articles+ search results

Electromagnetic fields, Antennas (Electronics), Wireless sensor networks, and Rapid prototyping

Keywords: metallization; radio frequency performance; SLA reflector; three-dimensional printed Abstract A novel high precision and lightweight reflector antenna is proposed. The fabrication process of the reflector adopted Stereo Lithography Apparatus (SLA) printed and metallization. The proposed SLA Reflector (SLAR) antenna structure adopts three-dimensional-printed, which can design complex geometric shapes flexibly and rapid prototyping. That is a good substitute for the traditional method of millimeter wave reflector processing. In order to realize radio frequency (RF) characteristics perfectly, the metallization process of photosensitive resin was elaborated, which realized by first electroless nickel plating, then copper electroplating, and finally chromium electroplating on the protective layer. For verification, the designed reflector antenna was manufactured and measured. The reflectivity of SLAR was measured well by the bow method, which validates excellent fabrication accuracy and reliability. The gain and pattern were measured in the anechoic chamber. The results show that the proposed reflector antenna achieves the gain of 25dBi and the 3dB gain bandwidth of 43% over the full Ka-band. A good agreement can be observed between measurement and simulation. Biographical information: Liwei Guo received the B.E. degree in from the Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, China in 2006. She is currently pursuing the PhD degree in Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, China. Her current research interests include metasurfaces, millimeter-wave reflector antenna. Simin Li received the B.S. degree in wireless communication engineering from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, China, in 1984, and the M.S. and PhD degrees in electronics engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, in 1989 and 2007, respectively. Dr. Li is currently the President and a Professor with Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou, China. His current research interests include the design of electrically small antennas, antenna arrays for high-frequency communication systems, and wireless sensor networks. Xing Jiang received the Master's degree in electromagnetic field and microwave technology from Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, in 1986. Since 2000, she has been a Professor with the Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, China. She was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi. Her research interests include smart communication system design, conformal antenna array, and bioelectromagnetics. Xin Liao received the B.E. degree from Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China, in 1990. He is currently a Lecturer with the Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, China. His research interests include Electromagnetic Compatibility and antenna measurement. Ying Zhang received the B.E. degree in Harbin Institute of Technology of optical instrument. Now she is a researcher at Beijing Simulation Center. Her research interest is the simulation of visible light/infrared guidance and control systems. Bin Shi is an associate researcher- in Beijing Simulation Center. Her research interest is the simulation of radio frequency target accuracy. Article Note: Funding information Guangxi Innovation Driven Development Special Fund Project, Grant/Award Number: GUIKEAA19254012; Innovation Project of Guangxi Graduate Education, Grant/Award Number: YCBZ2019051; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Numbers: 61761012, 61661011 Byline: Liwei Guo, Simin Li, Xing Jiang, Xin Liao, Ying Zhang, Bin Shi

Algorithm, Sensors -- Analysis, Wireless sensor networks -- Analysis, and Algorithms -- Analysis

Keywords Tissue P System; Wireless Sensor Network; Multi-Objective problem; Task Assignment; Decision Support System; Parallel computing; Sustainable computing Abstract The contemporary wireless sensor applications employ a Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network (HeWSN) to achieve its multi-objective missions. Modern wireless nodes constituting the HeWSN are more versatile in terms of its capabilities, functionalities, and applications. Assigning tasks in a dynamic HeWSN environment are challenging due to its inherent heterogeneous properties and capabilities. The investigation of existing task assignment algorithms reveals (i) the majority of the existing task assignment algorithms were designed for the homogeneous environment, (ii) most of the nature-inspired algorithms were built for centralized architecture. Scheduling tasks by existing task assignment algorithms lead to underutilization of resources as well as to the rapid depletion of network resources. To this end, a novel, distributed, heterogeneous task assignment algorithm adhering the modern sensors capabilities, functionalities and sensor application to attain sustainable computing is required. Based on the investigation, Tissue P-System inspired task assignment algorithm for the distributed heterogeneous WSN has been modelled. The experimental analyses of the proposed method have been self-evaluated as well as compared with the corresponding recent benchmark algorithms under various conditions and its performance metrics are analysed. Author Affiliation: Karunya Institute of Technology & Sciences, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641 114, India * Corresponding author. Article History: Received 18 November 2019; Revised 11 June 2020; Accepted 21 June 2020 (footnote) Peer review under responsibility of King Saud University. Byline: Titus Issac [titusissac@gmail.com] (*), Salaja Silas, Elijah Blessing Rajsingh

3D printing -- Case studies, Engineering schools -- Case studies, Labor market -- Case studies, and Mechanical engineering -- Case studies

Keywords: 3D digitizing; design skills; hands-on activities; redesign; reverse engineering Abstract Today's job market is seeking engineers with competencies to design innovative solutions that meet sophisticated customer needs. Engineering education is then challenged to equip future engineers with holistic engineering design skills, especially functional ones. A powerful means to strengthen these skills is the use of reverse-engineering-based activities, which consist of examining, extracting information, and redesigning existing products. However, most current education endeavours, based on reverse engineering, consist only of practicing simple teardowns that have circumscribed impact on the acquisition of skills. Therefore, there is a need for more elaborated authentic hands-on activities to gain a broad set of design skills. This study addresses this gap by the development of a concept of wide-ranging engineering activities that start with the study of an existing product and ends with an improved redesigned three-dimensional (3D) printed product. This concept of activities was developed to strengthen a conventional course on product design. Thus, a tailored comprehensive redesign process is proposed first, and expanded as a concept of a set of experiential activities, with associated measures for skills acquisition. This concept encompasses teardown, 3D digitizing and rapid prototyping, and aims mainly at facilitating the understanding of components' functionalities, the numerical reconstruction by 3D digitizing, the mechanical modelling and engineering analysis of parts and finally the 3D printing of the redesign output. To understand, experience, and weigh up the relevance of the proposed concept of activities, a preliminary implementation, and a case study are illustrated. Particularly, the relevance of the concept is demonstrated through the assessment of the activities' measures. In short, this study provides educators with an authentic education tool that leverages on a broader reverse engineering vision to boost the job's sought-after design skills. Byline: Mohammed Akerdad, Ahmed Aboutajeddine, Mohammed Elmajdoubi

Program errors -- Analysis, Executives -- Analysis, and Computer science -- Analysis

Keywords Concolic testing; Virtual prototyping; SystemC; RISC-V; Internet of things Abstract Constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices with limited computing resource are increasingly employed in security critical areas. Therefore, it is important for the firmware of these devices to be tested sufficiently. On non-constrained conventional devices, dynamic testing techniques (e.g. fuzzing, symbolic execution, or concolic testing) are successfully utilized to discover critical bugs in tested software. Unfortunately, the diverse ecosystem and the dependence on low-level details of a wide range of peripherals makes it difficult to use these techniques in the IoT context. In order to address these challenges, we present SymEx-VP an open source emulation-based approach for concolic testing of IoT firmware. SymEx-VP is a virtual prototype for RISC-V hardware platforms and allows concolic testing of RISC-V machine code. To support a wide range of different peripherals, SymEx-VP utilizes SystemC, a hardware modeling language for C++. By employing a SystemC extension mechanism, SymEx-VP can inject concolic inputs into the emulated firmware through the memory-mapped I/O peripheral interface of existing SystemC peripheral models. This allows us to support different operating systems and libraries used in the IoT with minimal integration effort. We provide an extensive description of SymEx-VP, illustrate peripheral modeling and firmware testing using it by example, and perform tests with four operating systems to demonstrate the advantages of our OS-agnostic firmware testing method. Author Affiliation: (a) Institute of Computer Science, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany (b) Cyber-Physical Systems, DFKI GmbH, Bremen, Germany * Corresponding author. Article History: Received 21 December 2021; Revised 25 February 2022; Accepted 2 March 2022 (footnote) The code (and data) in this article has been certified as Reproducible by Code Ocean: (https://codeocean.com/). More information on the Reproducibility Badge Initiative is available at https://www.elsevier.com/physical-sciences-and-engineering/computer-science/journals. (footnote)[white star] This work was supported in part by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the poject Scale4Edge under contract no. 16ME0127 and within the project VerSys under contract no. 01IW19001. Byline: Sören Tempel [tempel@uni-bremen.de] (a,*), Vladimir Herdt [vherdt@uni-bremen.de] (a,b), Rolf Drechsler [drechsler@uni-bremen.de] (a,b)

Visual perception and Rapid prototyping

Keywords Cerebral visual impairment; Visuoperceptual profile; Serious game-based therapy; Functional vision; Individualized; Adaptive Highlights * Individualized adaptive serious games were developed for cerebral visual impairment. * A multi-informant approach is crucial in serious game-based therapy development. * Visuoperceptual profiles serve as a basis for individualized entry-level difficulty. * Automatic in-game adaptivity can be preliminarily defined using handcrafted rules. * Iterative approach in different user testing groups supported fine-tuning of games. Abstract Children with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) exhibit a very heterogeneous clinical visuoperceptual picture, which implies that a targeted individualized and adaptive therapy is necessary. Serious games for CVI are limited, especially those that train multiple visuoperceptual skills in an individualized and adaptive manner without the frequent manual input from clinicians. In this paper, we describe the design, development, and evaluation process of novel individualized and adaptive serious mini-games for visual perceptual skills. First, an informant-led design, including focus groups with relevant stakeholders implementing a participation-via-proxy and brainstorming sessions, was performed. This resulted in rapid prototypes of four mini-games (MatchMaker, Hurricane Chaos, Maze Explorer 2D, and Maze Explorer 3D), targeting six visuoperceptual skills commonly impaired in children with CVI: (1) visual discrimination and matching, (2) object or picture recognition, (3) visual spatial perception, (4) figure-ground perception, (5) motion perception, and (6) visual short-term memory. Therapeutic game content (selecting, manipulating, and rating images; defining entry-level difficulty and in-game adaptivity rules) was evaluated by clinical and research experts. Finally, formative testing and expert feedback, including usability and user experience by clinicians, researchers, and typically developing children, led to important modifications in the mini-games. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Development and Regeneration, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), O&N IV Herestraat 49, Box 805, 3000 Leuven, Belgium (b) Department of Electronics and Informatics (ETRO), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium (c) imec, Leuven, Belgium (d) Department of Brain & Cognition, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Leuven, Belgium (e) Leuven Brain Institute (LBI), Leuven, Belgium (f) Child Youth Institute (L-C&Y), Leuven, Belgium * Corresponding author. Article History: Received 3 August 2021; Revised 16 November 2021; Accepted 26 November 2021 (footnote)[white star] The views expressed in the submitted article are our own and not an official position of the institution or funder. This work was supported by the Fund Scientific Research Flanders (FWO-project) (grant number T003817N). Author JW was supported by the Flemish Government (grant number METH/14/02). Byline: N. Ben Itzhak [nofar.benitzhak@kuleuven.be] (a,*), I. Franki (a), B. Jansen (b,c), K. Kostkova (b,c), J. Wagemans (d,e), E. Ortibus (a,f)

Government regulation, Augmented Reality -- Laws, regulations and rules, Children -- Behavior -- Laws, regulations and rules, Sensors -- Laws, regulations and rules, Medical colleges -- Laws, regulations and rules, Medical law, and Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder -- Laws, regulations and rules

Keywords ADHD; Self-regulation; Technologies; m-health; Wearables; Children Highlights * Technology has the potential to support self-regulation in children with ADHD. * Most prior research has used mobile and sensor technology to deliver intervention for ADHD. * Most technological interventions try to support children at school or at home. Abstract Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most prevalent childhood psychiatric condition. Children with ADHD display symptoms of inattention and hyperactive/impulsive behaviors. Behavioral interventions are promising as approaches for improving the control of attention and impulsivity and in developing self-regulation skills. Self-regulation involves controlling one's behavior, emotions, and thoughts to pursue long-term goals and is fundamental to adaptive developmental tasks at all stages of life. Innovative approaches for supporting children with ADHD include using both novel and consumer off-the-shelf technologies to support the self-regulation of emotions and behaviors. This review aims to provide a resource to summarize the current evidence for technological interventions that assist and assess the self-regulation of behaviors and emotions supporting children with ADHD. This review included 36 papers that used multiple technological emerging platforms (i.e., personal computers; mobile; sensors, wearables; virtual and augmented reality; robots) used by children with ADHD. Most technologies are suspended in the design and prototyping phases. However, studies that included robust enough technologies for deployment studies or pilot random control trials exhibit promising implications for supporting self-regulation in children with ADHD. Author Affiliation: (a) Fowler School of Engineering, Chapman University, United States of America (b) Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of California, Riverside, United States of America (c) Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, United States of America (d) Department of Informatics, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, United States of America * Corresponding author. Article History: Received 10 November 2020; Revised 1 October 2021; Accepted 4 October 2021 Byline: Franceli L. Cibrian [cibrian@chapman.edu] (a,*), Kimberley D. Lakes [kimberley.lakes@medsch.ucr.edu] (b), Sabrina E.B. Schuck [sabrina@uci.edu] (c), Gillian R. Hayes [gillianrh@ics.uci.edu] (d,*)

Computer science

Keywords Smart thing; Toolkit; Action research; Card; Game; Design; Reflection; Child Abstract Several workshops use toolkits to engage children in the design of smart things, that is, everyday things like toys enhanced with computing devices and capabilities. In general, the toolkits focus on one design stage or another, e.g., ideation or programming. Few toolkits are created to guide children through an entire design process. This paper presents a toolkit for smart-thing design with children. It revolves around SNaP, a card-based board game for children. The toolkit serves to frame the entire design process and guide them through their exploration, ideation, programming and prototyping of their own smart things. By embracing action research, the toolkit was adopted in actions with children, namely, design workshops. Results of actions were reflected over by considering children's benefits, and they were used to make the toolkit evolve across cycles of action, reflection and development. The paper reports on the latest evolution cycles, ending with the 2020 cycle for continuing smart-thing design during COVID-19 times. The paper concludes with general reflections concerning action research and design with children, toolkits for framing smart-thing design with children, on-going and future work. Author Affiliation: (a) Faculty of Computer Science, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Domenicani 3, 39100 Bolzano, Italy (b) DEIB, Politecnico di Milano, Via Ponzio, 34/5, 20133 Milan, Italy * Corresponding author. Article History: Received 25 October 2020; Revised 14 May 2021; Accepted 16 July 2021 Byline: Rosella Gennari [gennari@inf.unibz.it] (a,*), Maristella Matera [maristella.matera@polimi.it] (b), Alessandra Melonio [alessandra.melonio@unibz.it] (a), Mehdi Rizvi [syedmehdi.rizvi@polimi.it] (b), Eftychia Roumelioti [eftychia.roumelioti@stud-inf.unibz.it] (a)

Data warehousing/data mining, Algorithm, Optical radar, Sensors, Data mining, and Algorithms

Keywords: algorithm testing; complex ocean scenarios; data generation; sensors; simulation platform; unmanned surface vessel Abstract Unmanned surface vessels (USVs) have been fully used in the civilian and military fields in recent years, which dramatically expands protective capability and detection range. However, the marine environment's complexity and variability make that verification of various advanced USVs control algorithms face high costs and high risks. In this article, we present USVs-Sim, a novel high-fidelity general simulation platform for USVs autonomous navigation data generation and control strategy testing. USVs-Sim is a collection of high-level extensible modules that allows the rapid development and testing of USVs configurations and facilitates the construction of complex ocean scenarios. USVs-Sim supports the steering or thrusting limits of USVs, as well as unique dynamics profiles. The platform can specify specific USVs sensor systems and change the time of day and weather conditions to generate robust data. USVs-Sim facilitates training of deep-learning algorithms by enabling data export from USVs sensors, including vision data, lidar, relative positions of ocean targets. Therefore, USVs-Sim allows for the rapid prototyping, development, and testing of USVs autonomous control algorithms in a complex marine environment. In this article, we detail the general simulation platform and testing several representative USVs intelligent control algorithms on the platform. Article Note: Funding information Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China, MC-201920-X01; National Natural Science Foundation of China, 61991415; 91746203 Byline: Wei Wang, Han Zhang, Yang Li, Zhenyu Zhang, Xiangfeng Luo, Shaorong Xie

Ecosystems -- Environmental aspects

Keywords Digital transformation; Metrological processes; Administrative shell; Digital Calibration Certificate; DCC; Declaration of Conformity; DoC; Distributed software architecture; Weighing instruments; Legal Metrology Abstract In this paper a metrological quality infrastructure is introduced, that considers the strict legal framework and offers transparency, security and resilience. As a foundation, the AnGeWaNt platform is used to connect external infrastructures and foster digital transformation of processes. A fast and easy integration of a vacuum laboratory workflow is demonstrated by benefiting from the distributed service architecture and harmonized RESTful application interfaces. Furthermore, through the modular approach of the AnGeWaNt platform, a rapid service prototyping is enabled by a tool set of services. Providing a digital transformed conformity process to the service hub and avoiding expensive re-implementation. These two exemplary use cases are extensively described and their benefits to the metrological service ecosystem are shown. The main advantage of the interdependent service ecosystem is the flexibility to preserve specialized applications on site, while enabling innovative and custom-tailored services at the same time. Author Affiliation: (a) Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Abbestr. 2-12, 10587 Berlin, Germany (b) Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany Byline: Alexander Oppermann [alexander.oppermann@ptb.de] (a), Samuel Eickelberg (a), John Exner (a), Thomas Bock (a), Matthias Bernien (a), Rolf Niepraschk (a), Wiebke Heeren (b), Oksana Baer (b), Clifford Brown (b)

Virtual reality technology, Time to market, Manufacturing industry, Augmented Reality, Product development, and Virtual reality

Keywords Augmented reality; Virtual reality; Manufacturing Abstract Virtual and augmented reality technologies are gaining a stable presence in many industries, while supporting the efficiency and productivity of individual business processes. Education, virtual prototyping, production system design, remote maintenance, digital twin scenario simulations, digital tutorials are areas in which these technologies have found their place and at the same time record visible development. These are solutions that shorten product development time, reduce prototyping costs, streamline training and assembly processes, and can be used as a decision support tool through simulations of various production scenarios. Slovakia, as a pre-developed country, has the ambition to implement modern technologies in industry and education. Reflecting on this strategy, the aim of our paper was to quantify and analyze the level of knowledge and interest in these technologies in Slovak manufacturing companies. Author Affiliation: Faculty of Management, Comenius University in Bratislava, Odbojárov 10 P.O.BOX 95, Bratislava 25, 82005, Slovakia Byline: Peter Balco [peter.balco@fm.uniba.sk], Peter Bajzík, Klára Skovierová

Algorithm and Algorithms -- Mechanical properties

Tensile strength, warping degree, and surface roughness are important indicators to evaluate the quality of fused deposition modeling (FDM) parts, and their accurate and stable prediction is helpful to the development of FDM technology. Thus, a quality prediction method of FDM parts based on an optimized deep belief network was proposed. To determine the combination of process parameters that have the greatest influence on the quality of FDM parts, the correlation analysis method was used to screen the key quality factors that affect the quality of FDM parts. Then, we use 10-fold cross-validation and grid search (GS) to determine the optimal hyperparameter combination of the sparse constrained deep belief network (SDBN), propose an adaptive cuckoo search (ACS) algorithm to optimize the weights and biases of the SDBN, and complete the construction of prediction model based on the above work. The results show that compared with DBN, LSTM, RBFNN, and BPNN, the ACS-SDBN model designed in this article can map the complex nonlinear relationship between FDM part quality characteristics and process parameters more effectively, and the CV verification accuracy of the model can reach more than 95.92%. The prediction accuracy can reach more than 96.67%, and the model has higher accuracy and stability.
Author(s): Hai Dong [1]; Xiuxiu Gao (corresponding author) [2]; Mingqi Wei [2] 1. Introduction Additive manufacturing (AM) is a rapid prototyping technology born in the 1980s, which realizes the conversion [...]

Robot, Computer-based entertainment system, Computer entertainment systems, Social distancing (Public health), Rapid prototyping, Child behavior, Robots, Educational assessment, Distance education, Project-based learning, Data collection, Video game equipment, Children -- Behavior, Video games -- Equipment and supplies, Data entry, and Educational evaluation

Keywords Design Tools; Smart toys; Social robots; Rapid prototyping; Remote learning Highlights * Design tools to prototype toy user interfaces following privacy by design principles. * Design tools cover human-centered design stages, including data collection planning. * Qualitative project-based learning evaluation with interdisciplinary stakeholders. * 255 stakeholders implemented 67 paper-based, functional, and digital prototypes. * Adapted tools for remote teamwork and education during the social distancing context. Abstract A Toy User Interface (ToyUI) is a setup combination of one or more toy components with other hardware or software components. As part of new technologies that permeate the Child--Computer Interaction (CCI) domain, a ToyUI can combine physical toy components with social robots, smartphones, tablets, game consoles, among other computing artifacts. This paper compiles a collection of design tools that we develop to support interdisciplinary creators in prototyping innovative ToyUI setups. The design tools aim to help the CCI community understand the benefits of hardware and software integration while delivering solutions that can meet privacy by design principles. We apply the Design Science framework to assess the problem context and propose and evaluate the design tools following a Human-Centered Design (HCD) perspective. The tools cover steps from inspiration to ideation and implementation, including user research, brainstorming, data collection planning, and low to high-fidelity prototyping tools. We detail the current version of the design tools and six years of results through qualitative evaluation in an educational setting (with 255 creators in seven different institutions). We also propose novel versions of the tools to support remote teamwork and education, and we highlight training challenges during the social distancing context.

Keywords: fault detection; fault-tolerant control; hypersonic reentry vehicle; intermittent fault; rapid prototyping ***** No abstract is available for this article. ***** Byline: Matthias A. Müller, Frank Allgöwer, Fuyang Chen, Fan Jin, Zili Wang

Architectural design

Keywords: Architectural Design; Model-based Systems Engineering; Processes; Requirements Elicitation and Management; Systems Thinking Abstract Numerous systems engineering (SE) methods for the model-based and textual specification of systems focus on managing complexity solely by partitioning the system based on physical structures or by defining different views of the system and therefore reach their limits in agile development. The increasing demand for an agile system development requires an agile systems engineering procedure for the model-based and textual top-down specification of systems. Although function-based development, variant management, and product line development are well established in software engineering, previous work has failed to introduce methods for the agile specification of systems by combining established methods from systems and software engineering. For that purpose, this paper demonstrates a new SE methodology, which for the first time combines conventional SE methods with the agile development procedure of feature-driven development. The methodology is systematically developed based on theoretical analyses and its suitability for the application-specific definition of feature-driven development processes is demonstrated using the example of reference architectures for XiL simulation models of electric vehicles. By applying feature-driven development, the resulting CUBE methodology enhances collaboration in interdisciplinary development teams and enables companies to adapt development processes to a more agile top-down specification of systems. Biographical information: Christian Granrath, M.Sc. received the B.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering in 2014 and the M.Sc. degree in energy engineering in 2016 from RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany. From 2016 to 2021 he performed his doctoral studies at the Junior Professorship for Mechatronic Systems for Combustion Engines, Institute for Combustion Engines, RWTH University. Since 2021, he is working as a technical specialist for systems engineering at FEV Europe GmbH. His research interests include the fields of model- and feature-based systems engineering, agile software engineering, software architecture development and evaluation as well as simulation model development for XiL applications in automotive domain. Mr. Granrath's awards and honors include the Dean's List, representing the top 5% of the best students in each year. Christopher Kugler, M.Sc. received his master in Computer Science at the RWTH Aachen University in 2014. From 2015 to 2019 he performed his doctoral studies at the computer science chair 'Informatik 11 - Embedded Software' at the RWTH Aachen University. His doctorate thesis investigates how the increase in complexity in automotive product development can be handled by means of risk-based verification & validation approaches. Since 2019 he is working as a team leader for Systems Engineering & Test Management at FEV Europe GmbH. The focus of his work lies on the definition and implementation of model-based systems engineering practices as well as verification & validation concepts for automotive customers, where a feature-centric and risk-driven approach is promoted by him and his team. Sebastian Silberg, B.Sc. received the B.Sc. degree in Information Systems in 2016 from WWU University of Münster, Germany. He is currently pursuing a second study in Business Administration and Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. In parallel, he is employed at FEV Europe GmbH within the business unit Intelligent Mobility & Software as member of the systems engineering department. He is involved in several projects and research with the emphasis on Systems Engineering. Max-Arno Meyer, M.Sc. received the B.Eng. degree in vehicle and propulsion technology in 2015 and the M.Sc. degree in international automotive engineering in 2018 from FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Aachen, Germany. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in software engineering at the Junior Professorship for Mechatronic Systems for Combustion Engines, Institute for Combustion Engines, RWTH Aachen University. His research interests include the fields of simulation-based testing of embedded systems, ADAS and autonomous driving, agile software engineering as well as model- and feature-based systems engineering. Mr. Meyer has been awarded the Honorary Plaque of FH Aachen for his academic achievements being among the top five percent of the best students in each year. Dr.-Ing. Philipp A. Orth received his Diploma Degree with distinction in Mechanical Engineering in 2000. In 2005, he obtained a Doctorate Degree in the same faculty of RWTH Aachen University at the Institute of Automatic Control. In his doctorate thesis, he investigated the applicability of Rapid Control Prototyping methods to Industrial Automation, bringing together control analysis and synthesis of discrete controllers with programming of programmable logic controllers (PLC) in an integrated SW tool chain. From 2006 to 2007, he worked at ABB corporate research on engineering efficiency and tool chains for process control systems and safety PLCs. Since 2007, he has worked as team lead at FEV until mid of 2014, responsible for model-based software development of embedded control systems for automotive and/or powertrain series applications, before changing to the position of a senior project manager for SW and systems engineering in the context of heavy-duty and passenger-car applications. Since 2019 he leads the department Systems Engineering within the Business Unit Intelligent Mobility & Software at FEV Europe GmbH, focusing on improvements in SE methodology and establishing SE within FEV as well as at - mainly automotive - OEM and Tier-1 customers. He is author and co-author of more than 30 articles, conference presentations and patents on the mentioned topics. Dr.-Ing. Johannes Richenhagen received the Diploma Degree in Industry Engineering & Management in 2009. In 2014, he obtained a Doctorate Degree in Mechanical Engineering, both from the RWTH Aachen University. In his doctorate thesis, he investigated the applicability of Agile Software Development methods to powertrain control software development to close the gap between engineering and computer sciences for future mobility applications. From 2013 to 2018, he was working as a technical specialist, team leader and department manager at FEV Europe GmbH. He focused on the design and test of embedded software for automotive systems. Since 2019, he leads the Business unit Intelligent Mobility & Software at FEV Europe GmbH. His responsibilities include connected mobility, automated and assisted driving, systems engineering, functional safety and cyber security, vehicle electronics, software development and Data Science. He is author and co-author of more than 50 articles and conference presentations around the mentioned topics. Since 2015, he is as guest lecturer at RWTH Aachen University for 'Software Development for Combustion Engines.' Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jakob Andert received his Dipl.-Ing. and Dr.-Ing. degrees at the RWTH Aachen University in 2007 and 2012, respectively. From 2012 to 2014, he was a project manager at FEV GmbH in the field of hybrid and electrical drive trains. Since 2014, he is Junior Professor for mechatronic systems in combustion engines at the Institute for Combustion Engines (VKA) at RWTH Aachen University. He received his Dr.-Ing. degree for a dissertation about a real time cycle-to-cycle control of homogeneous charge compression ignition engines. The Junior Professorship addresses mechatronic system in combustion engines, such as electrical cam timing actuators as well as real time systems, FPGA indication systems and Vehicle-to-X communication systems. Byline: Christian Granrath, Christopher Kugler, Sebastian Silberg, Max-Arno Meyer, Philipp Orth, Johannes Richenhagen, Jakob Andert

Transceiver and Transceivers -- Methods

Keywords Next-generation wireless; Millimeter-wave; Software-defined-radio; Prototyping; Beamforming; Calibration Abstract The Pi-Radio v1 software-defined radio (SDR) platform incorporates a 4-channel fully-digital transceiver board that operates in the 57--64 GHz band and connects to the powerful Xilinx RFSoC-based ZCU111 evaluation board. This paper illustrates various calibration procedures that have been implemented to avoid relying on expensive laboratory equipment and infrastructure like spectrum analyzers, signal generators, or even anechoic chambers. We conclude this paper with a demonstration of beamforming enabled through geometrically determined beamforming weights, thereby demonstrating that the SDR nodes have been calibrated correctly. Author Affiliation: (a) Pi-Radio Inc., 155 Water Street Unit 4/10, Brooklyn, 11201 NY, USA (b) University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr. La Jolla, CA 92093, USA (c) Nokia, 171 Madison Ave Suite 1100, 10016 NY, USA (d) New York University, 370 Jay Street, Brooklyn, 11201 NY, USA * Corresponding author. Article History: Received 13 November 2020; Revised 22 April 2021; Accepted 31 May 2021 Byline: Aditya Dhananjay [aditya.dhananjay@pi-rad.io] (a,d,*), Kai Zheng [kai.zheng@ucsd.edu] (b), Marco Mezzavilla [mezzavilla@nyu.edu] (a,d), Lorenzo Iotti [lorenzo.iotti@nokia.com] (c), Dennis Shasha [shasha@cims.nyu.edu] (a,d), Sundeep Rangan [srangan@nyu.edu] (a,d)

Robotics industry, Robotics industry, Architecture, and Robotics -- Design and construction

Keywords: architecture; building design; design technology; kinetic architecture; robotics Abstract This study reports and analyzes the first architectural robotics class regularly organized in a professional college in South Korea. The course consists of two modules: (i) design experimentation with kinetic (responsive) building prototyping and (ii) construction automation of a complex building form using an industrial robot arm. Both modules are structured to provide undergraduates with applied knowledge of kinematics and mechanisms. Along with introducing tools and content of robotics learning in architecture, the course development and students' perception of learning progress and intellectual achievement have been systematically assessed by adapting theoretical course analysis models (of Richards and of Kirkpatrick). The results reveal that learning motivation affects self-satisfaction and achievement. This suggests that the background, goals, and methods of teaching robotics engineering need to be carefully coordinated over the entire curricular context of building design education. Byline: Hwang Yi

Programmable logic array, Electrical engineering, Computer-aided design -- Analysis, Digital integrated circuits -- Analysis, and Electrical engineering -- Analysis

Keywords: computer-aided design; control theory; electrical engineering; laboratory; rapid prototyping Abstract The laboratories of control theory are often limited to simulations and a few or none experimental tests. As in other technical subjects, practical experiments really help to understand the theory but need much time and the experimental platforms are usually expensive. This paper describes a platform that implements a universal third-order discrete controller based on field programmable gate array (FPGA). The controller is implemented using fixed-point arithmetic, with 17-bit coefficients, but students can reduce the number of bits to find the resolution problems that may arise. This low-cost platform, based on a Xilinx Spartan FPGA, allows students to try controllers just by configuring the coefficients of the controller through a computer application and a USB port. It drastically reduces the implementation time, allowing more time for design and testing. Therefore, students can try many controllers in the same laboratory session so that they can check experimentally their behavior in real prototypes and see the differences between simulations and physical systems. This platform has been applied in a real course over two academic years. The student opinion survey shows that the survey respondents consider the platform useful for more deeply understanding the subject, with an average score of 4.47/5.00 on a Likert scale (with a margin of error of 15.56% with a 95% confidence level). Besides this, the platform records the usage statistics showing that there is a relationship between the application usage and the marks in both the theory and laboratory parts. Byline: Alberto Sanchez, Angel Castro, Jorge Benedicto, María Sofía Martínez-García

This paper presents an approach to rigid flat origami design, with applications including a portable boat and travel-size musical instrument. The conditions for rigid flat folding are summarised, and a set of procedural design guidelines are presented systematically to apply these principles, including a symmetry-based strategy for achieving additional compactness, a corner-fold insertion technique to achieve constraint in the desired shape while preserving mobility for transition to the flat configuration, and a plane-assignment algorithm for the flat configuration. The portable boat is developed from a symmetric, four-vertex origami pattern, and a simplified construction is identified through eliminating the panels which remain adjacent in the open and flat-folded configurations. The musical instrument is a modified box in the shape of an octagonal right prism, and is designed using methods similar to those used in the boat construction. Prototyping methods for both objects, and light testing, are presented. Byline: Carl A. Nelson