A parameter space approach for robust control system design is developed by reducing several design specifications to sign definite conditions. It is shown that the gain and phase margin constraints for the parametric perturbed plant hold if and only if the four Kharitonov systems satisfy the margins. On pole location, it is shown that D-stability of convex combinations (1-t)p(s)+tq(s) can be determined by the coefficients corresponding to p(s) and q(s) based on the sign definite condition. We show a method of PI-type robust control system design as a useful example.

In this paper we formulate and solve a generalized $H^{\infty}$ control problem. The conventional formulation of $H^{\infty}$ problem has some constraints in application, e.g. it can not deal with the servo problem. This is due to the superfluous requirement of internal stability of the augmented system. In this paper, we alleviate the stability of the augmented system to admit pole-zero cancellation on the imaginary aids outside the feedback loop of G22 and K. After such generalization, the servo problem is naturally incorporated into the $H^{\infty}$ synthesis.is.

In this note, we consider a robust linear shift-invariant feedback compensator design for discrete-time multivariable systems which have both matched and mismatched uncertainties. In order to attack the problem of designing robust compensators guaranteeing uniform ultimate boundedness of every closed-loop system response within a neighborhood of the zero state based solely on the knowledge of the upper norm-bounds of uncertainties, we use an approach which is effective on studying augmented feedback control systems with both mismatched and matched uncertainties. We draw some robust stability conditions using the approach and give an example.

We apply a TDOF ( Two Degrees of Freedom) robust controller to chaotic systems. We show that the TDOF robust controller is effective not only for rejection of chaotic disturbance but also for control of a chaotic plant.

This paper deals with a problem on the selection of alternative tools in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) where a lot of tools are required to produce a large variety of product items. An approach using branch and bound method is proposed to minimize a total number of tools required through the optimal use of the alternative tools. In this approach, tools are initially divided into tool subgroups based on graph theory for the purpose of the effective search of the optimal solution. A small example is also presented to highlight the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Vendors and consultants struggle to draw attention to their proven experience in discrete CIM in order to convince process manufacturers to adopt CIM technology. The analogy works very well at the periphery where an invoice is an invoice, but disintegrates at the core where modeling of the manufacturing "process" is required. Until recently, it has not been possible to completely and rigorously model entire process plants in real-time, and this missing core element has been called the "CIM GAP" With the recent introduction of the concurrent resolution $^{sm}$ kernel, the CIM GAP now is being closed in the process industries.ntroduction of the concurrent resolution $^{sm}$ kernel, the CIM GAP now is being closed in the process industries.

In this paper we describe Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) using Petri nets, since Petri nets provide a powerful tool for modeling dynamical behavior of discrete concurrent processes. We deal with off-Line and on-Line rule-based scheduling of FMS. The role of the rule-base is to generate appropriate priority rule for resolving conflicts, that is, for selecting one of enabled transitions to be fired in a conflict set of the Petri nets. This corresponds to select a part type to be processed in the FMS. Towards developing more Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) we propose a conceptual framework of a futuristic intelligent scheduling system.

The feasibility of using an adaptive resonance network (ART2) with unsupervised learning capability for too] wear detection in turning operations is investigated. Specifically, acoustic emission (AE) and cutting force signals were measured during machining, the multichannel AR coefficients of the two signals were calculated and then presented to the network to make a decision on tool wear. If the presented features are significantly different from previously learned patterns associated with a fresh tool, the network will recognize the difference and form a new category m worn tool. The experimental results show that tool wear can be effectively detected with or without minimum prior training using the self-organization property of the ART2 network.

This paper discusses on the machine loading and tool allocation (MLTA) problem. Mathematical formulation of the problem is given first. Then a heuristic approach based on Group Technology (GT) is presented to deal with the MLTA problem effectively. By using this approach, part-tool group generation and their assignment to adequate machines can easily be obtained in consideration of the work load on each machine, the number of tool-set replacement, and the total number of cutting tools required through the interactive setting of the desired machine utilization rate.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate, from the viewpoint of labor science, the effect of labor saving by crawler-type truck, which has been used for the rationalization of transportation labor in the citrus orchard on steep slops, and to find out how effectively to utilize the crawler-type truck. In order to attain the purpose mentioned above, portable heart rate memory for measuring physical response of laborer was taken, and the experiment was carried out in the citrus orchard on steep slopes in Japan.

This paper presents the principles for design of autonomous systems whose behavior is based on models that support the various tasks that must be performed. We propose a model-based architecture aimed at reducing the computational demands required to integrate high level symbolic models with low level dynamic models. Model construction methods are illustrated to outfit such an architecture with the models needed to meet given objectives.

The present paper describes a method of recognizing a polyhedron employing the notion of network constraint analysis. Typical difficulties in three-dimensional object recognition, other than shading, reflection, and hidden line problems, include the case where appearances of an object vary according to observation points and the case where an object to be recognized is occluded by other objects placed in its front, resulting in incomplete information on the object shape. These difficulties can, however, be solved to a large extent, by taking account of certain local constraints defined on a polyhedral shape. The present paper assumes a model-based vision employing an appearance-oriented model of a polyhedron which is provided by placing it at the origin of a large sphere and observing it from various positions on the surface of the sphere. The model is actually represented by the sets of adjacent faces pairs of the polyhedron observed from those positions. Since the shape of a projected face gives constraint to that of its adjacent face, this results in a local constraint relation between these faces. Each projected face of an unknown polyhedron on an acquired image is examined its match with those faces in the model, producing network constraint relations between faces in the image and faces in the model. Taking adjacency of faces into consideration, these network constraint relations are analyzed. And if the analysis finally provides a solution telling existence of one to one match of the faces between the unknown polyhedron and the model, the unknown polyhedron is understood to be one of those memorized models placed in a certain posture. In the performed experiment, a polyhedron was observed from 320 regularly arranged points on a sphere to provide its appearance model and a polyhedron with arbitrarily postured, occluded, or imposed another difficulty was successfully recognized.

In this paper, we describe a notion of sensor modeling method in multisensor data fusion using fuzzy set theory. Each sensor module is characterized by its fuzzy constraints to specific features of environment. These sensor fuzzy constraints can be imposed on multisensory data to verify their degree of truth and compatibility toward the final decision making. In comparison with other sensor modeling methods, such as probabilistic models or rule-based models, the proposed method is very simple and can be easily implemented in intelligent robot systems.

We present an algorithm to approximate the Voronoi diagrams of 2D objects bounded by algebraic curves. Since the bisector curve for two algebraic curves of degree d can have a very high algebraic degree of 2 * d$^{4}$, it is very difficult to compute the exact algebraic curve equation of Voronoi edge. Thus, we suggest a simple polygonal approximation method. We first approximate each object by a simple polygon and compute a simplified polygonal Voronoi diagram for the approximating polygons. Finally, we approximate each monotone polygonal chain of Voronoi edges with Bezier cubic curve segments using least-square curve fitting.

It is difficult to design the controller of an induction motor because of its non-linearity and high order dynamics. But it is possible to get reduced order system using the theory of singular pertubation because the dynamics of induction motor consists of fast stable mode and slow one. On the other hand, the sliding mode control is well-known for its performance of robustness. This paper deals with the sliding mode controller of induction motors based on the reduced order system.

A high power stewart platform is designed and manufactured to simulate the 6 degrees of freedom motion of moving vehicle. This paper describes the design of such a motion system including kinematic and kinetic analysis, real time servo control mechanical and hydraulic system configuration, and techniques of regeneration of test records. Discussions are also presented for an algorithm called remote parameter control, which has been developed to compensate the dynamic delay of the electro-hydraulic servo actuators and the nonlinearities of stewart platform.

Plane sweep is a general method in computational geometry. There are many efficient theoretical algorithms designed using plane sweep technique. However, their practical implementations are still suffering from the topological inconsistencies resulting from the numerical errors in geometric computations with finite-precision arithmetic. In this paper, we suggest new implementation techniques for the plane sweep algorithms to resolve the topological inconsistencies and construct the planar object boundaries from given input curve segments.

The paper considers the algorithms of balanced realization from SISO transfer functions. Some methods which have been proposed to find a balanced realization from the companion form realization, are investigated. Then a new method is proposed which finds a balanced realization from the discrete Schwarz form realization. The process of computing the elements of Schwarz matrix from the transfer function is equivalent to the Schur-Cohn stability test procedure. Comparison of the proposed method with the previous works is also discussed.

A compact type LDPE autoclave reactor is analyzed with respect to the effects of the initiator feed concentration and the rate of heat transfer by employing the mixing-cell model with backflow. Singularity theory is applied for the single-cell model so that one can construct all the possible bifurcation diagrams. Since the single-cell model may not be adequate for the actual reactor, a two-cell model is also treated to predict the dynamic behavior of the reactor. As the rate of heat transfer increases, various multiplicity patterns and oscillatory motions are found. Apparently, the monomer conversion can be substantially increased with proper he-at removal and initiator supplement scheme. For this, however, the complex dynamic features accompanied must be taken into consideration in the reactor design.

A CAI system is developed to support the Instruction of an aircraft conceptual design for aeronautical engineering students. Three system concepts are proposed and an Object-Oriented approach is applied to construct the system. The system has three major functions to perform a conceptual design: (1) the system stores modular data and empirical formulas used for a wide range of aircraft design tasks from light aircraft to long range airliners. (2) Implementation of modules by message passing makes it easy to realize the various design tasks required for different design requirements. (3) The system allows users to study trade-off among the requirements. The system has a graphical user Interface which allows users to communicate with the system interactively. The effectiveness of the system Is demonstrated through some case studies.

Because of the important role LD converters play in the production of high quality steel, various dynamic models have been attempted in the past by many researchers not only to understand the complex chemical reactions that take place in the converter process but also to assist the converter operation itself using computers. And yet no single dynamic model was found to be completely satisfactory because of the complexity involved with the process. The process indeed involves dynamic energy and mass balances at high temperatures accompanied by complex chemical reactions and transport phenomena in the molten state. In the present study, a mathematical model describing the dynamic behavior of LD converter process has been developed. The dynamic model describes the time behavior of the temperature and the concentrations of chemical species in the hot metal bath and slag. The analysis was greatly facilitated by dividing the entire process into three zones according to the physical boundaries and reaction mechanisms. These three zones were hot metal (zone 1), slag (zone 2) and emulsion (zone 3) zones. The removal rate of Si, C, Mn and P and the rate of Fe oxidation in the hot metal bath, and the change of composition in the slag were obtained as functions of time, operating conditions and kinetic parameters. The temperature behavior in the metal bath and the slag was also obtained by considering the heat transfer between the mixing and the slag zones and the heat generated from chemical reactions involving oxygen blowing. To identify the unknown parameters in the equations and simulate the dynamic model, Hooke and Jeeves parttern search and Runge-Kutta integration algorithm were used. By testing and fitting the model with the data obtained from the operation of POSCO #2 steelmaking plant, the dynamic model was able to predict the characteristics of the main components in the LD converter. It was possible to predict the optimum CO gas recovery by computer simulation

new system of a two dimensional large scale laser digitizer with a cordless cursor is proposed-it provides an easiness of setting devices and a high accuracy of measurement.

In 1995 the VSOP satellite, which is called MUSES-B in Japan, will be launched under the VLBI Space Observatory Programme(VSOP) promoted by ISAS(Institute of Space and Astronautical Science) of Japan. We are now developing the GPS Receiver(GPSR) and On-board Orbit Determination System. This paper describes the GPS(Global Positioning System), VSOP, GPSR(GPS Receiver system) configuration and the results of the GPS system analysis. The GPSR consists of three GPS antennas and 5 channel receiver package. In the receiver package, there are two 16 bits microprocessing units. The power consumption is 25 Watts in average and the weight is 8.5 kg. Three GPS antennas on board enable GPSR to receive GPS signals from any NAVSTARs(GPS satellites) which are visible. NAVSATR's visibility is described as follows. The VSOP satellite flies from 1, 000 km to 20, 000 km in height on the elliptical orbit around the earth. On the other hand, the orbit of NAVSTARs are nearly circular and about 20, 000 km in height. GPSR can't receive the GPS signals near the apogee, because NAVSTARs transmit the GPS signals through the NAVSTAR's narrow beam antennas directed toward the earth. However near the perigee, GPSR can receive from 12 to 15 GPS signals. More than 4 GPS signals can be received for 40 minutes, which are related to GDOP(Geometric Dillusion Of Precision of selected NAVSTARs). Because there are a lot of visible NAVSTARs, GDOP is small near the perigee. This is a favorqble condition for GPSR. Orbit determination system onboard VSOP satellite consists of a Kalman filter and a precise orbit propagator. Near the perigee, the Kalman filter can eliminate the orbit propagation error using the observed data by GPSR. Except a perigee, precise onboard orbit propagator propagates the orbit, taking into account accelerations such as gravities of the earth, the sun, the moon, and other acceleration caused by the solar pressure. But there remain some amount of calculation and integration errors. When VSOP satellite returns to the perigee, the Kalman filter eliminates the error of the orbit determined by the propagator. After the error is eliminated, VSOP satellite flies out towards an apogee again. The analysis of the orbit determination is performed by the covariance analysis method. Number of the states of the onboard filter is 8. As for a true model, we assume that it is based on the actual error dynamics that include the Selective Availability of GPS called 'SA', having 17 states. Analytical results for position and velocity are tabulated and illustrated, in the sequel. These show that the position and the velocity error are about 40 m and 0.008 m/sec at the perigee, and are about 110 m and 0.012 m/sec at the apogee, respectively.

This paper considers the design and analysis of one-step ahead optimal and adaptive controllers, under the restriction that a known constraint on the input amplitude is imposed. It is assumed that the discrete-time single-input, single-output system to be controlled is linear, except for inequality constraints on the input. The objective function to be minimized is an one-step quadratic function, where polynomial weights on the input and output are included. Both the known parameter and unknown parameter (indirect adaptive controller) cases are examined.

A new control design methodology is presented here which is based on a nonlinear time-series reference model. It is indicated by highly nonlinear simulations that such designs successfully stabilize troublesome aircraft maneuvers undergoing large changes in angle of attack as well as large electric power transients due to line faults. In both applications, the nonlinear controller was significantly better than the corresponding linear adaptive controller. For the electric power network, a flexible a.c. transmission system (FACTS) with series capacitor power feedback control is studied. A bilinear auto-regressive moving average (BARMA) reference model is identified from system data and the feedback control manipulated according to a desired reference state. The control is optimized according to a predictive one-step quadratic performance index (J). A similar algorithm is derived for control of rapid changes in aircraft angle of attack over a normally unstable flight regime. In the latter case, however, a generalization of a bilinear time-series model reference includes quadratic and cubic terms in angle of attack. These applications are typical of the numerous plants for which nonlinear adaptive control has the potential to provide significant performance improvements. For aircraft control, significant maneuverability gains can provide safer transportation under large windshear disturbances as well as tactical advantages. For FACTS, there is the potential for significant increase in admissible electric power transmission over available transmission lines along with energy conservation. Electric power systems are inherently nonlinear for significant transient variations from synchronism such as may result for large fault disturbances. In such cases, traditional linear controllers may not stabilize the swing (in rotor angle) without inefficient energy wasting strategies to shed loads, etc. Fortunately, the advent of power electronics (e.g., high-speed thyristors) admits the possibility of adaptive control by means of FACTS. Line admittance manipulation seems to be an effective means to achieve stabilization and high efficiency for such FACTS. This results in parametric (or multiplicative) control of a highly nonlinear plant.

For kinematically redundant manipulators, conventional dynamic control methods of local torque optimization showed the instability which resulted in physically unachievable torque requirements. In order to guarantee stability of the null space vector method which resolves redundancy at the acceleration level, Maciejewski[1] analyzed the kinetic behavior of homogeneous solution component and proposed the condition to identify regions of stability and instability for this method. 'In this paper, a modified null space vector method is first presented based on the Maciejewski's condition which is a function of a manipulator's configuration. Secondly, a new control method which is based on the concept of aspects is proposed. It was shown by computer simulations that the modified null space vector method and the proposed method have a common property that a preferred aspect is preserved during the execution of a task. It was also illustrated that both methods demonstrate a drastic reduction of torque loadings at the joints in the tracking motion of a long trajectory when compared with the null space vector method, and thus guarantee the stability of joint torque.

Direct digital design of computed torque controllers for a robot manipulator is discussed in this paper. A simple discrete-time model of the robot manipulator obtained by Euler's method is used for the design. Taking account of computation delay in the digital processor, we propose predictor-based designs of the PD and PID type controllers. The PID type controller is designed based on a modified version of the discrete-time integral controller proposed by Mita. For both controllers, the same formulas can be used to determine the feedback gains. A simulation example is presented to compare the robustness of the proposed controllers against physical parameter variations.

Machining is a bottleneck in robot application technologies because of uncertainty of position/form, poor reliability of robot function and low reaction speed of robot to changes of surroundings, But in grinding automation with relatively low machining speed it is feasible to integrate of sensor signal in machining. In this paper strategy for robotic grinding with F/T sensor will be presented and with that the experimental results will be discussed. F/T sensor signal in grinding of strategy weld seam are transferred to PC, which plays a role as cell computer and transform F/T data to robot position and/or orientation, speed correction data according to programmed algorithm. The possibility and boundary of robotic grinding with F/T sensor intergration is discussed.

In robotics and other fields of engineering, techniques for artificial reality or virtual reality are focused on and studied extensively, e.g., virtual existence for tele-operator systems in robotics, and virtual reality of designed objects in architecture. In order to realize the system we should create physical stimulations according to internal models created by experiences in a human brain. The internal model does not have to have direct connections to the real world, however, the stimulation must be signals such that the internal model are retrieved in a human brain. In this paper we propose a technique for tele-virtual reality of dynamic mechanical models, which means that one dynamic mechanical model can be shared by peoples in distant places. Since a stability issue due to time delays arises in the system, we employed a scattering technique developed for a tele-operator system and a kind of passive adaptive controllers. Furthermore, restrictions due to a simple digital implementation of the scattering transformation are discussed and some conditions for stability are shown. The proposed method is applied to a remote tug of war system and the effectiveness is verified.

Burrs, created when metals deform plastically, are by-products of most machining processes. The increasing requirements of precision and reliability in manufacturing processes have led to the development of systems for automated deburring. In this paper the motivations and requirements for automated robotic deburring are discussed. Also, the feasibility of automating the deburring process using fuzzy logic controller is investigated. In implementing the fuzzy logic controller, particular attention is paid to the acoustic emission sensing for the characterization and feedback control of the burr removal process. The results of the experiments reveal the rule based control scheme based on fuzzy logics can be a good alternative to traditional control schemes.

An axial dispersion model is developed for the slim reactor employed in the LDPE autoclave process so that imperfect mixing caused by large L/D ratio (10-20) may be quantified by Peclet number. The model is then used to investigate the effect of mixing on the reactor performance represented by the monomer conversion, the reactor temperature, the molecular weight, and the polydispersity. In addition, the existence of steady state multiplicity is identified with the initiator feed concentration or the feed temperature as the bifurcation parameter. The effects of the initiator feed concentration and the feed temperature are also examined.

The states, inputs, outputs and parameters of a complex-system are all complex values. The introduction of such complex systems makes it more suitable to treat not only the robust control but also the pole assignment in the separate regions. The relation called "equivalence in the discrete sense" is introduced to define a complex-system corresponding to a real-system with real-axis poles as well as complex conjugate poles. The relation between the feedback-control laws of the equivalent systems in the discrete sense are derived so that their closed-loop systems should hold the equivalence in the discrete sense.ete sense.

On-line fault detection and diagnosis has an increasing interest in a chemical process industry, especially for a process control and automation. The chemical process needs an intelligent operation-aided workstation which can do such tasks as process monitoring, fault detection, fault diagnosis and action guidance in semiautomatic mode. These tasks can increase the performance of a process operation and give merits in economics, safety and reliability. Aiming these tasks, series of researches have been done in our lab. Main results from these researches are building appropriate knowledge representation models and a diagnosis mechanism for fault detection and diagnosis in a chemical process. The knowledge representation schemes developed in our previous research, the symptom tree model and the fault-consequence digraph, showed the effectiveness and the usefulness in a real-time application, of the process diagnosis, especially in large and complex plants. However in our previous approach, the diagnosis speed is its demerit in spite of its merits of high resolution, mainly due to using two knowledge models complementarily. In our current study, new knowledge representation scheme is developed which integrates the previous two knowledge models, the symptom tree and the fault-consequence digraph, into one. This new model is constructed using a material balance, energy balance, momentum balance and equipment constraints. Controller related constraints are included in this new model, which possesses merits of the two previous models. This new integrated model will be tested and verified by the real-time application in a BTX process or a crude unit process. The reliability and flexibility will be greatly enhanced compared to the previous model in spite of the low diagnosis speed. Nexpert Object for the expert system shell and SUN4 workstation for the hardware platform are used. TCP/IP for a communication protocol and interfacing to a dynamic simulator, SPEEDUP, for a dynamic data generation are being studied.

The paper describes estimation errors of unsteady flowrate measurements due to parameter changes in a quasi-remote instantaneous flowrate measurement method (abbreviate as QIFM) and an instantaneous flowrate measurement method using two points pressure measurements (abbreviate as TPFM). By introducing error performance index, the influence of parameter changes on the accuracy, and dynamic response of the estimated unsteady flowrate are evaluated. Of four parameters, the variation of the length of the pipeline and speed of sound produce large errors in the estimated unsteady flowrate during transient periods. The effect of kinematic viscosity of the working fluid(oil) is relatively insensitive in unsteady flowrate estimation.

The determination of a production sequence is an important problem in a batch process operation. In this paper a new algorithm for a near optimal production sequence of N product in an M unit serial multiproduct batch process is proposed. The basic principle is the same as that of Johnson's algorithm for two-unit UIS system. Test results on a number of selected examples exhibit the superiority over previously reported results. In addition, a tabulation technique is presented to calculate the makespan of a given sequence of production for all processing units under UIS mode.

This paper gives an overview of HIGIPS design concepts and prototype HIGIPS configuration, and discusses its application to recognition of the 3-D motion of a human arm. HIGIPS which employs the combination of pipeline architecture and multiprocessor architecture, is a high-speed, high-performance and low cost N * M multimicroprocessor parallel machine, where N is the number of pipeline stages and M is the number of processors in each stage. The algorithm to recognize the motion of a human arm with a single TV camera was developed on personal computer (NEC PC9801 series). As a constraint condition, some simple ring marks are used. Each joint of the arm is attached with a ring mark to obtain its centroid position when the arm moves. These centroid positions in the three-dimensional space are linked at each of the successive pictures of the moving arm to recover its overall motion. This algorithm takes about 2 seconds to process one image frame on the general-purpose personal computer. This paper mainly discuses how to partition this algorithm and execute on HIGIPS, and shows the speed up. From this application, it is clear that HIGIPS is an efficient machine for image processing and recognizing.

In this paper, we two dimensional processing method is presented, which can accurately determine the orientation of an part. Matching bewteen the object and the object contour is decomposed to estimate the orientation of the object and to evaluate the similarity new approach is very robust with respect to noise and no preprocessing of the contour is required. Also, this method has many advantages over the converntional correlation technique. With only a few uniformly sampled points, this method can estimate the accurate orientation in an efficient manner even in a noisy environment.

The authors proposed a new two-dimensional(2D) positioning system by use of M-array and correlation technique which is suitable for noisy environment in '88KACC and its revised versions in '89KACC and '90KACC. This system uses the property of M-array that the autocorrelation function of the M-array has a sharp peak at its origin. In this paper, a new mark pattern is developed, instead of M-array, with which the two-dimensional positioning system becomes robust to rotation error of TV camera. The property of the rotation-free pattern is checked under various conditions, and it is shown that, by use of this rotation-free pattern, the positioning system can be used not only in a noisy environment but also in a roughly aligned set up of the TV camera.

Since inspection, ID-code recognition, and pattern match processes requiring vision depend upon the high-grade human recognition capability, these processes have conventionally caused a bottle-neck in automatizing sewing system. However, the authors have recently developed the technology of inspecting the surface defects of textiles and recognizing ID-code by fully utilizing the image processing technology. In the ID-code recognition technology, the most difficult data given on patterns can be read as a result of developing the image processing technology and eliminating noises by using a special (fluorescent) ink. The inspection and pattern match technology was verified to be able to put into practical use through evaluation experiments in an experimental plant.

Generally, we can't acquire clear boundary or area from an image having obscure boundary like allergy image by using Sobel or Lapalace operator. Also, when the image not uniform in some part of a image in brightness, there are difficulties to use the global operator such as histogram, for the contour line doesn't have the same grey level. In this paper, we will propose an algorithm to improve those difficulties. The main idea of the algorithm is that we divide the image into many rectangular parts like a chess board, calculate the average of each part, and decide the local threshold for each pixel on the calculated value. In experiment, we can get the contour and area by this algorithm which is much like to the contour and area measured by a doctor. Also, This algorithm has many advantages such as short processing time and little influences of noises and can be used in the robot vision, etc..

This paper presents a new method for detecting microcalcifications on mammograms by using morphological filter. This filter is an extension of Top-hat transformation in morphological operations with multi-scale and multiple structuring elements. The proposed method makes it possible to detect geometrical structures considered to be microcalcifications on the basis of their size, shape and density. Experimental results to show the effectiveness of the proposed method are also presented.

This paper describes a new method to determine the 3D-shape of objects consisting of specular planar surfaces. This method exploits a light source which is made of a diffuse plane with a grid pattern encoded in an M-sequence and uses a single image of the light source reflected by the objects to acquiring orientations and positions of the surfaces of the objects. When grid lines of the light source are reflected by a specular planar surface and perspectively projected on an image plane, a set of lines vanishing at a point are obtained on the image plane. The orientation of the specular planar surface is determined by using the vanishing point, and the position is determined by using the correspondence between lines on the image and lines on the light source, which is obtained by employing a characteristic regularity of the M-sequence. Before the vanishing points are calculated, the lines on the image are classified and correlated with the surfaces of objects by using slopes and positions of the lines and the regularity of the M-sequence. This method requires only a single image.

Recently, dexterous mechanical hands have become of interest in the field of robotics. In this paper, a new symbolic C-Y notation is proposed for the kinematic modeling, and we solve the kinematics of a simplified model of POSTECH Hand 1, which is a 5 fingered, 20 degrees of freedom anthropomorphic hand. POSTECH Hand I is designed to have distinctive kinematic structure and the kinematic analysis of the hand is carried out using C-Y notation. To prove the feasibility of C-Y notation, D-H notation is also applied to the POSTECH Hand 1. In the inverse kinematic analysis, we neglect the fingertip geometry and assume the point contact with 3 degrees of freedom constraints. The configurations which optimize manipulability index[2] was obtained based on the simulation experiments on the SUN-4 graphic workstation using SUNPhigs graphic software.

In this paper we present one modeling system, which is composed of a 3-dimensional proile measurement unit, a CAD system and a NC milling machine. This system is compactly combined so that measurement, designing and manufacturing can be performed efficiently. This system was actually applied to make a plaster model of the pottery.

In this paper, we discuss the smooth hand-over of an object from a man to a robot and vice versa. In order for a robot to grasp an object or release a grasped object stably without using object model, as a man does, one of the basic approaches is the physiological method motivated by the study of human hands. So, we analyze human's grasping behavior by measuring grasp and friction forces simultaneously as a man grasps a experimental device which is designed for grasping or hand-over. Also, we investigate two methods that can predict when and bow fingers will slip upon a grasped object. And then, we propose a method of the hand-over of an object between a man and a robot by applying human's capability to a robot hand control.

The problem of fine manipulation is considered in this paper. By fine manipulation, we mean the positioning of the object relative to the palm as opposed to gross manipulation by the arm. The compliance in the fingers and the object is modeled by linear springs. It is shown that the motion of the fingers and object can be predicted by minimizing a quadratic objective function. A method for simulating position control algorithms is developed.

Recently, a number of papers on adaptive control scheme of manipulators are proposed. Slotine and Li[1] showed an adaptive control scheme for robot manipulator. The controller was described in closed form. And later Niemeyer and Slotine discussed about a computational implementation of the controller in recursive form[2]. Walker proposed another adaptive control scheme which can be implemented by a recursive-form controller[4]. Closed-form description is used for the analysis or design of adaptive control systems while recursive-form realization is used for implementation of the controller. The relation between the closed-form realization and the recursive-form one seems to be inadequately referred. Hence, it makes sense to consider the relation between the closed-form description and the recursive-form one. In this paper, first, we make a simple derivation of an closed-form dynamics description of a robot arm from its recursive-form description. And then we derive the closed-form realization of Walker's scheme applied to manipulators having no kinematic loop. We clarify the difference between the Walker's scheme and Slotine's and evaluate the convergence under the controllers.

The optimal load distribution for two cooperating robots is studied in this paper, and a new solution approach utilizing force ellipsoid is proposed. The load distribution problem is formulated as a nonlinear optimization problem with a quadratic cost function. The limit on instantaneous power is considered in the problem formulation as the joint torque constraints. The optimal solution minimizing energy consumption is obtained using the concept of force ellipsoid and the nonlinear optimization theory. The force ellipsoid provides a useful geometrical insight into the load distribution problem. Despite the presence of the joint torque constraints, the optimal solution is obtained almost as a closed form, in which the joint torques are given in terms of a single scalar parameter that can be obtained numerically by solving a scalar equation.

Picture Archiving and Communication Systems(PACS) provide an integration of digital imaging information in a hospital, which encompasses various imaging equipment, viewing workstations, database archive systems, and a high speed fiber optic network. One of the most important requirements for integration is the standardization of communication protocols to connect devices from different vendors. Since 1985, the ACR-NEMA standard provides a hardware interface, a set of software commands, and a consistent set of data formats for point-to-point interconnection of medical equipment. However, it has been shown to be inadequate for PACS networking environments, because of its point-to-point nature and its inflexibility to allow other services and protocols in the future. Based on previous experience of PACS developments in The University of Arizona, a new communication protocol for PACS networks has been suggested to the ACR-NEMA Working Group VI. The defined PACS protocol is intended to facilitate the development of PACS's capable of interfacing with other hospital information systems. Also, it is intended to allow the creation of diagnostic information data bases which can be interrogated by a variety of distributed devices. A particularly important goal is to support communications in a multivendor environment. The new protocol specifications are defined primarily as a combination of the International Organization for Standardization / Open Systems Interconnection (ISO/OSI) protocols and the data format portion of ACR-NEMA standard. This paper addresses the specification and implementation of the proposed PACS protocol into network node. The protocol specification, which covers Presentation, Session, Transport, and Network layers, is summarized briefly. The implementation has natural extentions to Global PACS environments. The protocol implementation is discussed based on our implementation efforts in the UNIX Operating System Environment. At the same time, results of performance evaluation are presented to demonstrate the implementation of defined protocol. The testing of performance analysis is performed on the PACS prototype node.

Described is a new type of control signal transmission system in which an optical fiber is used in place of metal wire cables. This optical transmission system is reliable against EMI and also eliminates the frequency band limitation on the metal wire cables. Since the Z80 CPU is used to distribute the instructions, many tasks can be carried out very easily, and many errors can be avoided. Although an experiment was carried out for 4 bit binary data, the number of bits can be increased to 6 or more without any degradation in reliability. Thus, a variety of applications can be expected to be actualized with this control signal transmission system.

This paper derives the upper and the lower bound of the mean cycle time and the mean service time of the class 6 and the class 4, within which the minimum utilization constrain of the class 4 is guaranteed. Also, derived are conditions under which the token bus network is stable or unstable. These bounds and stable conditions are represented in terms of the high priority token hold time, the token rotation time and the arrival rate and the total station number etc. This paper suggest a parameter tuning algorithm in a partially symmetric token bus network with two classes, which maximizes the token rotation time for a suitable high priority token hold time and at the same time meets the stability condition of the network, the real time constraint and the minimum utilization constraint of the class 4.

In this paper we present how the deviation bound, which is a synchronic variable, can be used for checking liveness in Petri nets. Also, the deviation bound will be applied to detect or avoid deadlock situations and to characterize concurrency against sequential behaviors in automated manufacturing systems. In the current stage, we restrict the applicable domain of these methods to the Petri net structure that can be synthesized by combining common transitions or common places or common paths of Live-and-Bounded circuits.

A method of reducing overhead caused by the processor synchronization process and common memory accesses in finely grained tasks is described. We propose a scheduler which considers the preparation time during searching to minimize the redundant accesses to shared memory. Since the suggested hardware (synchronizer) determines the access order of processors and bus arbitration simultaneously by including the synchronization process into the bus arbitration process, the synchronization time vanishes. Therefore this synchronizer has no overhead caused by the processor synchronization[l]. The proposed scheduler algorithm is processed in parallel. The processes share the upper bound derived by each searching and the lower bound function is built considering the preparation time in order to eliminate as many searches as possible. An application of the proposed method to a multi-DSP system to calculate inverse dynamics for robot arms, showed that the sampling time can be twice shorter than that of the conventional one.

The problem regarding nonlinear systems has come to occupy an important position. In order to solve a nonlinear problem we have methods of linearization which are developed through linear approximation to adapt linear system theories. In this paper we present a formal linearization of nonlinear systems based on the discrete-Fourier transform (D.F.T.).

We study the observer design problem for nonautonomous discrete-time nonlinear systems. We investigate the structure of nonautonomous discrete-time systems which are state equivalent to the nonlinear observer form and characterize their class. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of an input independent (local) diffeomorphism axe derived which transforms multi-input, multi-output nonlinear systems into the nonlinear observer form.

This paper presents a stabilization technique for unstable systems. An inverted pendulum, which is a typical unstable mechanical system, is considered and stabilized by a nonlinear control. The stabilization problem in this system is related to that in postural control of human being. In this paper, the variable structure control (VSC) is applied to the stabilization problem. Robustness by the VSC and that by a conventional linear feedback controller are compared.

For a single-input nonlinear system, the transformation which transposes the nonlinear system to a controllable-like canonical system has been proposed. However this method islimited by a single-input system and it is difficult to apply the method actually. In this paper we propose a method which transposes the nonlinear system with multi-input into an equivalent pseudo-linear system. And we apply the pseudo-linear system to a linear optimal regulator. To confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method, a transient stability control of the generator with an excitor and a governor is considered.

In general, it is not easy to find the linearizing coordinate transformation map for a class of systems which are state equivalent to linear systems, because it is required to solve a set of partial differential equations. It is possible to construct an arbitrary nonlinear function with a backpropagation(BP) net. Utilizing this property of BP neural net, we construct a desired linearizing coordinate transformation map. That is, we implement a unknown coordinate transformation map through the training of neural weights. We have shown an example which supports this idea.

To solve the nonlinear system problems, many methods have been proposed. Generally those methods however need long processing time because of their complicated algorithms. On the other hand, some simple linearization methods also have been studied. In this paper, a new linearization method using cubic splines[1] is proposed. The approximated linear system obtained by this method we can apply the conventional simple linear system theories such as Kalman filter[2, 3] for the estimation problem.

A numerically efficient modification of a variable step size LMS (Least Mean Squares) algorithm is proposed. This proposed algorithm is very simple in calculation and has a variable step size adjusted by the filter output error. Its additional computational burden with respect to the conventional LMS algorithm is only two multiplications, two substraction, an addition and some bit operations. In a simulation example, it is shown that the proposed algorithm has not only the faster convergence rate but also less misadjustments in the environment of highly nonstationary and correlated data.

The theory of stock option pricing has, recently, attracted attention of many researchers interested not only in finance but also in statistics and control theory. In this field, the problem of estimating stock return volatility is, above all, of great importance in calculating actual stock option value. In this paper, we assume that the stock market is represented by the stochastic volatility model which is the same as that of Hull and White. Then, we propose an approximation function of option value. It is a type of Black-Sholes option formula in which the first and the second order moments of logarithmic stock value are modified in a special form from the original model. Finally, an algorithm of estimating the parameters of the stochastic volatility model is given, and parameters are estimated by using Nikkei 225 index option data.

We present a parameter estimator which operates in the domain of iteration sequence. The scheme can be applied to identify unknown algebraic system whose uncertainty is parametric.

A method of estimating mechanical parameters of the intact human muscle is proposed; force responses to ramp length perturbation of the muscle both at the resting and constant contracting states are compared with those of the model. The response during the short period (50ms) after the onset of the perturbation is used for the estimation. Time course of the length perturbation which could lead to the accurate estimation is determined by model analysis. Availability of this method is showed by applying it to the human thumb flexor muscle.

An high-speed isothermal calorimeter which can trace the progress of a liquid phase reversible reaction was constructed using analog and digital computer. By means of a set point change of the calorimeter, the thermal energy capacity and the heat of reaction in reversible reaction mixture can be measured. The heat of reaction between 2-methyl furan and maleic anhydride and the heat capacities of the adduct were 61,200 J/mol and 2.38 J/ g K, respectively. Also reaction equilibrium constant and reaction rate constants can be estimated from the response curves of the calorimeter.

Kalman Filter application to model predictive control is discussed. Most of refinery and petrochemical processes contain uncertainties in their output. Simplified state estimation algorithm is merged to model predictive control to improve overall control accuracy.

Identification theory for linear discrete system has been presented by a great many reference, but research works for identification of continuous-time system are less than preceding identification. In fact, a great man), systems for engineering are continuous-time systems, hence, research for identification of continuous-time system has important meaning. This paper offers the following results: 1. Corresponding relations for the parameters of continuous-time model and discrete model may be shown, when single input-output system has general characteristic roots. 2. To do identification of single variable continuity linear system with stability constraints from samples of input-output data, it is necessary to use optimization with stability constraints. 3. Main results of this paper may be explained by a simple example.

Systematic design of a controller for a water temperature system was considered, with the intention of devising an accurate control experiment. The results of an experiment using a water temperature system based on the pole placement regulator showed water temperature oscillation and steady state error. This paper proposed a. method for eliminating both the oscillation and the steady state error. The oscillation was eliminated by a drive delay compensation technique, in which a future state value of the system was predicted through a real time computer simulation. The steady state error was eliminated by an steady state error correction technique, in which an actual steady state heatrate in the system model was replaced by an imaginary heatrate. By combining these two techniques, we obtained an experimental result for water temperature control of 0.01 (.deg. C) accuracy. Furthermore, the proposed method was evaluated relatively by comparing the experimental results using several other methods and proved to be the most accurate and convenient control method for the delay system.

A landmark tracking system(LTS) has been developed for use in locating objects in a manufacturing environment. The Landmark Tracking System is an integrated system which consists of a grey scale CCD camera, an image processor, an illumination system based on electronic flash, and software intended primarily for tracking retroreflective landmarks. The term "integreated" means that the camera electronics and the strobe electronics are directly linked to the computer system, governed by the same clock and under direct software control. A novel element in the LTS is that a pinhole is used for the optics.he optics.

This paper presents a water level control method using Z-80 microcomputer. The process considered in this paper is one tank system which is described by an unknown nonlinear differential equation. The water level is measured by the end of bar installed at a float passing through 8 pair of photointerrupters located at equal distance. Therefore, the input data to 8255 which is interface between Z-80 and photointerrupters is discrete value, namely, value under 1. values from 1 to 8, and value upper 8. The water is pumped into the tank from a reservoir by switching on a relay connected to a moter and pump driving system. The pumping is stopped by switching off the relay. Experimental studies for two types of controllers are performed in order to investigate the control performance of water level of the water pumping system.

Software linear and exponential acceleration/deceleration algorithms for control of machine axes of motion in industrial robots and CNC machine tools are proposed. Typical hardware systems used to accelerate and decelerate axes of motion are mathematically analyzed. Discrete-time state equations are derived from the mathematical analyses for the development of software acceleration/deceleration algorithms. Synchronous control method of multiple axes of motion in industrial robots and CNC machine tools is shown to be easily obtained on the basis of the proposed acceleration/deceleration algorithms. The path error analyses are carried out for the case where the software linear and exponential acceleration/deceleration algorithms are applied to a circular interpolator. A motion control system based on a floating point digital signal processor (DSP) TMS 320C30 is developed in order to implement the proposed algorithms. Experimental results demonstrate that the developed algorithms and the motion control system are available for control of multiple axes and nonlinear motion composed of a combination of lines and circles which industrial robots and CNC machine tools require.

In the continuous casting process, mold level fluctuation Is the major cause of the surface and sub-surface defects. In the No.3 bloom continuous caster at Kobe Works, we ensured that the major cause of mold level fluctuation was mechanical hysteresis which existed in the driving system of mold level control. Moreover, we found out that it was possible to greatly Improve the stability of mold level by estimating this mechanical hysteresis and compensating It on-line. As a result of applying a new level control system based on this method, we got accurate control over good stability.

The efficiency of automated assembly line is increased by realizing the automation of each assembly cell, monitoring the line information and developing the real-time line control system it. which production flow is controllable. In this paper, the several modules which are important factors when constructing automated real-time control system, such as, line control S/W module, real-time model change module, error handling module and line production management S/W module, are developed. For developing these important programming modules, real-time control and multi-tasking techniques are integrated. In this paper, operating method of real-time line control in PCB automated assembly line is proposed and for effective control of production line by using multi-tasking technique, proper operating method for relating real-time line control with multi-tasking is proposed by defining the levels of signals and tasks. CIM-Oriented modular programming method considering expandability and flexibility will be added for further research in the future.

An online RF power measurement is needed for the full-bridged MOS-FET RF power inverter because the output current and/or voltage waveform is other than sinusoidal. In order to satisfy the requirement, the online measurement of the output power of this type of RF power inverter by the use of the PC-98 personal computer has been presented. The current and voltage waveforms are sensed by the digital oscilloscope probes so as to obtain the instantaeous power and they are entered into the PC98 personal computer so as to average the instantaneous powers. The RF power of up to 1 kw at 1 MHz measured for the power inverter at the output transformer. This method was confirmed to be applied to evaluate the load resistance change with temperature.

The conventional sliding mode control and variable structure control (VSC) of nonlinear uncertain system are well known for their robust property and simplity of control law. However, the use of them is only pardonable on the assumption that the upper-bound of parameter variation or nonlinearity is known and that the complete information about state is available. Though the former has been solved with adaptive robust control theory recently, the latter seems not to be solved. In this paper, we try to solve this problem using the technique of VSS adaptive robust control theory. That is, we propose a VSS adaptive observer and a sliding mode control incorporated with this observer. We can prove the robust stability of the closed system applying the Lyapunov's second method.

In this paper, the robustness of self turning controller on the continuous time-delay system is investigated. The polynomial identification method using continuous time exponentially weighted least square algorithm is used for estimating the time.-delay system parameters. The pole-zero and pole placement method are adopted for the control algorithm. On considering the control weighting factor and reliability filter the effect of unmodeled dynamics of the plant are examined by the simulation.

This paper proposes a robust model following control systems with nonlinear time varying plant. which realies good properties such as asymptotic stability, disturbance rejection and model-following with reduced sensitivity for plant parameter variation. The schemes do not incorporate any parameter identification algorithms, but the adaptation is realized through signal synthesis in a fixed parameter structure.

Path planning is an important task for optimal motion of a robot in structured or unstructured environment. The goal of this paper is to plan the shortest collision-free path in 3D, when a robot is navigated to pick up some tools or to repair some parts from various locations. To accomplish the goal of this paper, the Path Coordinator is proposed to have the capabilities of an obstacle avoidance strategy[3] and a traveling salesman problem strategy(TSP)[23]. The obstacle avoidance strategy is to plan the shortest collision-free path between each pair of n locations in 2D or in 3D. The TSP strategy is to compute a minimal system cost of a tour that is defined as a closed path navigating each location exactly once. The TSP strategy can be implemented by the Neural Network. The obstacle avoidance strategy in 2D can be implemented by the VGraph Algorithm. However, the VGraph Algorithm is not useful in 3D, because it can't compute the global optimality in 3D. Thus, the Path Coordinator is proposed to solve this problem, having the capabilities of selecting the optimal edges by the modified Genetic Algorithm[21] and computing the optimal nodes along the optimal edges by the Recursive Compensation Algorithm[5].

In coming years fuzzy control techniques will be increasingly applied to plants in such fields as industry and public works. For this reason, it is extremely important that a high-quality support tool for systems configuration be developed. In this paper we will describe a comprehensive, user-friendly design tool for configuration of fuzzy control systems, called FZtool, that runs on a compact and cost-effective laptop computer.

A fuzzy dynamic learning controller is proposed and applied to control of time delayed, non-linear and unstable chemical processes. The proposed fuzzy dynamic learning controller can self-adjust its fuzzy control rules using the external dynamic information from the process during on-line control and it can create th,, new fuzzy control rules autonomously using its learning capability from past control trends. The proposed controller shows better performance than the conventional fuzzy logic controller and the fuzzy self organizing controller.

This paper describes the measured results upon monochromatic light, compound light, and light emanated from light emitting diodes by a simplified wavemeter with a semiconductor color sensor. Since a single unit element of a semiconductor color sensor with two PN junction photodiodes has been developed, the author has fabricated the simplified wave detector by using the element. The simplified wive detector has been measured results upon monochromatic light, compound light, and light emanated from light emitting diodes. Since luminescent color of each diode locates in luminosity region, comparison of measured values of PD-150 and PD-151 resulted no remarkable difference in averaged wave length. As for monochromatic light, PD-151 showed very cross value to the color filter peak value rather than PD-150. As for compound light, PD-150 has shown such influence of long wave length light which reaches to near infrared ray with respect to PD-151.

This paper deals with an automatic and precision alignment technique for proximity printing in x-ray lithography, using two pairs of moire gratings, with moire signals from each pair being 180.deg. out of phase with each other. We constructed an automatic and precision alignment experimental system which could measure both transmitted moire signals and reflected moire signals at the same time. The automatic alignment was achieved using transmitted moire signals and also reflected moire signals as a control signal for a stage driver. The alignment position of the system was monitored not only by a control signal but also by a non-control signal. The effect of transmitted and reflected moire signals upon alignment accuracy was discussed. We concluded that the technique using diffracted moire signals is a viable automatic and precision alignment technique.

The self-mixing type semiconductor laser Doppler velocimeter(SM-LDV) is applied to measure two simultaneously moving targets with different velocities in the same direction as a prototype target for multiscatterers. The measured beat waveform is found to be a composite wave of each beat waveform measured fran each of only moving target. In the composite waveform, each one-cycle wave has a feature of the sawtooth wave. This fact shows a possibility to discriminate the flow direction of fluid containing multiscatterers with distributed velocities by cooperating an improved version of the direction discrimination circuit already devised by the authors.