Publications

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This dissertation describes the development of a control algorithm that transitions a robotic linkage system between stabilized states producing responsive locomotion. The developed algorithm is demonstrated using a simple robotic construction consisting of a few links with actuation and sensing at each joint. Numerical and experimental validation is presented.

The below overview is designed to give the reader a limited understanding of Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood (MLE) estimation; a basic understanding of some of the mathematical tools to evaluate the quality of an estimation; an introduction to energy methods and a limited discussion of damage potential. This discussion then goes on to presented a limited presentation as to how energy methods and Bayesian estimation are used together to qualify components. Example problems with solutions have been supplied as a learning aid. Bold letters are used to represent random variables. Un-bolded letter represent deterministic values. A concluding section presents a discussion of attributes and concerns.

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This report describes a system level study on the use of a swarm of sea gliders to detect, confirm and kill littoral submarine threats. The report begins with a description of the problem and derives the probability of detecting a constant speed threat without networking. It was concluded that glider motion does little to improve this probability unless the speed of a glider is greater than the speed of the threat. Therefore, before detection, the optimal character for a swarm of gliders is simply to lie in wait for the detection of a threat. The report proceeds by describing the effect of noise on the localization of a threat once initial detection is achieved. This noise is estimated as a function of threat location relative to the glider and is temporally reduced through the use of an information or Kalman filtering. In the next section, the swarm probability of confirming and killing a threat is formulated. Results are compared to a collection of stationary sensors. These results show that once a glider has the ability to move faster than the threat, the performance of the swarm is equal to the performance of a stationary swarm of gliders with confirmation and kill ranges equal to detection range. Moreover, at glider speeds greater than the speed of the threat, swarm performance becomes a weak function of speed. At these speeds swarm performance is dominated by detection range. Therefore, to future enhance swarm performance or to reduce the number of gliders required for a given performance, detection range must be increased. Communications latency is also examined. It was found that relatively large communication delays did little to change swarm performance. Thus gliders may come to the surface and use SATCOMS to effectively communicate in this application.

A control algorithm has been developed and experimentally validated for guiding swarms of robotic vehicles to acoustic targets. This novel algorithm uses pressure measurements from a set of sensors, each attached to a vehicle of the swarm, to deduce energy flows from the environment, and to move in the direction of maximum reflected intensity while controlling constraints between vehicles. The algorithm was validated using a collective of eight hand-placed microphones in an open-space area with a 50-m separation between an emitter and scatterer. Copyright © 2004 by ASME.

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This paper documents the experimental validation of an active control approach for mitigating chatter in milling. To the authors knowledge, this is the first successful hardware demonstration of this approach. This approach is very different from many existing approaches that avoid instabilities by varying process parameters to seek regions of stability or by altering the regenerative process. In this approach, the stability lobes of the machine and tool are actively raised. This allows for machining at spindle speeds that are more representative of those used in existing machine tools. An active control system was implemented using actuators and sensors surrounding a spindle and tool. Due to the complexity of controlling from a stationary co-ordinate system and sensing from a rotating system, a telemetry system was used to transfer structural vibration data from the tool to a control processor. Closed-loop experiments produced up to an order of magnitude improvement in metal removal rate.

This report documents the results obtained during a one-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) initiative aimed at investigating coupled structural acoustic interactions by means of algorithm development and experiment. Finite element acoustic formulations have been developed based on fluid velocity potential and fluid displacement. Domain decomposition and diagonal scaling preconditioners were investigated for parallel implementation. A formulation that includes fluid viscosity and that can simulate both pressure and shear waves in fluid was developed. An acoustic wave tube was built, tested, and shown to be an effective means of testing acoustic loading on simple test structures. The tube is capable of creating a semi-infinite acoustic field due to nonreflecting acoustic termination at one end. In addition, a micro-torsional disk was created and tested for the purposes of investigating acoustic shear wave damping in microstructures, and the slip boundary conditions that occur along the wet interface when the Knudsen number becomes sufficiently large.

In this paper, the effect of viscous wave motion on a micro rotational resonator is discussed. This work shows the inadequacy of developing theory to represent energy losses due to shear motion in air. Existing theory predicts Newtonian losses with little slip at the interface. Nevertheless, experiments showed less effect due to Newtonian losses and elevated levels of slip for small gaps. Values of damping were much less than expected. Novel closed form solutions for the response of components are presented. The stiffness of the resonator is derived using Castigliano's theorem, and viscous fluid motion above and below the resonator is derived using a wave approach. Analytical results are compared with experimental results to determine the utility of existing theory. It was found that existing macro and molecular theory is inadequate to describes measured responses.

We have designed and fabricated a polysilicon sidewall-contact motion monitor that fits in between the teeth of a MEMS gear. The monitor has a center grounded member that is moved into contact with a pad held at voltage. When observing motion, however, the monitor fails after only a few actuations. A thorough investigation of the contacting interfaces revealed that for voltages > 5 V with a current limit of 100 pA, the main conduction process is Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. After a few switch cycles, the polysilicon interfaces became insulating. This is shown to be a permanent change and the suspected mechanism is field-induced oxidation of the asperity contacts. To reduce the effects of field-induced oxidation, tests were performed at 0.5 V and no permanent insulation was observed. However, the position of the two contacting surfaces produced three types of conduction processes: Fowler-Nordheim tunneling, ohmic, and insulator, which were observed in a random order during switch cycling. The alignment of contact asperities produced this positional effect.

This report is a presentation of modeling and simulation work for analyzing three designs of Micro Electro Mechanical (MEM) Compound Pivot Mirrors (CPM). These CPMs were made at Sandia National Laboratories using the SUMMiT{trademark} process. At 75 volts and above, initial experimental analysis of fabricated mirrors showed tilt angles of up to 7.5 degrees for one design, and 5 degrees for the other two. Nevertheless, geometric design models predicted higher tilt angles. Therefore, a detailed study was conducted to explain why lower tilt angles occurred and if design modifications could be made to produce higher tilt angles at lower voltages. This study showed that the spring stiffnesses of the CPMs were too great to allow for desired levels of rotation at lower levels of voltage. To produce these lower stiffnesses, a redesign is needed.

As a joint is loaded, the tangent stiffness of the joint reduces due to slip at interfaces. This stiffness reduction continues until the direction of the applied load is reversed or the total interface slips. Total interface slippage in joints is called macro-slip. For joints not undergoing macro-slip, when load reversal occurs the tangent stiffness immediately rebounds to its maximum value. This occurs due to stiction effects at the interface. Thus, for periodic loads, a softening and rebound hardening cycle is produced which defines a hysteretic, energy absorbing trajectory. For many jointed sub-structures, this hysteretic trajectory can be approximated using simple polynomial representations. This allows for complex joint substructures to be represented using simple non-linear models. In this paper a simple one dimensional model is discussed.

In this paper a methodology for analytically estimating the response of replacement components in a system subjected to worst-case hostile shocks is presented. This methodology does not require the use of system testing but uses previously compiled shock data and inverse dynamic analysis to estimate component shock response. In the past component shock responses were determined from numerous system tests; however, with limitations on system testing, an alternate methodology for determining component response is required. Such a methodology is discussed. This methodology is mathematically complex in that two inverse problems, and a forward problem, must be solved for a permutation of models representing variabilities in dynamics. Two conclusions were deduced as a result of this work. First, the present methodology produces overly conservative results. Second, the specification of system variability is critical to the prediction of component response.