmanned Systems. For achieving such a goal of automatic or autonomous operation of systems, sensors, actuators, and controllers as necessary components to form an integrated and functional systems are critical. New development in smart actuators, smart sensors, and new controller hardware and software tools and devices are being developed and available in the market with much shorter period than before. To reflect and document the new design, new concept, new development, new implementation, and new engineering applications, a high quality journal focusing on Instrumentation, Automation and Systems is established. The JIAS provides new findings and development necessary and important in the field in a timely manner, from different levels of system components, components integration, and entire system development and implementation.
Automatic Convergence Estimation by Utilizing Fractal Dimensional Analysis for Reinforcement Learning
This paper presents an automatic convergence estimation method for the reinforcement learning (RL) of autonomous agents. Recently, a multi-agent robot system (MARS) that uses an RL algorithm has been studied in real-world situations. This system can obtain behaviors autonomously through multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL). However, MARL takes a long time to obtain an optimal or near-optimal solution. Furthermore, the agents continued learning after obtaining of the solution may lead to overfitting. It is difficult for the MARL operator to determine whether the learning has been converged or not, because the operator has to determine the convergence of all learning agents. The convergence of the learning curve indicates that knowledge has been obtained. However, judging the convergence of RL depends on human intuition and experience, and few studies have discussed convergence estimation methods. Therefore, in this paper, we address development of an automatic convergence estimation method that does not require human judgement. In prior work, we proposed automatic convergence estimation method using fractal dimensional analysis which evaluates the learning curve of the learner as agents, and we confirmed the effectiveness of our previous method by conducting a computer simulation. In this study, we propose a method based on fractal dimensional analysis considering implementation to the robots and evaluate the effectiveness of the method by using an expanded experimental setup that considering a computer simulation and an actual mobile robot environment.
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Instrumentation, Automation and Systems
Flight Test Data Analysis of Hybrid Vertical Take-off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
A Hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has both advantages of multirotor and fixed-wing UAV. This unique design leads to a more complicated airframe and control design compared to those of a conventional drone. Integrating two platform of UAV (mutirotor and fixed-wing) also requires carefully consideration to safely operate this hybrid UAV. This paper discussed the flight scenario that includes flight modes and parameters to be determined before flight. This leads to the development of the flight procedure as an important prerequisite for a successful flight.
Effect of Direction of Magnetic Field and Probe Surface on Measurement of The Electron Density by Electron Density and Temperature Probe
The electron density and temperature probe (EDTP) was proposed by Oyama and others instead of a Langmuir probe that is the conventional measurement tool of an ionosphere measurement. The EDTP is the most reliable instrument to measure the electron density and temperature of ionosphere. The EDTP sweeps high frequencies which were applied to a probe and measures the resonance frequency of a plasma in the electron density measurement. The plasma of ionosphere is influenced by the magnetic field of the Earth. Therefore, the electron density varies by the relationship between the plane of the probe and the directions of the magnetic field. We generated a plasma in the space plasma chamber and changed the magnetic field of the chamber using a Helmholtz coil. In this study, we investigated the effects that are caused by the electron density in the direction of the magnetic field. As a result, we found the electron density become very high when the magnetic field was applied to the direction of the front of the disk probe.
The Effect of Automation on Human Factors in Aviation
This paper looks to examine the effect of modern day automation on the human machine by reviewing literature spanning over three decades. Using the current human factors model SCHELL, we will review a significant aviation accident to determine the human factors components that contributed to the fatal crash. Conditions such as automation bias and complacency continue to surface as contributing factors in aviation accidents and incidents. A novel application to combat these human errors for operational pilots during low work phases of flight is suggested. The importance of visualisation in the maintenance of manual flying skills is discussed with support from a neuroplasticity experiment that highlights the significance of this action.
Smart Bracelet using Haptic System with Fuzzy Controller in Deminer Quad-rotor Robots
In this paper we present a novel method and a useful device in order to assist robot’s pilot during control a deminer quadrotor robot in urgent situation. Moreover, we propose a smart bracelet that utilizes haptic system with fuzzy logic controller to generate desire vibration to user’s hand with respect to mine detector sensor and sonar sensor, which mounted on robot. In this approach, we design two separate bracelets for two user hands, which first one for warning to user with respect to mine detector sensor and another one for warning relate to obstacle avoidance. Finally, we applied a medicines pulse sensor in fuzzy logic controller to measure pilot’s heartbeat to help pilot in hazardous situation.
Design of Vacuum Test Machine for Modulator and Telescope Turbine
While assembling Modulator with turbine of telescope, vacuum process which is the final stage of the maintenance process of the tools is required. The goal is to remove trapped air and replace it with media of oil fluid wholly. Therefore, it requires a vacuum machine that can help the process. The existing machine today takes a quite long process that is 3.5 - 4.5 hours. From the other side the existing machine today can not be moved (fixed). The air flow and the incoming oil just relies on 1 valve, so it needs a tool to speed up the processing time that will be a benchmark and productivity growth. The design process is also made in order to ease the operation and easy movement by changing totally the existing design with the new one. The design starts from the idea of using 2 valves from the originally 1 valve, change of operational system, as well as the capacity of the charging tube (oil buck), which is relatively larger. Machine of vacuum test using 2 valves of open and close and 2 processes in it, namely drawing and transfer as well as machine design that easily moved by using a roller also larger capacity of oil tube (oil bulk), it is expected to overcome the existing problems all this time, moreover to ease operation and improve efficiency 1-2 hours.
Controlling The Electric Potential of The Low-Earth Orbit Microsatellite in Ionosphere Observation via Langmuir Probe
Using a Langmuir probe mounted on a large satellite is a general method to directly measure ionosphere’s plasma characteristics, such as electron temperature and electron density. Microsatellites are also being planned to be used for this task due to their apparent advantages, such as low-cost and short development time. However, the deployment of Langmuir probe on a microsatellite faces with a problem that the satellite’s electric potential fluctuates significantly as the plasma’s currents are fed to a satellite’s conducting surface which is not much larger than that of the probe. This in turn adversely affects the accuracy of the observation results. In this paper, a technique exploiting an electron gun is proposed to stabilize this fluctuation. The technique is tested in a space chamber and the obtained results are shown to demonstrate the effective controlling of the satellite electric potential.
Development of L-band Circularly Polarized Synthetic Aperture Radar System
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is an imaging radar that uses the radio frequency (RF) signals. Conventional space-borne SAR employs linearly polarized (LP) RF signals and it is easily affected by Faraday rotation effect that distorts the signal amplitude as the signal traverses Ionosphere. This paper presents the development of SAR system that adopts circularly polarized (CP) antennas to compensate the Faraday rotation effect. The inverse SAR (ISAR) test using point target has been conducted in anechoic chamber to validate the performance of the proposed CP-SAR system. The peak to side-lobe ratio (PSLR) parameter from the point target image shows the characteristic of CP microwave. In case of surface scattering, the cross-polarization shows approximately -6 dB lowered PSLR than co-polarization. On the other hand, the double-scattering of co-polarization shows -7 dB lowered PSLR when compared to that of cross-polarization.
Noise Tolerable PID Controller for Load Frequency Control (LFC) in Multi Area Power Plant
Noise Tolerable PID Controller had been introduced in previous work and notice that it can improve the system performance by reducing the fluctuation on derivative control action of PID controller on Load Frequency Controller (LFC). However, this proposed method was applied to single power plant and located on primary control loop. This scheme was not suitable with the real condition, which it has some interconnections between multi area power plant and LFC was configured on secondary loop that should be minimize the fluctuation of the frequency of the Grid. In this study, a new configuration of Noise Tolerable PID Controller was proposed to be able to implement on the Multi Area Power Plant and also located on secondary control loop. By adding low pass filter (LPF) and averaged on derivative action of PID controller, two steam power plants was selected to simulate and evaluate the performance of system after applied LFC. The better performance was obtained from the system with averaged derivative PID controller. After simulated, the frequency drop from this controller was the smallest one.
Mapping of Sunda Kelapa Dredging Material Dispersion Pattern
This paper will discuss about mapping the dispersion pattern of the dredging material at Jakarta’s port of Sunda Kelapa. The mapping is based on the TSS (Total Suspended Solution) method for fine sand particles and combined with the velocity of the sea current to determine the extent of the dredged material deposit, which is found at 1000 mg/l. With settling velocity of 1 mm/s, the maximum extent from the simulation is 4 kilometers offshore from the dump point covered in 4 hours during high current, and about 1 kilometer from the dump point towards the shore during low current. Taking into account the direction of the current, the optimum window for dredging the port and dumping at the selected location is in November each year.
A Linear Dynamic Model Approximation of A Flapping-type Tidal Turbine
In this paper, a linear dynamic model of flapping-type tidal turbine (FTT) is proposed. First, a nonlinear dynamic model is derived to predict the equation of motion of the system. Then, the nonlinear dynamic model was analyzed and validated using simulation and experimental data. Second, a linear dynamic model is derived from the nonlinear dynamic model using approximation method. To validate this method, the proposed linear dynamic model is analyzed and validated using simulation and experimental results. This dynamic model is also compared to another linearization method. The result showed that the proposed linear dynamic model could represent the characteristic of the system as in the nonlinear dynamic model.
Admissible Model Matching Fault Tolerant Control based on LPV Fault Representation
In this paper, an approach to design an Admissible Model Matching (AMM) Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) based on Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) fault representation is proposed. The main contribution of this approach is to consider parametric faults as a scheduling variable in the LPV fault representation of the system that allows the controller reconfiguration on-line. The proposed strategy is an active technique that requires the fault to be detected, isolated and estimated by a FDI scheme. In case the fault estimation is not available, a passive strategy based on a single AMM FTC controller could be designed. The formulation of AMM is based on the set of admissible behaviors that are characterized by means of Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs). The LMIs allow to locate the poles of the close-loop system inside a region of the unit circle and the fault accommodation can be formulated in terms of several LMIs. The effectiveness and performance of proposed approach have been illustrated in simulation considering a thermal hydraulic system.
Robust Control of An Unmanned Underwater Vehicles with Parametric Uncertainty
The complex dynamics coupled with operational condition have made an unmanned underwater vehicle susceptible to perturbation due to parametric uncertainty. This has necessitated the need for a robust control technique capable of not only guarantee robustness to unstructured uncertainty, but also account for inherent parametric uncertainty in the system dynamics. This paper presents an optimized based extended H-infinity loop-shaping design procedure for the synthesis of a control system capable of addressing the problem of parametric perturbations in the unmanned underwater vehicle dynamics. The design problem formulation and procedure, together with performance evaluation are highlighted in the paper. Validation of the robustness is examined explicitly using structured singular value analysis.
Design of Avionics System and Control Scenario of Small Hybrid Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) UAV
In this paper, avionics system and control scenario of small hybrid Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) UAV will be presented. The UAV configuration is a hybrid-UAV configuration combining feature of rotary-wing UAV and fixed-wing UAV. There are two topics that will be discussed in this paper. First, avionics system of the UAV including its power system and its peripherals interfacing. Second, control system design of the UAV including flight scenario when the UAV is on transition mode/stage. Rotary-wing UAV configuration has advantages such as easy-and-stable when take-off and landing. Rotary-wing UAV also does not need special area to do take-off and landing. While Fixed-wing UAV configuration has advantages such as high maneuverability and high endurance. This hybrid UAV is designed to obtain all of this advantages.
Embedded System Design of a Maximum Power Point Tracking Controller for Traffic Light System Powered by Photovoltaic
Photovoltaic traffic light system is a significant application of renewable energy source. The develop the system use solar energy as an alternative effort of local authority to reduce expenditure for paying fees to power supplier which the power comes from conventional energy source. Since photovoltaic modules still have relatively low conversion efficiency, an alternative control of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method applied to the traffic light system. MPPT is intended to catch up the maximum power at daytime in order to charge the battery at the maximum rate in which the power from the battery is intended to be used at night time or cloudy day. MPPT is actually a DC-DC converter that can step up or down of voltage in order to achieve the maximum power using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control. Based on experiment, we obtained the used MPPT voltage of operation at 16.454 V, this value had error 2.6% compared with maximum power point voltage of PV module which is 16.9V. Based on this result the MPPT control work was successfully deliver the power from PV module to battery maximally.
Real Time Monocular Visual Odometry using ORB Features for Indoor Environment
Navigation is a key process in many intelligent systems. The most common way to do navigation is using Global Positioning System (GPS). However, in indoor environment, GPS is inaccurate due to multi-path problem. To solve this problem, a dead reckoning system may be implemented. Visual odometry is one of the dead reckoning methods which can help solving this problem. Among many types of visual odometry algorithm, feature-based monocular visual odometry algorithm is proposed in this research. The feature detector used in this work is ORB. The features are used for triangulation and the obtained 3D structure will be used as the basic information for poses determination. Pose determination is done by solving the PnP problem. The algorithm is validated by performing six basic motion tests while the algorithm is running. The result of the tests shows that the visual odometry algorithm can determine the position and orientation with good accuracy.
Design of Separate Lift and Thrust Hybrid UAV
Hybrid UAV is a new platform of UAV which is integrating fixed wing and multirotor to get vertical takeoff and landing capability with high range and long endurance. Thus it has the benefit of both fixed wing and multirotor platform. The design methodology of hybrid UAV is resembled fixed wing aircraft with modification at some part due to augmentation of multirotor. This Hybrid UAV has been manufactured and on testing phase.
Aircraft Swarm Intelligence: An Approach to Coordinated Swarming with Artificial Potential Functions & Gradient Descent
This study presents an organized method of swarm coordination with the use of artificial potential functions (APFs) utilizing a first-order optimization gradient descent algorithm. With the emergence of an increasing need for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) system control, swarm coordination presents an approach to eliminate collisions and effectively achieve mission goal parameters. The gradient descent algorithm begins with an initial configuration and implements a step, or iteration, in a direction that is opposite to the gradient. The APFs contain both repulsive and attractive potential functions that contribute to the gradient ultimately determining the states of the agent with respect to the distance from other agents and obstacles. Obstacles or other agents projected to be too close within the path of an individual agent affect the agent’s path and dynamics. Experimental simulations consisted of three, five, and ten agents with two obstacles arranged at different initial positions. Agents’ dynamics were constrained to match the Boeing AH-6 Unmanned Little Bird (ULB). Simulations had shown each agent to effectively travel to a prescribed target location while avoiding obstacles and other agents simultaneously.
Design and Manufacturing An Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robot Chassis
This paper describes the development of a lightweight chassis and drivetrain of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robot. It defines the design methodology of selecting the correct specification of a robot to define a general concept of the robot. The chassis and drivetrain movement concept is described and a finite element analysis is achieved to validate the strength of the robot under intermediate payloads.
Development and Application of A Reconfigurable Engineering Flight Simulator at Ryerson University
Flight simulators can recreate aircraft flights for flight training and aircraft design. This paper reviews existing engineering flight simulators and introduces the development of a multi-purpose reconfigurable engineering flight simulator at Ryerson University. The multi-purpose engineering flight simulator named the Ryerson Fixed Base Simulator (RFBS) has been designed and built to teach and initiate research projects in the area of aircraft design, flight simulation, pilot training, and flight data analysis. It consists of three 46 inch high definition screens and six 22 inch touch screen panels to represent the instrument panel, the centre console, and the overhead panels of an actual aircraft flight deck. Several low-cost, commercial flight simulation software were tested and X-Plane was selected as the main flight simulation tool. This paper also introduces a research that utilizes the RFBS and a commercial flight analysis software. The objective of the research was to develop a flight data conversion methodology. A case study was commenced to verify the work flow of flight data generation and analysis with an example of hard-landing analysis.
Analysis of Grasp Parameter Effects for Static Stability of Planar Grasps
Grasp stability is an important factor for grasping and manipulation. In this paper, we discuss error analysis of grasp parameters for static grasp stability in two dimensions. Each finger is modeled by translational linear springs, and the potential energy stored in the grasp is formulated. The force and moment vector and the stiffness matrix of the grasp are derived by using the first- and second-order partial derivative of the energy. The vector and the matrix are represented by a function of grasp parameters such as contact condition (rolling contact and sliding contact), contact point, local curvature, finger spring stiffness, and so on. The partial derivatives of the vector and the matrix with respect to the grasp parameters are derived. The characteristics of the parameters’ effects are investigated by using positive definiteness of the derivatives. It is analytically shown that the stability is enhanced when the rolling contact appears, the local curvature decreases, the finger stiffness increases, and so on. The directions affecting the stability by the parameters’ deviation are also derived. The effects of the other parameters are also shown.
Simultaneous Trajectory Tracking and Formation Keeping for A Group of Unicycle Mobile Robots
This paper discusses the design of a control algorithm for a group of unicycles that is able to simultaneously track individual references and keep a certain formation with other unicycles. The algorithm extends the concept of individual trajectory tracking designed using dynamic feedback linearization. The extension is done by introducing coupling gains between the robots so that formation keeping can be achieved. The algorithm is validated in real-time experiments. Using a root-mean-square error-like indicator, the influence of communication topologies on the performance of the control algorithm is investigated. It shown that communication topologies and gains are the most influencing parameters.
Pitch Oscillation Control of Hydroplane in Dual System of Lab-scale Flapping Type Tidal Energy Harvester
This paper describes the controller design of oscillation motion of hydroplane in dual-system lab-scale flapping type tidal energy harvester (FT-TEH).In dual-system, two identical single systems of lab-scale FT-TEH are arranged in a series with one chord length distance between the hydroplanes, wherein the flapping arm of each system is facing inwardly to each other. Both pitch noses direction of the hydroplanes are against the water flow. Controller is designed to control the motion of hydroplane such that each system moves in synchronized motion to each other at predetermined phase difference. Here, the system uses automatic gain controller with PID as the control feedback. Simulation and experiment results indicate that the controller of pitch oscillation for dual system of the lab-scale FT-TEH is well implemented.
Preliminary Study on Stability of A Hovering Bi-Flap Flapping Wing Platform using Cycle-Averaged Linear Models
A preliminary study on the stability of a bi-flap flapping wing hovering platform is presented in this paper. The work includes the derivation of cycle-average linear longitudinal and lateral models, the experiment to determine the stability derivatives, and analysis on the identified system matrices. Also discussed in the paper is the validity of using a cycle-averaged model to represent the dynamics of the flapping wing platform, and the validity of using small perturbation theory to linearize the nonlinear model. Results show that the platform is unstable longitudinally and laterally about the hovering equilibrium. Longitudinally, the natural modes are short period unstable oscillatory mode, fast subsidence mode, and slow divergent mode. Laterally, the natural modes are neutral mode, fast subsidence mode, and long period unstable oscillatory mode.
Distributed Formation Control using Consensus for Multiple Humanoid Robots
Formation control in multi-robot is one of the problems widely studied and variety of methods have been developed with their own advantages and disadvantages. Distributed control has the advantage in that it does not require centralized coordination, allowing rapid restructuring in the event of failure of one of the agents. Another advantages include saving computation power, amount of data transmitted over communication, and immunity to delay. In this research a distributed formation controller is designed and implemented in humanoid robots. The distributed controller is designed consisting of layer for tracking, layer for constructing the formation, and consensus layer that keeps the error between each agent can be agreed upon so that a reference can be achieved together. To solve the problem of bad odometry suffered by legged mobile robot caused by the slip between the legs with a floor, visual odometry is employed using the ceiling camera. The control system is simulated using GNU-Octave software and implemented on humanoid robots NAO from Aldebaran. Experiment demonstrates that the distributed controllers are able to closely follow the desired reference.
Autonomous UAV System Development for Payload Dropping Mission
In this paper, power and autonomous system in UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) for payload dropping mission will be presented. The UAV consists of two main parts, airframe and the avionics system. There are two important subsystems of avionics system which will be discussed, power system and autonomous system. There are three Li-Poly batteries applied in this system to power the autonomous system. The autonomous system consists of an Ardupilot Mega v2.4.2 board (autonomous board), a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor, attitude sensors, ESC (Electronic Speed Controller), servos, a brushless motor, a camera, a data transmitter, an Audio/Video transmitter, and also a Radio RC receiver. This UAV was designed to participate Kontes Robot Terbang Indonesia 2013 (Indonesia Aerial Robot Contest 2013), payload dropping category, at Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia. In this competition, provided a mission which the UAV has to drop payloads in some target points which is only known when UAV in the flight time. The UAV has to fly autonomously point-to-point while it also search the true point to drop the payloads by camera capturing. By integrating UAV’s system with GCS (Ground Control System), the true point will be known by the operators in the ground control station and the mission can be accomplished.
Flight Characteristics of A Quadrotor Helicopter using Extra Deflecting Thrusters
A quadrotor helicopter (QRH) is a radio control (RC) aircraft that tilts its attitude to generate a horizontal force component to move in a direction. With autonomous control, the attitude control system tilts the airframe against disturbances such as wind. Thus, the attitude of a flying QRH is always slanted. In this study, extra thruster rotors were mounted to maintain the position and horizontal attitude of the QRH. The extra thrusters are tilted to generate a thrust against disturbances without inclination of the airframe. This system is constructed with two ducted fans that can tilt on two axes. It is suitable for precise measurements where the airframe posture needs to stay horizontal.
Flight Characteristics of Quad Rotor Helicopter with Tilting Rotor
A quad rotor helicopter (QRH), a type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), uses a tilted attitude to generate a horizontal thrust component in the flying direction. In the case of autonomous control, the attitude control system is used to tilt the airframe against disturbances such as crosswinds. Consequently, the flying attitude of a QRH is always inclined. In this study, a tilting mechanism for rotors (TMR) was mounted on a QRH to maintain a horizontal attitude. The TMRs were tilted to generate thrust against disturbances without inclining the airframe. The system was constructed using a QRH and TMRs tilted around only one axis and allocated every 90°. Because the airframe is always horizontal, this system can be used for the precise measurement of, e.g., landforms and buildings.
Traffic Flow Optimization by Weber-Fechner Law Applied Intelligent Vehicles
Weber-Fechner Law (WFL) that exists in the relationship between distance-headway (X) (X=VT, V: vehicle speed, T: time-headway) can be expressed like X=Xoe^bV. If this can be embedded into vehicles as the driver assisting intelligence, it is expected to prevent rear-end collisions and to get high efficiency flows by easing congestions. Such benefits are theoretically mentioned from the development of the WFL. The essential core parameter is Vb which is defined from the WFL as characteristic speed which is also defined as critical speed, because when the flow speed V=Vav (averaged speed) is equal to Vb (V=Vb), the flow density becomes the maximum, which does not mean the highest flow efficiency, but it easily goes to congestion. If the speed becomes equal to 2Vb (V=2Vb), the maximum economic efficiency can be obtained.
Transmitter and Receiver Design at L-Band and X-Band for FM-CW Radar Altimeter
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in FM-CW (frequency modulated continuous wave) technology for military and civilian applications. FM-CW radar altimeters find applications to detect ground proximity during automatic landing in low-visibility condition, collision avoidance systems in vehicles, and ground penetrating radars for buried object detections such as landmines, pipelines, etc. The development of a low-power L-band and X-band FM-CW radar hardware and design of a third order loop filter for the phase locked loop (PLL) is the main focus of this paper. Results of laboratory trial for the calibration of FMCW radar hardware are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of operation at X band.