Scipedia: Documents published in 2018

Machine Learning Algorithms for Rock Cutting Slopes Stability Condition Identification

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:30:21 +0100

Transportation systems play a fundamental role in nowadays society. Indeed, every developed or countries undergoing development have invested and keep investing to build a safe and functional transportation network. The main concern nowadays, particularly for developed countries that already have a very complete network, is to keep it operational under all conditions. However, due to the network extension and increased budget constraints, such task is difficult to accomplish. In the framework of transportations networks, particularly for railway, slopes are perhaps the element for which their failure can have a strongest impact at several levels. Although there are some models and systems to detect slope failures, most of them were developed for natural slopes, presenting some constrains when applied to engineered (human-made) slopes. They have limited applicability as most of the existing systems were developed based on particular case studies or using small databases. Moreover, another aspect that can limit its applicability is related with the information used to feed them, such as data taken from complex tests or from expensive monitoring systems. Aiming to overcome this drawback, we took advantage of the high flexible learning capabilities of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Support Vector Machines (SVMs), which have been used in the past to model complex nonlinear mappings. Both data mining algorithms were applied in the development of a classification tool able to identify the stability condition of a rock cutting slope, keeping in mind the use of information usually collected during routine inspections activities (visual information) to feed them. For that, two different strategies were followed: nominal classification and regression. Moreover, to overcome the problem of imbalanced data, three training sampling approaches were explored: no resampling, SMOTE and Oversampling. The achieved results are present and discussed, comparing the performance of both algorithms (ANN and SVM) according to each modeling strategy as well as the effect of the sampling approaches. This work was supported by FCT – “Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia", within ISISE, project UID/ECI/04029/2013 as well Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013 and through the post-doctoral Grant fellowship with reference SFRH/BPD/94792/2013. This work was also partly financed by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007633. This work has been also supported by COMPETE: POCI01-0145-FEDER-007043. A special thanks goes to Network Rail that kindly make available the data (basic earthworks examination data and the Earthworks Hazard Condition scores) used in this work. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Big data for low-carbon transport: an overview of applications for designing the future of road and air transport

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:29:32 +0100

Big data is one of the most promising research trends of this decade, and navigation data allows for unprecedented opportunities for designing future low-carbon transportation infrastructures. This paper presents two applications based on navigation data in the fields of road and air transport. The first application shows how driving patterns from conventional fuel vehicles can be used for developing real-world scenario analyses for deploying hybrid and electric vehicles, quantifying their energy demand on the electric grid and the infrastructure needed to serve it. Moreover, results of the real-world driving and non-driving emissions from conventional vehicles are also presented, adopting as example the Italian province of Firenze. The second application shows how flight pattern data can be combined with noise emission models to quantify the real-world noise impact of civil air operation. The computed sound levels allow for drawing real-world noise maps and three airports have been chosen as examples: a small aerodrome (Trieste), and two intercontinental hubs (Vienna Schwechat and London Heathrow).

Comparison of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Reconstruction of Low-volume Road – Lithuania Case Study

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:28:32 +0100

Europe faces the ambition to drastically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In road sector, most of the carbon footprint emissions are generated by vehicles. The remaining emissions are generated during the different stages of road life cycle. Therefore, European and other countries use methods to calculate GHG emissions and evaluate the impact of road construction and maintenance methods, and technologies on the environment. In Lithuania there is a little experience in using such tools, but it has committed itself to reduce GHG emissions not less than 40% comparing with the level of 1990 till 2030. Different modern and innovative techniques are available in road construction and maintenance, but their contribution achieving national goals is unknown. The aim of this research is to compare GHG emissions associated with reconstruction of low-volume road using different construction techniques. Analytical analysis was performed using Highways England Carbon calculation tool. This study showed that soft asphalt and warm asphalt technologies are more efficient than hot asphalt in terms of GHG emissions, which are respectively lower by 20.3% and 5.2%.

Flight Testing Designs in HEXAFLY-INT for High-Speed Transportation

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:28:12 +0100

International audience; Civil high-speed passenger transport only makes sense when deployed for long-haul intercontinental flights. Consequently, the related development and deployment of such a high-speed vehicle will most likely demand an international approach. The internationally funded HEXAFLY-INT project is a first step in the direction of civil high-speed transportation along with an international development where flighttesting is the focal point. The global aim is to flight test an experimental waverider-based vehicle concept above Mach 7 to verify its potential for a high cruise efficiency during a free-flight. In parallel, the concept will also be flight tested to prove the waverider concept is also able to take-off, to accelerate to subsonic speed and to land in an efficient and robust way. The feasibility for a 3m long vehicle was demonstrated during the European precursor project HEXAFLY. Its realization is now being enabled on an international scale preparing the grounds for global cooperation in case of a future deployment of a high-speed cruiser. These flight opportunities will increase drastically the Technology Readiness Level of developments realized in previous high-speed EC projects such as ATLLAS I & II and LAPCAT I & II. The present paper describes the various numerical and experimental investigations carried out so far by the different international partners.

Radar for pavement surveys: research project in Belgium

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:27:34 +0100

The Belgian Road Research Centre (BRRC) and its partner Institut Scientifique du Service Public (ISSeP) performed a four-year research project into the use of Ground-Penetrating Radar for pavement surveys."br" The essential aim of this project was to develop methodologies to improve GPR data collection and interpretation for road surveys. This included the estimation of layer thickness, the determination of homogeneous zones, and void detection."br" Results were obtained from experiments with GPR both under controlled conditions and on roads."br" The knowledge and experience acquired during the first part of this project provided the basic material for a BRRC publication “Methodologies for the Use of Ground-Penetrating Radar in Pavement Condition Surveys”, which is available on the BRRC web site. The methodologies were applied to a road section to be rehabilitated."br" The results of the project are presented in a research report published in October 2017.

Exploring the Effect of Increased Energy Density on the Environmental Impacts of Traction Batteries: A Comparison of Energy Optimized Lithium-Ion and Lithium-Sulfur Batteries for Mobility Applications

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:26:43 +0100

The quest towards increasing the energy density of traction battery technologies has led to the emergence and diversification of battery materials. The lithium sulfur battery (LSB) is in this regard a promising material for batteries due to its specific energy. However, due to its low volumetric energy density, the LSB faces challenges in mobility applications such as electric vehicles but also other transportation modes. To understand the potential environmental implication of LSB batteries, a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed. For this study, electrodes for both an NMC111 with an anode graphite and a LSB battery cell with a lithium metal foil as anode were manufactured. Data from disassembly experiments performed on a real battery system for a mid-size passenger vehicle were used to build the required life cycle inventory. The energy consumption during the use phase was calculated using a simulative approach. A set of thirteen impact categories was evaluated and characterized with the ReCiPe methodology. The results of the LCA in this study allow identification of the main sources of environmental problems as well as possible strategies to improve the environmental impact of LSB batteries. In this regard, the high requirements of N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) for the processing of the sulfur cathode and the thickness of the lithium foil were identified as the most important drivers. We make recommendations for necessary further research in order to broaden the understanding concerning the potential environmental implication of the implementation of LSB batteries for mobility applications.

Document type: Article

Injured motorcyclists in Sweden: Where do the crashes occur and what factors influence the injury severity?

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:21:59 +0100

Trends in traffic fatalities show that the development for motorcyclists has fallen behind other road users. It is therefore crucial to improve traffic safety for this road user group. The study analyses where in the road network motorcyclists are injured and whether injury severity differs between parts of the network. Injury severity is also examined in relation to other variables such as age, gender, and motorcycle engine performance (i.e., power-to-weight ratio). The results indicate that motorcyclists, relatively more often than passenger car occupants, are injured on low-volume roads that are not subject to any major safety improvements. It is therefore crucial to also encourage other safety measures targeting rider behaviour and vehicle safety. Moreover, analyses of injury severity indicate that, in multiple-vehicle crashes involving motorcycles, the odds of being killed or severely injured are lower on roads with median barriers (i.e., motorways and 2+1 roads) than on two-lane roads.

Pedestrian Similarity Extraction to Improve People Counting Accuracy

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:21:29 +0100

Current state-of-the-art single shot object detection pipelines, composed by an object detector such as Yolo, generate multiple detections for each object, requiring a post-processing Non-Maxima Suppression (NMS) algorithm to remove redundant detections. However, this pipeline struggles to achieve high accuracy, particularly in object counting applications, due to a trade-off between precision and recall rates. A higher NMS threshold results in fewer detections suppressed and, consequently, in a higher recall rate, as well as lower precision and accuracy. In this paper, we have explored a new pedestrian detection pipeline which is more flexible, able to adapt to different scenarios and with improved precision and accuracy. A higher NMS threshold is used to retain all true detections and achieve a high recall rate for different scenarios, and a Pedestrian Similarity Extraction (PSE) algorithm is used to remove redundant detentions, consequently improving counting accuracy. The PSE algorithm significantly reduces the detection accuracy volatility and its dependency on NMS thresholds, improving the mean detection accuracy for different input datasets.

Road safety enhancement: An investigation on the visibility of on-road image projections using DMD-based pixel light systems

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:20:47 +0100

Research reveals that visual information forms the major portion of the received data for driving. At night -owing to the, sometimes scarcity, sometime inhomogeneity of light- the human physiology and psychology experiences a dramatic alteration. It is found that although the likelihood of accident occurrence is higher during the day due to heavier traffic, the most fatal accidents still occur during night time. How can road safety be improved in limited lighting conditions using DMD-based high resolution headlamps? DMD-based pixel light systems, utilizing HID and LED light sources, are able to address hundreds of thousands of pixels individually. Using camera information, this capability allows 'glare-free' light distributions that perfectly adapt to the needs of all road users. What really enables these systems to stand out however, is their on-road image projection capability. This projection functionality may be used in co-operation with other driver assistance systems as an assist feature for the projection of navigation data, warning signs, car status information etc. Since contrast sensitivity constitutes a decisive measure of the human visual function, here is then a core question: what distributions of luminance in the projection space produce highly visible on-road image projections? This work seeks to address this question. Responses on sets of differently illuminated projections are collected from a group of participants and later interpreted using statistical data obtained using a luminance camera. Some aspects regarding the correlation between contrast ratio, symbol form and attention capture are also discussed.

Combined RAMS and LCC analysis in railway and road transport infrastructures

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:20:30 +0100

Life-cycle cost (LCC) analysis is an assessment technique used to evaluate costs incurred during the life-cycle of"br" a system to help in long term decision making. In railway and road transport infrastructures, costs are subject to"br" numerous uncertainties associated to the operation and maintenance phase. By integrating in the LCC the"br" stochastic nature of failure using Reliability, Maintainability, Availability and Safety (RAMS) analyses,"br" maintenance costs can be more reliably estimated. This paper presents an innovative approach for a combined"br" RAMS&LCC methodology for linear transport infrastructures which has been developed under the H2020"br" project INFRALERT. Results of the application of such methodology in two real use cases are shown, one for"br" rail and another one for road. The use cases show how the approach is implemented in practice.

Standardization of driving cycles for shunting locomotives – reduction of energy consumption and optimized selection of new powertrain solutions

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:20:14 +0100

Modern rail vehicles are facing a lot of different challenges in order to be successful established on the market. Besides the primary requirements safety, fulfillment of the scope of performance and low investment costs, there are increasing requirements such as energy consumption, local emissions (global warming gases, harmful substances and noise), non-operation periods and maintenance intervals. All these requirements are crucial in case of customer satisfaction. For train operating companies as well as for locomotive manufactures one challenge in the development process is the meaningful simulation of real service profiles. For mainline traffic as well as for existing rail vehicles some mathematical-physical models already exist. These models are based on track topology and timetables. They show results for energy consumption and driving times. In the field of shunting, the fact that the topology, the towing capacity and a concrete timetable cannot be determined exactly, leads to a problem for the simulation and the evaluation of new powertrain solutions for shunting locomotives. This shows the need of an approved method to create standardized driving cycles. In the future there will be still the need of shunting locomotives for the passenger traffic and of course for rail cargo. This is shown by the constant number of shunting locomotives during the last years. As a consequence the field of shunting has a clearly recognizable share of the whole railroad energy consumption. Therefore it is obvious that optimized powertrain systems for shunting locomotives will have a clear influence on the reduction of CO2-Emissions and other exhaust emissions. The generation of standardized driving cycles is a necessary step for an efficient and reliable analysis of vehicles and powertrain systems. With the basis of defined characteristics and determined values, it is possible to create synthetic driving cycles with the use of mathematic algorithms for shunting locomotives. With this method the big range of operation profiles for shunting locomotives can be transferred into universal driving cycles without changing characteristics. The following method of creating driving cycles is validated by measurements with a H3-Hybrid locomotive from Alstom. With the development of new alternative powertrain solutions for rail vehicles the requirements, especially for the interfaces and the interaction between vehicle components, will increase. Standardized driving cycles will be helpful to adjust vehicle components and operating strategies and can increase the reliability of railroad vehicles.

Drive Video Analysis for the Detection of Traffic Near-Miss Incidents

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:19:07 +0100

Because of their recent introduction, self-driving cars and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) equipped vehicles have had little opportunity to learn, the dangerous traffic (including near-miss incident) scenarios that provide normal drivers with strong motivation to drive safely. Accordingly, as a means of providing learning depth, this paper presents a novel traffic database that contains information on a large number of traffic near-miss incidents that were obtained by mounting driving recorders in more than 100 taxis over the course of a decade. The study makes the following two main contributions: (i) In order to assist automated systems in detecting near-miss incidents based on database instances, we created a large-scale traffic near-miss incident database (NIDB) that consists of video clip of dangerous events captured by monocular driving recorders. (ii) To illustrate the applicability of NIDB traffic near-miss incidents, we provide two primary database-related improvements: parameter fine-tuning using various near-miss scenes from NIDB, and foreground/background separation into motion representation. Then, using our new database in conjunction with a monocular driving recorder, we developed a near-miss recognition method that provides automated systems with a performance level that is comparable to a human-level understanding of near-miss incidents (64.5% vs. 68.4% at near-miss recognition, 61.3% vs. 78.7% at near-miss detection).

Comment: Accepted to ICRA 2018

Workflow Designer – Webová aplikace na vizuální návrh pracovních postupů zpracování EEG signálu

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:17:43 +0100

This paper describes the Workflow Designer — a prototype web-based application allowing drag-and-drop creating, editing, and running workflows from a predefined library of methods. Adding a new method requires a minimal effort from users. Moreover, any workflow can be exported or imported in JSON format to ensure reusability and local execution of exported JSON configurations. The Workflow Designer can be applied to any general computation if the custom method library is available. The application has been successfully tested using electroencephalographic signal processing workflows. Článek popisuje Workflow Designer - prototypovou webovou aplikaci, která umožňuje snadné vytváření, úpravy a spouštění pracovních postupů z předdefinované knihovny metod. Přidání nové metody vyžaduje od uživatelů minimální úsilí. Kromě toho lze libovolný pracovní postup exportovat nebo importovat ve formátu JSON, aby se zajistilo opětovné použití a lokální vykonání exportovaných konfigurací JSON. Workflow designer lze použít na jakýkoli obecný výpočet, pokud je k dispozici knihovna vlastních metod. Aplikace byla úspěšně otestována pomocí workflow na zpracování elektroencefalografických signálů.

Merging Flows and Optimizing Aircraft Scheduling in Terminal Maneuvering Area Based on GA

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:16:43 +0100

International audience; Runway capacity problem have been emerging in current overloaded congestion airports. This paper focuses on improving the runway capacity and resolution of conflicts of aircraft in terminal maneuvering area and proposes its method which can find the feasible solution using detour structure. In detail, our proposed method use alternative routes or sub-route as detour to avoid conflict and to change the position of arrival sequence. Through the intensive simulation on Paris Charles De-Gaulle airport, we revealed that our proposed method can find the efficient arrival sequence without conflict and detours contribute to optimize the landing sequence.

Techno-Economic Optimization of Railway Power Substation Hybridization

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:16:14 +0100

With the rising of railway traffic flow, railway system suffers problems like voltage drop, unbalance, etc. One"br" promising solution, studied in this paper, is the hybridization of railway power substation. The design of this"br" hybrid architecture is complex and depends on a lot of techno-economic parameters. This paper develops technoeconomic"br" models used for optimization that takes into account all Life Cycle Cost. An example of AC power"br" substation is studied and results reveal that the return of investment (ROI) period is around 4 years with the"br" integration of energy storage system and wind power system.

Research on Application of Distributed Optical Fiber Sensing Technology in the Safety Monitoring of Pipeline Transportation

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:15:02 +0100

Two-Phase Model for Simulating Current-Induced Scour Beneath Subsea Pipelines at Different Initial Elevations

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:14:29 +0100

When a subsea pipeline is laid on an uneven seabed, the pipeline can have an initial elevation, potentially compromising its on-bottom stability; scouring due to flow conditions around the pipe can further exacerbate the problem. We assess the capability of the two-phase Eulerian-Eulerian OpenFOAM solver, twoPhaseEulerFoam, in terms of predicting the equilibrium scour depth beneath a pipe at different initial elevations under a steady current for the live bed condition. The predictions were found to be in good agreement with published experimental and numerical results; however, similar to a recent study involving another two-phase Eulerian-Eulerian model, the scour time scale was under-predicted. The predicted equilibrium scour depth was seen to decrease with an increase in the initial pipe elevation. The numerical results were also compared to predictions that were made using previous empirical equations. The most comprehensive equation to date showed a good agreement with the present numerical results. We conclude that this open-source solver, twoPhaseEulerFoam, can be used to predict the equilibrium scour depth beneath subsea pipelines, with short computation times and negligible mesh dependency.

How to Choose the Greenest Delivery Plan: A Framework to Measure Key Performance Indicators for Sustainable Urban Logistics

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:13:18 +0100

Part 3: Smart City Interoperability and Cross-Platform Implementation; International audience; The sustainability of urban logistics is an important issue for rapidly growing cities worldwide. Although many cities and research works have developed strategies to move people more efficiently and safely within the urban environment, much less attention has been paid to the importance of optimizing the delivery of goods to people at work and home taking into account sustainable goals. In this work we propose a framework that aids to register and measure a set of sustainable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for delivery routes and plans in urban zones. The approach is general and based on a set of well defined KPIs from the specialized research field.

Document type: Conference object

Assessment of the impacts of extreme weather events upon the pan-European infrastructure to the optimal mitigation of the consequences

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:11:10 +0100

number of extreme weather events (EWEs) have made the resilience of the critical infrastructure of priority concern for infrastructure owners, operators and other decision makers. In this context, the European research project RAIN has studied the EWEs and their impacts upon land-based infrastructure in Europe, and developed a Risk-Based Decision Making Framework with the final goal of mitigating the consequences. This paper presents the main findings of the RAIN project, such as established thresholds for EWEs in the face of a changing climate, decision support tools for infrastructure owners and operators, crisis coordination and response planning based on recent cases, risk-based decision making, technical solutions for risk mitigation, and their implementation considering the current status of European infrastructural elements and networks. The outputs of RAIN aid decision making in the long term, securing new robust infrastructure development and protection of existing infrastructure against climate change and more frequent occurrence of extreme weather.

Transportation Ecosystem Framework in Fog to Cloud Environment

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:10:06 +0100

Traffic congestion and accidents cause cities to be the principal source of pollutant emissions. The TIMON project initiative aims at providing Real-Time (RT) information and cloud-based services through an open web-based platform and a mobile application to the main actors: drivers, vulnerable road users and businesses. TIMON establishes a cooperative ecosystem to connect people, vehicles, infrastructure and business and contributes to intelligent transport, IoT and Cloud computing. In the first part, this paper provides an overview of TIMON and how it contributes to increasing safety and reducing congestion and emissions. The TIMON ecosystem represents the perfect use case of distributed technologies, as it collects data from IoT sensors, open and closed data sources and user engagement data, processes it and provides useful information not only for road users, but also for scientists and technicians who need real systems to study the data, infrastructure and IT safety management. In the second part, the Cloud deployment of the TIMON system is described in detail and a new, more distributed design is proposed to exploit the potential of current emerging technologies of Fog and Edge computing.

Document type: Conference object

OSM POI Analyzer : A Platform for Assessing Position of POIs in OpenStreetMap

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:03:43 +0100

In recent years, more and increased participation in Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI) projects provides enough data coverage for most places around the world for ordinary mapping and navigation purposes, however, the positional credibility of contributed data becomes more and more important to bring a long-term trust in VGI data. Today, it is hard to draw a definite traditional boundary between the authoritative map producers and the public map consumers and we observe that more and more volunteers are joining crowdsourcing activities for collecting geodata, which might result in higher rates of man-made mistakes in open map projects such as OpenStreetMap. While there are some methods for monitoring the accuracy and consistency of the created data, there is still a lack of advanced systems to automatically discover misplaced objects on the map. One feature type which is contributed daily to OSM is Point of Interest (POI). In order to understand how likely it is that a newly added POI represents a genuine real-world feature scientific means to calculate a probability of such a POI existing at that specific position is needed. This paper reports on a new analytic tool which dives into OSM data and finds co-existence patterns between one specific POI and its surrounding objects such as roads, parks and buildings. The platform uses a distance-based classification technique to find relationships among objects and tries to identify the high-frequency association patterns among each category of objects. Using such method, for each newly added POI, a probabilistic score would be generated, and the low scored POIs can be highlighted for editors for a manual check. The same scoring method can be used for existing registered POIs to check if they are located correctly. For a sample study, this paper reports on the evaluation of 800 pre-registered ATMs in Paris with associated scores to understand how outliers and fake entries could be detected automatically.

Document type: Article

CO2 injection in low pressure depleted reservoirs

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:02:37 +0100

Re-using depleted fields (and platforms and wells) offers advantages over developing storage projects in saline formations. However, with reservoir pressures after production sometimes below 20 bar, there can be a large pressure difference between the reservoir and the transport pipeline at the surface, which will be typically at pressures in the range of 80 - 120 bar. This pressure difference must be carefully managed to ensure that the temperature of the CO2, the surface installations and the well, remain within materials specifications and within proper operating boundaries. Pressure drops of the CO2 result in potentially large decrease in temperature, due to its high Joule-Thomson coefficient; in addition, the temperatures and pressures that occur in a typical CO2 transport and storage system are such that two-phase flow is likely to occur. Pipeline pressure and temperature management can easily be done in a single source- single sink scenario as the pipeline pressure is a free parameter. However, if the pipeline must act as a backbone for multiple wells at different reservoir pressure, pressure and flow management must be balanced carefully. In this paper, the differences between a pipeline as transport and a pipeline as backbone will be discussed in detail.

Augmented and Virtual Reality Applied for Innovative, Inclusive and Efficient Participatory Planning

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:02:11 +0100

The research project VR-Planning aims to investigate improvements in participatory planning processes through the use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to allow stakeholders to experience designs of buildings and public spaces before they are built. The biggest challenge for participatory planning is to include stakeholders from various backgrounds and with diverse knowledge. Thus VR-Planning examines how AR and VR can be used to optimally support participation in different application areas at different planning phases to facilitate a swift and effective decision-making process. This paper summarizes results from three user experience workshops with citizens and a workshop with an interdisciplinary group of professional planners and academics. Finally, an outlook with usage scenarios in future planning and design projects is provided.

A Medium Duty Hybrid Vehicle to Meet the Needs of increasingly Sustainable Mobility

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:57:35 +0100

This paper focusses on the New IVECO Medium Duty Hybrid Vehicle being developed within Work Package 5 of the ECOCHAMPS project. The vehicle will be able to meet the needs of increasingly sustainable mobility, responsibly combining economic and productivity growth with environmental protection; resulting in a concept for possible future scenarios, meeting the needs of the evolving world of transport. The demonstrator has extremely flexible technology, capable of switching to the most appropriate source of energy and operative modes depending on the vehicle’s mission. To achieve this flexibility, an IVECO patented Transfer Box and modular components, like a HV battery, a HV high efficiency E-Drive, a HV/12V smart DC/DC converter and a 3-phase AC charger, have been integrated in the demonstrator. An innovative charging system with a specific IVECO patent has been implemented to satisfy all customers’ requirements, retaining the flexibility of private, public and domestic-charging.

Critically fast pick-and-place with suction cups

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:55:57 +0100

Fast robotics pick-and-place with suction cups is a crucial component in the current development of automation in logistics (factory lines, e-commerce, etc.). By "critically fast" we mean the fastest possible movement for transporting an object such that it does not slip or fall from the suction cup. The main difficulties are: (i) handling the contact between the suction cup and the object, which fundamentally involves kinodynamic constraints; and (ii) doing so at a low computational cost, typically a few hundreds of milliseconds. To address these difficulties, we propose (a) a model for suction cup contacts, (b) a procedure to identify the contact stability constraint based on that model, and (c) a pipeline to parameterize, in a time-optimal manner, arbitrary geometric paths under the identified contact stability constraint. We experimentally validate the proposed pipeline on a physical robot system: the cycle time for a typical pick-and-place task was less than 5 seconds, planning and execution times included. The full pipeline is released as open-source for the robotics community.

Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Indoor Occupancy Estimation via Location-Aware HMM: An IoT Approach

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:55:26 +0100

International audience; Indoor occupancy estimation is a critical analytical task for several applications (e.g., social isolation of elderlies). The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices enabled the occupancy estimation, as it provided access to a mass amount of data. Several works have been proposed exploiting the IoT Passive Inference (PIR) or environmental (e.g., $CO_2$) features. These works however are traditionally selecting the feature space at the learning phase and passively using it over time. Hence, they ignore the dynamics of indoor occupancy, such as the location of the occupant or his motion patterns, leading to a decreasing accuracy over time. In this paper, we study those dynamics and show that motion patterns, along with environmental features favor the occupancy estimation. We design a Location-Aware Hidden Markov Model (HMM), which dynamically adapts the feature space based on the occupant's location. Our experiments on real data show that Location-Aware HMM can reach up to 10% better accuracy than Conventional HMM.

Second life application of automotive Li-ion batteries: Ageing during first and second use and life cycle assessment

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:48:08 +0100

The commercialisation of electric vehicles has accelerated in the global market, responding to the need of global CO2 emissions reduction and of energy security. This, in turn, has led to rapidly increasing demand for high-energy density traction Li-ion batteries, and will also translate into an increase of waste xEV batteries after having reached first use End-of-Life in vehicles. Collected batteries are typically recycled. However, their residual capacity could be used in second use applications before recycling."br" The performance of Li-ion cells, namely change of capacity and impedance during calendar and cycle ageing has been analysed beyond the end of first use. Fresh cells, cells aged in the laboratory, and cells aged under real-world driving conditions, have been characterised applying second use stationary grid-scale duty cycles."br" An analysis of the resource efficiency of second-use application of Li-ion batteries from vehicles is presented. This includes an assessment of materials needs and a Material Flow Analysis to estimate the amount of available batteries entering the waste flow after their use in the automotive sector. An adapted life cycle based methodology is presented – taking in consideration experimental performance data – to produce a holistic analysis considering technical, environmental, economical perspective of the foreseen second-life system.

Increasing and Validating the Safety and Reliability of Cyber-Physical Systems

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:44:06 +0100

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) like production facilities, medical devices, and modern cars play an increasingly significant role in the economic context but also in every-day life; catchphrases like “Industry 4.0” and “Mobility of the Future” are on everybody’s mind. Manufacturers and operators of such systems are highly interested in investigating and ensuring the safety and reliability of their systems."br" The security researchers of AIT Austrian Institute of Technology’s research field “Dependable Systems Engineering” (DSE) deal with the challenge of increasing the safety and reliability of cyber-physical systems since many years. The team actively engages interesting problems in both, the scientific - and production domains together with key industry partners. In this way, they not only drive scientific progress in their field of study but also keep their eyes on the practical applicability of their solutions."br" With this goal in mind, the DSE’s researchers and engineers develop tools and methodologies to address questions regarding Safe and Secure Co-Engineering. Examples include safe and secure reference architectures; methods for model-based analysis of safety-critical systems; automated test case generation; and real-time monitoring of complex systems. The group’s experts also contribute to the development of industry standards, e.g., ISO26262."br" Keywords: cyber-physical systems; safety and security; verification and validation; dependable systems engineering; model-based; automated test case generation; real-time monitoring

The TransformingTransport Project – Mobility Meets Big Data

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:43:08 +0100

Big data is expected to have a profound economic and societal impact in mobility and logistics. Examples in-clude 500 billion USD in value worldwide in the form of time and fuel savings, and savings of 380 megatons CO2. With freight transport activities projected to increase by 40% in 2030, transforming the current mobility and logistics processes to become significantly more efficient, will have a profound impact. A 10% efficiency improvement may lead to EU cost savings of 100 billion EUR. Despite these promises, interestingly only few mobility and logistics companies employ big data solutions as part of value creation and business processes."br" The TransformingTransport project (http://www.transformingtransport.eu) will demonstrate, in a realistic, meas-urable, and replicable way the transformations that big data can bring to the mobility and logistics market. Struc-tured into 13 different pilots, which cover areas of major importance for the mobility and logistics sector in Eu-rope, TransformingTransport validates the technical and economic viability of big data to reshape transport pro-cesses and services. To this end, TransformingTransport exploits access to industrial data sets from over 160 data sources, totalling 410,000 GB."br" Starting with the explanation the structure and aims of the 13 pilots, we provide the key main characteristics of the involved data sets in terms of variety, volume, and velocity. We explain the methodology of the project to achieve replicability and scalability of its results in particular to cope with data volume and velocity. We provide concrete examples for the innovation potential and impact of the project outcomes, including gains in operational efficiency, improved customer experience and new business models made possible when mobility meets big data. We conclude with a critical discussion on data management concerns.

From reactive to proactive: Czech examples of development and application of alternative road safety assessment approaches

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:41:52 +0100

Traditionally, road safety assessment has been based on accident history. However, this approach may be biased,"br" since accident occurrence is statistically rare and partly random. In this regards, various alternatives have been"br" sought worldwide. The paper presents two examples of development and practical application of alternative road"br" safety assessment approaches in the Czech Republic. The first example describes accident prediction models,"br" which were developed firstly for secondary roads in several regions and secondly for core road network"br" (motorways and national roads), and used for identification of hazardous road locations. The second example"br" describes a different proactive technique, using speed consistency in order to identify hazardous curves. The"br" wider use of these approaches will enable shifting from traditional reactive accident-based approach to proactive"br" alternatives, which will improve quality and efficiency of Czech road network safety management.

Particle Reduced, Efficient Gasoline Engines: A First-Year Report on the PaREGEn Project

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:40:36 +0100

The PaREGEn project (supported by EC Grant No. 723954) is addressing the research and innovation topic GV-"br" 02-2016, “Technologies for low emission light duty powertrains”, under the Horizon 2020 framework programme."br" This project works on the short-term aspects of that call, through the further development of gasoline engines used"br" in mid to premium sized passenger cars. The project is being realized by a sixteen-partner consortium representing"br" all parts of the European Automotive Industry. At the point of the TRA2018, the project will be mid-term: results"br" will be presented in this paper and at the conference relating to the first twelve to eighteen months of progress.

Beyond-Design-Basis Evaluation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:39:58 +0100

Simulační studie jsou v dnešní době neocenitelným nástrojem pro návrh, jakož i pro hodnocení bezpečnosti a ověřování pokročilých systémů asistence řidiče (ADAS) nebo automatizovaných funkcí řízení (ADF). V případě, že jsou ADAS / ADF vyvíjeny pomocí simulačních studií, jsou (obvykle) navrženy tak, aby se předešlo nehodám pomocí vhodných aktivních prvků. Bezpečnost těchto ADAS / ADF však závisí na explicitních a implicitních předpokladech učiněných během procesu návrhu. Jsou-li dobře navrženy, budou tyto předpoklady pokrývat velkou většinu případů, ke kterým by mohlo dojít během jízdy ve skutečném světě. Sotva je možné zohlednit všechny typy zamyšlených scénářů a hodnocení vysoce nepravděpodobných případů již v průběhu procesu navrhování může vést k obrovským dodatečným nákladům, pokud jde o výkon. Proto je zde navrženo použití třívrstvé bezpečnostní filozofie pro ADAS / ADF: Funkce jsou navrženy na základě realistických předpokladů týkajících se dopravních situací a scénářů. Následně bude na základě katalogu testovacích scénářů identifikována hranice havárie pro nově vyvinutou funkčnost, tj. bude hledána parametrizace testovacího případu, ve které je stále možné zabránit havárii. V posledním kroku budou analyzovány případy, u nichž nelze havárii zabránit, s ohledem na očekávané důsledky pro zúčastněné osoby. Tento třetí krok je v dokumentu označován jako „posouzení bezpečnosti nad rámec návrhu“ (BDBSA). Zde se navrhuje nová, snadno použitelná metodika pro vyhodnocení důsledků takových nevyhnutelných scénářů havárií v BDBSA. Simulation studies are nowadays an invaluable tool for the design, as well as for the safety evaluation and veri_cation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) or Automated Driving Functions (ADF). In case ADAS/ADF are developed using simulation studies, they are (usually) designed to avoid accidents by means of suitable control actuations. However, the safety of those ADAS/ADF depends on the explicit and implicit assumptions made during the design process. If well designed, those assumptions will cover the vast majority of cases that might occur during real world driving. It is hardly possible though to account for all types of thinkable scenarios and accounting for highly improbable cases already during the design process might lead to tremendous additional costs in terms of performance. It is therefore proposed here to use a three layer safety philosophy for ADAS/ADF: The functionalities are designed based on realistic assumptions regarding traf_c situations and scenarios. Subsequently, based on a catalog of test scenarios the crash boundary for the newly developed functionality will be identi_ed, i.e. the test case parametrization will be searched for in which it is still possible to avoid a crash. In a last step, those cases for which a crash cannot be avoided will be analyzed with respect to the expected consequences for the people involved. This third step will be referred to as .beyond-design-basis safety assessment. (BDBSA) throughout this paper. A new, easy to apply methodology is proposed here for evaluating the consequences of such unavoidable crash scenarios in BDBSA.

Impact of mobile phone use on driving performance: findings from a simulator study

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:39:19 +0100

Mobile phone use while driving is one of the most common driver distractions and one of the main causes of"br" traffic accidents. This research aims to investigate the impact of mobile phone use on drivers’ behaviour in urban"br" and rural road networks. A driving simulator experiment with 50 participants was carried out, who drove under"br" different types of mobile phone distraction (no distraction, handheld conversation, handsfree conversation,"br" speaker mode conversation). Within the framework of the statistical analysis, discrete choice models were"br" designed to investigate the influence of mobile phone use, as well as other relevant parameters, on driving"br" behaviour considering maximum driving speed, reaction time and standard deviation of lateral position. Based"br" on the findings of the present research, mobile phone conversation is significantly affecting driving performance"br" causing lower drivers’ maximum speeds and higher reaction times and standard deviations of the lateral position.

Mobility4EU – Action Plan for the Future of Mobility in Europe

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:38:26 +0100

Global socio-economic and environmental megatrends are urging for a paradigm shift in mobility and transport. An action plan for the coherent implementation of innovative transport and mobility solutions in Europe is thus urgently needed and should be sustained by a wide range of societal stakeholders. The MOBILITY4EU project is working on developing such an action plan considering all modes of transport of passengers and freight. This contribution details the methodology and the results on trends, solutions and opportunities for cross-modal and cross-sector collaboration. The initiative towards a European Transport and Mobility Forum that continues the work beyond the project duration and works on complementing the action plan is introduced.

TRIMODE: integrated transport model for Europe

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:33:16 +0100

The TRIMODE integrated model for Europe combines the simulation of transport, economy and energy systems for the assessment of major transport infrastructure projects and policies. Within a single software platform, the model components include a full four stage Transport model of passenger and freight movements, an Energy model with dynamic vehicle fleets for all transport modes and an Economy model representing the complete macroeconomic system of European countries with a two-layer General Equilibrium model that works at both a regional and a national level. Covering the whole European Union and it neighbouring countries, the model has a very detailed spatial resolution of the transport system, with a NUTS III level multimodal network, coupled with detailed disaggregation of transport demand by socio-economic groups, purposes, etc. for passengers and by NST and handling categories, etc. for freight. The model considers all types of energy sources and technologies for all modes of transport.

Transport costs in households' budgets and their evolution in 1985-2011 according to the type of space

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:32:54 +0100

Transport and energy transition policies have a growing impact on travel behaviour, car purchase, and services of transport. A better understanding of the geographical factors that structures household transport budgets is therefore essential to predict how the efforts required from the inhabitants will be distributed across a country. The article analyses the spatial differentiation of transport budgets according to five types of urban and rural, more or less densely populated areas in continental France, between 1985 and 2011. It also considers the evolution over time of this differentiation. This study shows that differences in average household transport budgets over the French territory are mainly explained by the number of cars per household. There are small variations around this fundamental relationship that may be explained by high-speed train or aircraft services in large metropolises or the low level of household income in some areas, which need further investigations.

Experiences of data management and analysis supporting MSP... starting from ADRIPLAN

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:30:19 +0100

Nonlinear dynamic load-displacement response of foundation piles under progressive damage

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:29:38 +0100

Soil supporting foundations for infrastructural assets such as bridges are repeatedly subjected to dynamic loading from passing traffic. The load-displacement characteristics are nonlinear at even small to medium strains, however this effect is mostly modelled using secant stiffness models with effective linear stiffness. This simplification enables a pseudo linear model to encapsulate the effects of a nonlinear system with some accuracy. Linear models have a frequency related to the amplitude of the load used to specify the secant stiffness. Nonlinear models, however, have a range of frequencies due to the changing stiffness of the system resulting from the amplitude of the input load. There is growing uncertainty surrounding the response of foundation systems to damage effects. In particular scour erosion, which is the term used to describe removal of soil from around foundation elements by hydraulic action, presents a significant hazard to infrastructure and is becoming more prevalent with increased flooding risk due to climate change effects. This paper describes a numerical framework to incorporate a basis for nonlinearities in the load-displacement response modelling of pile foundations. The Newmark-Beta nonlinear integration solver is implemented in the study. A case study is presented of a pile foundation subjected to a range of load types and progressive scour damage, and the calculated response from the various conditions is evaluated. Periodic loads of varying amplitude are implemented. Effective linear models are developed based on the secant stiffness approach and compared to the nonlinear systems. The paper presents the numerical basis for the analysis, results of the case study and advice on modelling issues relevant to analyses of this nature.

A Generic Approach to Analyze the Impact of a Future Aircraft Design on the Boarding Process

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:28:42 +0100

The turnaround process constitutes an important part of the air transportation system. Airports often represent bottlenecks in air traffic management (ATM), thus operations related to the preparation of the aircraft for the next flight leg have to be executed smoothly and in a timely manner. The ATM significantly depends on a reliable turnaround process. Future paradigm changes with respect to airplane energy sources, aircraft design or propulsion concepts will also influence the airport layout. As a consequence, operational processes associated with the turnaround will be affected. Airlines aim for efficient and timely turnaround operations that are correlated with higher profits. This case study discusses an approach to investigate a new aircraft design with respect to the implications on the turnaround. The boarding process, as part of the turnaround, serves as an example to evaluate the consequences of new design concepts. This study is part of an interdisciplinary research to investigate future energy, propulsion and designs concepts and their implications on the whole ATM system. Due to these new concepts, several processes of the turnaround will be affected. For example, new energy storage concepts will influence the fueling process on the aircraft itself or might lead to a new infrastructure at the airport. This paper aims to evaluate the applied methodology in the case of a new boarding process, due to a new aircraft design, by means of a generic example. An agent-based boarding simulation is applied to assess passenger behavior during boarding, particularly with regard to cabin layout and seat configuration. The results of the generic boarding simulation are integrated into a simplified, deterministic and generic simulation of the turnaround process. This was done to assess the proposed framework for future investigations which on the one hand address the ATM system holistically and on the other, incorporate additional or adapted processes of the turnaround.

Document type: Article

The HARMONY project – Study for the harmonization of data in the public transport network and road network

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:27:09 +0100

Urban mobility challenges are complex and involve many different aspects. A central issue is the management of"br" mobility data in the cities, lacking a common structure for multimodal data and access interfaces to the data. The"br" European Commission initiatives such as the ITS Directive 2010/40/EU and the Implementing Decision 2016/209"br" established some lines along which these issues should be addressed. A special focus is put on the Multimodal"br" Information Services and Systems (MISS)."br" The HARMONY project is a CEF joint initiative by Indra and the Technical University of Madrid, created as a"br" direct continuation of other urban mobility European efforts. It focuses on the promotion of multimodality, while"br" improving efficiency in the use of the available network capacity. A pilot with the involvement of a public transport"br" operator INTER-BUS, road traffic authorities and service providers is already under way in the northeast part of"br" Madrid."br" The different use cases considered in the project are:"br" • Public Transport fleet management. Addresses the integration of static and real-time public transport"br" information, and the potential exchange of this information to third parties. This currently involves the"br" implementation of solutions based on GTFS, GTFS-RT and SIRI."br" • Urban Traffic monitoring. Addresses the integration and exchange of information on road incidents"br" between operators, and again the provision of this information to third parties. This involves the"br" implementation of solutions based on DATEX II."br" • Transit information provision. The key aspect here is the provision of real-time information to public"br" transport passengers and mobility users in general. Several solutions are being currently investigated."br" HARMONY is aligned in time and objectives with some of the aspects highlighted by the European Commission"br" in the field of urban mobility, and with the corresponding efforts in different ISO and CEN standardization groups."br" The added value of the project should be the progress in the identification of the particularities of each city and"br" their impact on the specification and deployment of urban mobility solutions.

Battery Cost for Hybrid Heavy Duty Vehicles

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:26:42 +0100

Powertrain electrification encompasses hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs), and pure electric vehicles (EVs). All vehicle types are being intensely investigated for cost-effective solutions for reducing emissions with a focus on Hybrid Heavy Duty Vehicles (HHDVs), mainly for purposes of fuel consumption reduction, which is of the utmost importance for the commercial vehicles business sector. This research examines the cost of automotive Li-ion batteries in comparison to that of the mainstream lead-acid type. It is shown that although there is an accumulation of a higher upfront vehicle cost, the cost of ownership is greatly reduced compared to that of lead acid batteries, with a cost of 0.045€/kWh/cycle and 0.051€/kWh/cycle, respectively, based on the cost of each battery type considering the total number of discharge cycles that can be endured within a lifetime. It is proven that the model for Li-ion batteries is superior, as the Lead-Acid battery must be replaced approximately 4 times more during the lifetime of a Li-ion battery. Additional data is included on the advantages of HHDVs compared to conventional diesel HDVs.

Safety assessment of unsignalized pedestrian crossings by means of advanced movement tracking – The OBSERVE project

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:21:02 +0100

Pedestrians are among the most vulnerable victims of road traffic accidents. Establishing an unsignalized"br" pedestrian crossing at intersections occasionally results in a high crash risk due to the fact that many vehicle"br" drivers do not heed the legitimate right of way of pedestrians, either deliberately or because of some kind of"br" distraction, speeding or deficiencies in the traffic environment. The primary objective of the OBSERVE project"br" was to develop a novel approach for evaluating crosswalks based on data from observed pedestrian-vehicle"br" driver interactions and local site conditions. Within the project, 85 unsignalized pedestrian crossings in the cities"br" of Graz and Vienna were investigated by means of video observation. The trajectories of different road user"br" categories were analysed to obtain information on driving and walking speeds, traffic behaviour, time gaps etc."br" That information was subsequently used to model driving behaviour. For the modelling process, data from 54"br" zebra crossings were used. A beta-regression model identified the parameters ‘pedestrian crossing type’ and"br" ‘pedestrian crossing width’ having the highest influence on the stopping probability.

Understanding and Measuring Sub-23 nm Particle Emissions from Direct Injection Engines

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:18:06 +0100

large fraction of the total number of particles emitted by direct injection engines are below the adopted 23 nm diameter threshold and although the EU aims to regulate these emissions, this is not yet possible due to the absence of accurate and reliable quantification methods, especially under real driving conditions. Four research organisations, three particle measurement instrumentation companies and one automotive OEM have joined forces in the framework of the EU-funded project SUREAL-23 to overcome such barriers by introducing novel technology for the measurement of sub-23 nm exhaust particle concentration, size and composition. The main objectives of SUREAL-23 are to (a) simplify and make more robust the exhaust aerosol sample treatment, (b) elucidate the effect of different diesel and gasoline engine operating conditions on sub-23 nm particle emissions and (c) advance particle measurement technology with the introduction of novel techniques. Herein, we present our latest efforts on instrumentation development and aerosol sampling.

Day-ahead trading of aggregated energy flexibility

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:16:30 +0100

Flexibility of small loads, in particular from Electric Vehicles (EVs), has recently attracted a lot of interest due to their possibility of participating in the energy market and the new commercial potentials. Different from existing work, the aggregation technique proposed in this paper produces flexible aggregated loads from EVs taking into account technical market requirements. The flexible aggregated loads can be further traded in the day-ahead market by a Balance Responsible Party (BRP) via the so-called flexible orders. As a result, the BRP can achieve more than 19% cost reduction in energy purchase based on the 2017 real electricity prices from Danish electricity market.

Peer Reviewed

TRAFFIC CONGESTION DETECTION WITH COMPLEX EVENT PROCESSING IN VANET

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:12:32 +0100

Magnitude of urban population and unplanned development of cities have led to road traffic congestion in major cities and added increasing pressure on overall road transport and road related infrastructure. Nowadays, intelligent transportation systems such as Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANET) are used for distributed road traffic. VANET is a wireless network that gathers complex and randomly generated data related to distributed traffic along with other information such as weather con ditions on real time basis. In this paper, the Author has attempted to implement a system on Event Driven Architecture (EDA) to detect complex but similar levels of traffic congestion which resembles real life traffic situation. The system is designed with the help of a technique called Complex Event Processing (CEP) that treats all messages in the network from corresponding vehicles as an event. The effectiveness of this system can be observed by using different performance metrics. https://journalnx.com/journal-article/20150533

Document type: Conference object

Optimized vision-directed deployment of UAVs for rapid traffic monitoring

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 01:01:38 +0100

The flexibility and cost efficiency of traffic monitoring using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has made such a proposition an attractive topic of research. To date, the main focus was placed on the types of sensors used to capture the data, and the alternative data processing options to achieve good monitoring performance. In this work we move a step further, and explore the deployment strategies that can be realized for rapid traffic monitoring over particular regions of the transportation network by considering a monitoring scheme that captures data from a visual sensor on-board the UAV, and subsequently analyzes it through a specific vision processing pipeline to extract network state information. These innovative deployment strategies can be used in real-time to assess traffic conditions, while for longer periods, to validate the underlying mobility models that characterise traffic patterns. © 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, in-cluding reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to serv-ers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. C. Kyrkou, S. Timotheou, P. Kolios, T. Theocharides and C. G. Panayiotou, "Optimized vision-directed deployment of UAVs for rapid traffic monitoring," 2018 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE), Las Vegas, NV, 2018, pp. 1-6. doi: 10.1109/ICCE.2018.8326145 https://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/rights_policies.html

Document type: Conference object

Assessing the resilience of land transport networks against extreme rainfall events

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:58:25 +0100

The major challenge of the European project RAINEX (full title: Risk-based approach for the protection of transport infrastructure against extreme rainfall) was to establish a “ready to use” methodology addressing security issues having an increasing impact on the resilience of transport networks, taking especially the climatic conditions and parameters of extreme weather events and resulting hazards into account. The final deliverable of the project is a user friendly Handbook on risk management of land transport infrastructure against extreme rainfall events. The RAINEX Handbook enables owners and operators to assess their existing infrastructure regarding protection goals with respect to criticality of the infrastructures, in order to ensure the availability of the entire network. The RAINEX approach can easily be applied using both free and open source tools like Open Street Map, as well as any common commercial product (e.g. GIS Software, etc.). The developed methodology was applied at two case studies in different European countries and after the demonstration further validated.

Impact of waiting times on pedestrians' and car drivers' behaviour at signalised intersections

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:57:45 +0100

French road sign regulation decrees that the waiting time at traffic lights must not exceed 120 seconds for car drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. Cities, which usually use traffic lights, have questioned this rule because they cannot comply with this requirement, especially on tramway crossings. The transport ministry has therefore opened discussions about modifying this rule and financed research work to assess the impact of waiting times on users' behaviour and safety. This paper presents the key facts and main results of this study."br" The behaviour of 44,000 drivers was observed in five cities. The rate of running red lights clearly depends on the length of waiting times. The 120 seconds maximum could be extended for drivers on tramway crossings."br" 8,000 pedestrians were also observed. Even if the waiting time is short, 64% of the pedestrians do not respect the red light. If it is long (between 90 and 300 seconds), it rises to 80%. An acceptability and credibility threshold exists and is less than 90 seconds. The research suggests waiting time limits should not be extended for pedestrians.

Public acceptance of SocialCar, a new mobility platform integrating public transport and car-pooling services: insights from a survey in five European cities

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:57:23 +0100

In this paper we present results of a technology acceptance and stated intention survey delivered in five European"br" sites to assess citizens’ attitudes and perceptions towards a new multi-modal mobility service named SocialCar,"br" developed under a EU H2020 research project and aimed at reducing individual car use. Such a service facilitates"br" a fruitful integration between public transport and car-pooling services, by means of a smartphone application and"br" advanced artificial intelligence algorithms. Citizens’ willingness to actively use the new App and to alter their"br" behavior as a result is therefore crucial for the success of the SocialCar concept and the creation of new collective"br" mobility practices. The survey provides insights on intention to use SocialCar and the related expected changes in"br" travel behavior for different groups in society. It also reveales differences between each site and highlights contextspecific"br" open challenges to address in order to favour future large-scale diffusion of the SocialCar mobility service."br" A real life test, to be conducted in Autumn 2017 and presented at the conference, will give us additional insight.

Towards improving earthworks production from an Industry 4.0 perspective: the role of remote information technologies and dynamic optimization techniques

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:56:08 +0100

This work conceptualizes an integrated real-time management and dynamic optimization system for earthwork fleets, based on recent technological developments with potential to track and improve productivity in transportation infrastructure construction processes, namely real-time monitoring and modern optimization technologies. The combination of monitoring and dynamic optimization technologies features the potential to tackle the elevated uncertainty and volatility inherent to the earthworks environment, not only by providing the necessary flexibility and adaptability to an optimization system, but also by integrating equipment, processes and design in a real-time decision support context. Ultimately, this combination can comprise a foundation for development towards the automated, interconnected cyber-physical systems of Industry 4.0.

Augmented Perception by V2X Communication for Safety of Autonomous and Non-Autonomous Vehicles

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:54:36 +0100

autonomous driving vehicles are to transform the road transportation, it cannot be realized without passing a transition period during which autonomous vehicles and non-autonomous vehicles have to cohabit. This transition period presents great challenges to the safety of the various road users, including vulnerable road users (VRUs), particularly at road sections such as intersections, roadworks areas, and bus stations that are often subject to accidents due to poor visibility conditions. In the paper, we introduce an augmented perception system, which has been developed in the French national project PAC V2X. By relying on V2X communication and sensors, equipped in autonomous vehicles and road side units (RSU), an augmented perception is provided in safety critical zones. A cooperative fusion module is proposed in the work and its impacts on autonomous vehicles have been evaluated using the computer simulator Pro-SiVIC. Our results show that by relying on precise positioning with the local sensors, an augmented perception system can overcome the limitation existing in current cooperative vehicle which are oftentimes due to degradation of the Global Positioning System (GPS). These results also highlight the potential benefit of using RSU in critical zones for extending the time horizon available for safety applications.

Compensatory driving behaviour of older drivers with Parkinson's disease. Is it sufficient to counterbalance their driving difficulties?

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:53:23 +0100

Drivers with Parkinson’s disease (PD) may have difficulties in their driving competence and these deficits may"br" lead to reduced driver performance and increased accident probability. The objective of the present paper is the"br" analysis of traffic and safety behaviour of drivers with PD and the identification of possible compensatory"br" strategies that these drivers follow, by applying a large driving simulator experiment. A thorough neurological and"br" neuropsychological assessment was carried out and then a driving simulator experiment was applied. 54 elderly"br" drivers of similar demographics went through the whole experimental procedure: 34 healthy controls and 20 PD"br" patients. The following driving performance measures were examined: mean speed, time headway, lateral position,"br" steering angle variability, reaction time, and accident probability, by Generalized Linear Models. Summarizing"br" patients with PD are aware of their driving difficulties and they try to develop - not in a successful way - a"br" compensatory driving behaviour and follow a more conservative driving pattern.

Socio-economic and cultural differences in attitudes towards speeding

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:47:26 +0100

The INTRAS project (INequalities in TRAffic Safety) is the first Belgian study to investigate the influence of socio-economic and cultural factors in traffic accident involvement and its underlying behavior. Within this project, a full TpB-survey (Theory of Planned Behavior - Ajzen, 1991) focusing on the interplay between socio-economic, cultural factors and speeding was done using CAPI and the random-walk-method. The target -defined ethnic groups. The field work took place between September and December 2015. In total, 1,754 respondents took part (i.e., 250 per ethnic group). Results show a positive correlation (Spearman rho=.095) between educational level and self-reported respect of the speed limits. Respondents with a higher educational level report more often that they respect the speed limits. However, results of the binary logistic regression did not show any significant effects of the ethnic background of respondents on their self-declared respect of the speed limits.

Assessing the impact of automated driving: needs, challenges and future directions

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:47:04 +0100

utomated driving in all its different forms is now underway and large European projects have been launched to investigate the effects in real life. Field Operational Tests are typically used to gather evidence to assess the impacts. The FESTA methodology was developed to design and conduct FOTs and analyse the outcomes. Currently the methodology is being updated to address the challenges of the upcoming pilots on road automation. The ultimate goal of performing automated driving studies is to gain insight into the impacts automation will have on transport and on society in general. In this paper we will explain how the series of FOT-Net (2008-2016) and the CARTRE (2016-2018) coordination and support actions address the development of a common methodology. Questions around the formulation of research questions, data analysis, user acceptance and impact assessment are addressed. One of the most important ways forward is the sharing of data, knowledge and experiences. Only by combining the knowledge sources will we be able to get a clearer picture of what the future impacts of road automation will be. FOT-Net has developed a data sharing framework and recommendations from this framework will be described.

Management tools to study and to deal with effects of climate change on inland waterways

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:43:29 +0100

Inland navigation transport takes part in the Trans-European network program (TEN-T ), which aims at promoting this mode of transport by creating favorable conditions for the further development of this sector. The NAIADES Action Program comprises numerous actions and measures to boost transport on inland waterways. Among these actions, the infrastructure issue is dealt with. It requires the inventory of the existing infrastructure and the study of the possible effects of the expected climate change. This was one of the objectives of the GEPET-Eau project (2013-2016), which led to the proposal of multi-scale modeling approaches and adaptive and predictive control architectures. The resilience of inland waterways against the increase of navigation demand and the expected extreme drought and flood events was studied by considering deterministic models. The proposed architecture is suitable to consider two scales of space and time to optimize the water resource allocation among the inland networks and to guarantee the navigation conditions by proposing advanced control and fault detection tools. These approaches, which were designed by considering inland waterways in the north of France, are still being improved. Indeed, it is firstly necessary to consider all the uncertainties that are inherent to large-scale and environmental systems. Secondly, the advanced control and fault detection tools require further development to deal with the very complex dynamics that characterize inland waterways. The main objective of this work is to present the current state of the tools that have been developed in order to study and manage the inland waterways in a climate change context. The global framework that allows describing the link between these two management scales will be detailed. The water resource allocation approach can be based on three different techniques: the Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP), the quadratic optimization and the Markov Decision Process (MDP). The MDP-based approach will be emphasized due to its suitability to study complex systems with uncertainties, and its main advantages and drawbacks will be discussed and compared to the other techniques. Advanced control and fault detection tools require an in-depth knowledge of the inland waterway dynamics. Characteristics of navigation reaches, i.e. slope, resonance phenomenon, uncontrolled inputs and interconnections, need to be taken into account. A big effort has been made to improve the modeling step of the navigation reaches by considering the IDZ (Integrator Delay Zero) model. The designed tools are based on this accurate model, and they aim at improving the water level control of each reach of the inland waterways and at performing predictive maintenance strategies by detecting, isolating and forecasting faults on sensors and actuators (limnimeters, gates, locks, etc.). The designed management tools will be presented by considering a part of the real inland navigation network in the north of France. Perspectives and future developments will be described.

Peer Reviewed

Document type: Article

Future Freight Locomotives in Shift2Rail – Development of Full Electric Last Mile Propulsion System

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:43:02 +0100

Present mainline electric locomotives with last mile (LM) feature propulsion system usually rely on small diesel engines with ca. 200-300kW power output. Full electric last mile propulsion systems, based on Li-Ion batteries, with up to 500kWh energy and power in the range of 1 MW, will bring the innovation to a next level. Operators will be able to run trains on short non-electrified lines and restricted areas, with zero exhaust gas and low noise emissions. Furthermore, recuperation of braking energy will lead to increased system efficiency."br" This paper addresses the challenges of the integration of such batteries by focusing on system design and homologation. It also highlights the advantages of full electric propulsion over systems relying on diesel engines and provides simulation results of load profiles of various trains, introducing advanced mission management concepts and charging schemes.

Methodology to Obtain Long Term Needs of Different Actors in the Railway Sector

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:41:31 +0100

This article tries shows the methodology used in the framework of the project NEAR2050 (Long term needs of different actors in the railway sector), a Shift2Rail-funded project, which aims to determine the long-term needs of different actors in the railway sector. In order to achieve this, and based on the Shift to Rail project brief, looks at several main topics. These include:"br" A determination of the long-term changes in future needs. The existing systems currently in use in the rail sector will be classified and based on the future trends and requirements of customers. This will look at the customer and stakeholder behavior before, during and after a journey or working routine."br" The NEAR2050 project tries to determine and analyses mega-trends and scenarios for 2022, 2030 and 2050.This is to assess how the “landscape of mobility” will change for the mentioned years and result in recommendations for the Shift2Rail master plan."br" Three partners from Austria, Germany and Spain are analyzing the current and the future situation of the European Rail sector."br" Based on citizen participation techniques, trend and megatrends studies the main objective is to asses a future railway transport policy recommendations in terms of customer and railways sector demands."br" All this work will serve to enhance the railways sector in Europe in the future. What is going to happen with the future of railways sector in Europe? What we all have to do to improve this important mean of transport in terms not only for passengers but freights?. NEAR2050 project thank to Shift to Rail support is analyzing the current and future EU rail S¡sector situation to answer all these questions.

An Efficient Data-aided Synchronization in L-DACS1 for Aeronautical Communications

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:40:41 +0100

L-band Digital Aeronautical Communication System type-1 (L-DACS1) is an emerging standard that aims at enhancing air traffic management (ATM) by transitioning the traditional analog aeronautical communication systems to the superior and highly efficient digital domain. L-DACS1 employs modern and efficient orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation technique to achieve more efficient and higher data rate in comparison to the existing aeronautical communication systems. However, the performance of OFDM systems is very sensitive to synchronization errors. L-DACS1 transmission is in the L-band aeronautical channels that suffer from large interference and large Doppler shifts, which makes the synchronization for L-DACS more challenging. This paper proposes a novel computationally efficient synchronization method for L-DACS1 systems that offers robust performance. Through simulation, the proposed method is shown to provide accurate symbol timing offset (STO) estimation as well as fractional carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation in a range of aeronautical channels. In particular, it can yield excellent synchronization performance in the face of a large carrier frequency offset.

Comment: In the proceeding of International Conference on Data Mining, Communications and Information Technology (DMCIT)

Improvement of rail accessibility especially for eastern European countries

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:40:22 +0100

Regarding to EU regulations today’s public transportation systems must be accessible for everyone without any"br" restrictions. The relevant question is: How can trains be accessible for everyone? The huge variety of different"br" vehicles and different platforms does not allow level boarding everywhere, only in so called "closed" systems."br" The paper gives an overview about the requirements for new boarding assistance systems and about the decision"br" making process referring to a new developed lift system for UIC-coaches. This lift system is developed in the"br" EU-founded project PubTrans4All.

Social exclusion through mass transit systems: a comprehensive assessment of São Luís’ buses-network

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:40:00 +0100

This paper summarizes Mass Transit Systems (MTS) networks datasets, highlighting the lack of contribution on promoting access to opportunities and city-assets for the most vulnerable segments of the population. As case study São Luís, the city-capital of Maranhão holding the lowest average income in Brazil. Although social inequity issues seem ubiquitous in numerous Brazilian cities, this study reveals evidence of complications on social and spatial segregation being supported by a not reliable MTS service. It also produces an expensive and inefficient system, opening room for informal transports. Lack of subsidies constrains the system to provide a limited service to ‘On-Peak’ hours destinations, rising time-dependent users, and inhibiting the right to the city. A framework developed on system’s behavior analyze both ‘On-Peak’/‘Off-Peak’ periods identified deficiencies hidden behind MTS network’s capillarity, resulting in evidence of social exclusion and spatial injustice promoted by long headways, which does not ease access equally the city.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth based sensors for pedestrian detection in urban areas

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:32:28 +0100

n improvement of pedestrian infrastructure, as well as a higher amount of people walking in inner city areas are desirable. Pedestrian volumes can encourage urban planners and policymakers to argue for an enhancement of walkability. The growing number of mobile devices, equipped with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi interfaces, creates new possibilities in pedestrian data collection in indoor and outdoor situations. An automatic, cost effective pedestrian counting device, operating with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data to acquire pedestrian information, is highly welcomed. Preliminary tests indicated that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals could indeed be utilized for the detection of pedestrians in urban areas. This paper describes the development and testing of a sensor, used for detecting pedestrians via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals in urban areas. Implemented controlled and open field tests indicated the practical usability of such a device for the collection of pedestrian data.

Assessing the Impact of Extreme Temperatures on Fuel and Energy Efficiency of a Range Extended Electric Vehicle

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:31:21 +0100

The European Union and the United States of America are fostering electrification of road transport as a means for achieving ambitious policy targets set to tackle air pollution and climate change. In 2011, the US DoE Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) established a collaborative work programme for pre-normative research on interoperability of smart grids and electric vehicles, as well as fuel/energy efficiency of hybrid- and full-electric vehicles. The present paper reports about a joint experimental campaign on a plug-in range extended vehicle (REEV) carried out at ANL’s Advanced Powertrain Research Facility (APRF) and at JRC’s Vehicle Electric Laboratory (VeLA 8). The vehicle was tested on the two roller benches against EU and US legislative cycles, at representative ambient temperatures varying between -30°C and 50°C, in order to investigate the impact of extreme ambient conditions on fuel and energy efficiency.

Development of zinc-air flow batteries by investigating compact zinc deposition and improving air electrode cycling stability

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:30:30 +0100

The growing number of electric vehicles worldwide demands increasing electricity generation from renewable sources such as wind and solar in order to render these vehicles CO2 neutral. However, these systems are very intermittent and need to be coupled with high capacity and fast responding energy storage systems. Zinc-air flow batteries are designed for this stationary application, using the inexpensive, safe and abundant metal zinc as active storing material. In the project Luziflow all battery components are investigated and improved regarding the efficiency during cycling and the long-term stability during operation. On the negative zinc electrode, new insights have been gained on dendrite-free zinc deposition during charging and with flowing electrolyte. On the positive air electrode stable bifunctional electrode designs with high catalytic activity have been applied in long-term operation. The final aim of the project Luziflow will be the scale-up to 100 cm² and full cell operation.

The use of rejuvenators as an effective way to restore aged binder properties

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:29:41 +0100

The amount of Reclaimed Asphalt recycling using rejuvenating agents has increased recently due to environmental and economic constraints. Rejuvenating agents are now regularly used to restore the aged binder properties similarly to those of a virgin binder. The current European specifications for asphalt paving bitumen use only empirical testing. Such procedure is appearing not sufficient to address the effect of rejuvenating agents. More advanced rheological analysis using DSR and BBR equipment appears promising. Parameters such as viscous to elastic transition (VET) from DSR or the difference between the creep stiffness and m-value critical temperature (ΔTCR) from BBR provide apparent indication of a binder’s flexibility and ability to relax stresses in cases of rejuvenation. This paper investigates the effect of three various rejuvenators on aged binder behaviour and shows that the rejuvenation process has a large impact on the material properties. Particularly rheological measurements demonstrated that as the aging process progresses the variance in rejuvenated binder behaviour increases especially in terms of performance at intermediate (VET) and low temperatures (ΔTCR).

Data standards for system interoperability and people mobility

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:28:47 +0100

“Mobility", "interoperability", and "inter-modality" are concepts expressing both objectives of services and characteristics of systems. How interoperable and intermodal systems influence personal mobility is intuitive and often discussed. In public transport, interoperability between fare systems, for instance, is an important step towards “seamless travel” by allowing users to access public transport in different areas with one single medium (“ticket”), while interoperability between trip planning systems allows for user-friendly passenger information and thus provides a necessary condition to ease the mobility of people. Truly interoperable systems follow a holistic approach in respect of transport, and provide the combination of different modes/means of transport within the same journey. CEN Technical Committee 278 WG3 developed a particularly useful standard for data structures (Transmodel) which acts as a reference for other standards, and hence facilitates the definition of the necessary requirements to make EU-wide multimodal travel information services accurate and available to all.

Mapless Online Detection of Dynamic Objects in 3D Lidar

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:28:25 +0100

This paper presents a model-free, setting-independent method for online detection of dynamic objects in 3D lidar data. We explicitly compensate for the moving-while-scanning operation (motion distortion) of present-day 3D spinning lidar sensors. Our detection method uses a motion-compensated freespace querying algorithm and classifies between dynamic (currently moving) and static (currently stationary) labels at the point level. For a quantitative analysis, we establish a benchmark with motion-distorted lidar data using CARLA, an open-source simulator for autonomous driving research. We also provide a qualitative analysis with real data using a Velodyne HDL-64E in driving scenarios. Compared to existing 3D lidar methods that are model-free, our method is unique because of its setting independence and compensation for pointcloud motion distortion.

Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Comparison of microscopic and macroscopic approaches to simulating the effects of infrastructure disruptions on railway networks

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:28:05 +0100

The current state-of-the-art in timetable analysis in the presence of disruptions is to use railway microsimulation, which typically yields detailed results on infrastructure or timetable performance. However, micro-simulation is time-consuming and requires a detailed infrastructure model. This paper outlines a macroscopic approach which aims at reducing execution time by restricting the level of detail to high-level relations between significant events. In particular, the effect of disruptions is modelled by sampling delay times from probability distributions obtained from historical data. In this paper, we test whether this approach, given common disruption scenarios, still allows accurate results on delays to be obtained. Two disruption scenarios were simulated in RailSys and with the new method, using limited parameter tuning. In the results, visually similar delay distributions were observed. Although there is some room for improvements in accuracy, the new approach appears promising, and we found no evidence against its suitability in the presence of disruptions.

First bridge with aspects of the "Smart Bridge" released for traffic

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:22:41 +0100

The current German maintenance management system for bridges is mainly based on visual inspection and aims"br" at the repair of identified damages. In the project cluster “Smart Bridge” an adaptive system for information and"br" holistic evaluation in real time is developed. The adaptive system consists of suitable sensors, a sensor network,"br" analytical structural models and evaluation methods. A newly constructed prestressed concrete bridge positioned"br" in the highway interchange Nuremberg is the first bridge in Germany consisting of aspects of the Smart Bridge,"br" which is released for traffic. The impact of traffic loads and climatic effects are identified. Reactions of the"br" bridge structure and relevant bridge components are detected locally with regard to their functionality. By using"br" analytical bridge models and evaluation methods the condition and the reliability of the overall bridge"br" construction and its components as well as the remaining service life will be determined in the future.

Comparing On-board Vibration and Sound Measurements of Trams with Their Respective Pass-by-levels

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:20:06 +0100

In a first step towards mapping the sound and vibration immission produced by trams in Vienna, a trial was"br" conducted in 2016 which saw a tram in the city’s public transport network being equipped with an on-board"br" microphone near its unpowered bogie. The tram was previously equipped with four accelerometers on the wheel"br" bearings of the same bogie, one accelerometer on the bogie itself and another one on the chassis. On-board data is"br" collected with a sampling rate of 8192 Hz per accelerometer and 48 kHz for the microphone when the tram is in"br" motion. As the instrumented car covers all of Vienna’s tram network at regular intervals, the aim of the study was"br" to examine the correlation between the on-board records (emission) and the pass-by levels (immission) when the"br" tram travels at different velocities. The initial setup examined the correlation along a straight section of grooved"br" rail (gauge 1435 mm), while ongoing work aims to examine the correlation in curves and at junctions when driving"br" over switches.

Gathered riding dynamics data for semi-automated risk assessment of roads

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:17:34 +0100

The scope of the project viaMotorrad, funded by the VSF Austrian Road Safety Fund and by the Austrian"br" government, aims for a semi-automated risk assessment of roads, performed by a newly developed probe vehicle."br" In a joint effort, two Austrian academic institutions, leading in motorcycle dynamics and single-track vehicle"br" research, have developed and instrumented a highly developed motorcycle for testing and measurement tasks"br" related to traffic accident research and analysis. This motorcycle probe vehicle (MoProVe) is based on a high-end"br" street bike, which represents the state-of-the-art in recent motorcycle technology. The vehicle was instrumented"br" with two independent high-performance measurement systems. Covering different areas of measurements, these"br" two systems complement each other, but serve as backup systems and verification tools as well. MoProVe is one"br" of a kind and suitable for an extensive number of studies and investigations in traffic accident research and analysis.

MISTIQUE: A System to Store and Query Model Intermediates for Model Diagnosis

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:16:50 +0100

Model diagnosis is the process of analyzing machine learning (ML) model performance to identify where the model works well and where it doesn’t. It is a key part of the modeling process and helps ML developers iteratively improve model accuracy. Often, model diagnosis is performed by analyzing different datasets or inter- mediates associated with the model such as the input data and hidden representations learned by the model (e.g., [ 4 , 24 , 39 ]). The bottleneck in fast model diagnosis is the creation and storage of model intermediates. Storing these intermediates requires tens to hundreds of GB of storage whereas re-running the model for each diagnostic query slows down model diagnosis. To address this bottleneck, we propose a system called MISTIQUE that can work with traditional ML pipelines as well as deep neural networks to efficiently capture, store, and query model intermediates for diag- nosis. For each diagnostic query, MISTIQUE intelligently chooses whether to re-run the model or read a previously stored intermediate. For intermediates that are stored in MISTIQUE , we propose a range of optimizations to reduce storage footprint including quantization, summarization, and data deduplication. We evaluate our techniques on a range of real-world ML models in scikit-learn and Tensorflow. We demonstrate that our optimizations reduce storage by up to 110X for traditional ML pipelines and up to 6X for deep neural networks. Furthermore, by using MISTIQUE , we can speed up diagnostic queries on traditional ML pipelines by up to 390X and 210X on deep neural networks.

Facebook PhD Fellowship

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. University Centers for Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM) fellowshi

Document type: Conference object

Smart Data for a Pro-active Railway Asset Management

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:10:49 +0100

Rail infrastructure managers must work with increasing sustainably and efficiency as they are faced with increasing cost pressure. Against this background track engineers face a growing difficulty in legitimizing essential measures owing to strict budget restrictions. This situation requires an objective tool enabling a proper condition monitoring as well as component-specific, preventive maintenance planning."br" The present research deals with such an evaluation of railway track condition using innovative track data analyses. Applying functional knowledge - both IT and railway skills – allows for extracting smart data out of big data for railway asset management. Due to a bottom-up approach this methodology enables both the establishing of net-wide maintenance and renewal demands and an in-depth assessment of specific track sections. The planning of specific renewal and maintenance measures for track sections and also strategic asset management will thus both be possible on a net-wide scale.

Will Smart Cars Drive on Smart Roads? About Sensor Systems in Asphalt Concrete

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:09:08 +0100

Developments in smart and automated driving raise questions about the future requirements of infrastructure. It"br" is highly likely that advances in transport will require close to real-time information on the condition of roads."br" The recent, speedy development of sensors may lead to the development of Smart Roads and in so doing,"br" provide the necessary real-time data. It is within this context that passive RFID sensors were tested in a series of"br" experiments to ascertain their suitability to measure asphalt concrete mix temperature during construction and"br" afterwards during the life of the pavement."br" Laboratory tests focused on the proper placement of the sensor in the asphalt concrete layer and"br" studying the latter’s influence on the sensor. Field experiments focused on the suitability to measure temperature,"br" traceability, robustness, and accuracy of the technology. The results show that reliable temperature measuring"br" with passive RFID tags is possible. The sensors are robust, portable, accurate and can be integrated into existing"br" measuring regimes such as determining asphalt concrete cooling rates during construction. While the cost of"br" passive RFID sensors is relatively low, the major disadvantage is that they cannot be read automatically, which"br" is crucial if the information is to be used to follow temperature developments over time or even provide asphalt"br" concrete temperature information to vehicles in order to warn for extreme road conditions. Ongoing experiments"br" with fiber optic sensors indicate that there may be other ways to measure temperature and possibly combine this"br" with performance indicators such as strain.

A flexible automotive systems architecture for next generation ADAS

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:04:49 +0100

The evolution of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADASs) increasingly paves the way towards autonomous driving. The increase in sensor data to be processed as well as the complexity of processing algorithms demands more powerful processing platforms. Additionally, aspects like functional safety and platform security have to be taken into account. Algorithms should be re-usable to facilitate rapid development. Current solutions are very much focused on single sub-systems and incompatible with next generation processing platforms available for ADASs. In this paper we therefore propose a novel architecture for future ADAS development, taking into account the aforementioned aspects. We also outline tools to aid developers in dealing with the real-time and functional safety aspects of ADASs. The utilization of the presented architecture in the EU-funded project ADAS&ME is also described.

Innovating leak detection on conducting fluid pipelines

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:02:13 +0100

International audience; CEA (French Commission for Atomic and Alternative Energies) has launched a R&D program focused on leak detection of sodium on industrial ducts aiming at detecting and pinpointing the exact location of fluid leakage along pipelines or on tanks quickly. This R&D program is focused on the development of innovating detectors, Multilayer-type and Optical Fiber Distributed Sensors, involving tests on mock-ups in a dedicated sodium loop settled at CEA-CADARACHE, France. This loop named FUTUNa, is designed to produce very accurate sodium leak rates within a range around 1 cm$^3$/min, the tests being performed at various temperatures (from 180°C up to 550°C) on large-diameter pipe mock-ups (DN 800) under ambient or nitrogen environment.This paper presents the advantages of each innovating detector and series of tests carried out with various materials of the Multilayer-type Detector and different routings of the Optical Fiber Sensor. The relevant results are compared and discussed aswell as the observations made after removing the mock-ups. The most interesting result of the overall tests is a rapid detectiontime for the two types of detectors less than the other conventional wire type leak detection system

Overview of people localization systems for safe evacuation of large passenger ships

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:01:49 +0100

Maritime disasters in recent years are a stark reminder of the imperative need for timely and effective evacuation of large passenger ships during emergency. Tragedies at sea, notably the 2014 South Korean ferry Sewol and the 2012 Costa Concordia incidents, have magnified the urgent need for improvements in the mustering, evacuation, and abandoning procedures, and have led to a series of new global safety initiatives and measures. Driven by this need, several technologies and systems for people localization have been considered, studied and demonstrated over the past decade, which would enable tracking of passengers and crew either on-board, in case of an emergency in order to improve mustering, evacuation, and abandoning procedures, or overboard, after ship abandoning. In this work, we present an overview of these initiatives, evaluating various aspects of such systems, their advantages and disadvantages. Key factors that are considered in our study have been retrieved after extensive analysis of end-user data, acquired over the past three years in the framework of the Lynceus2Market EU funded project (H2020), which has brought together European global players in the field aiming at implementing the first market replication of these technologies and products.

Different Designs of Floor Markings: A Successful Low Cost Measure Against Motorcycle Crashes in Rural Left Hand Curves

Scipedia content — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:01:04 +0100

Previous research found that less than five percent of motorcycle riders chose their trajectories in left-hand curves far enough to the right. Floor markings have a reputation of being slippery. Although they are not, riders avoid riding over them. The intervention, which was evaluated within this research, makes use of this stereotype. A set of nine curves was selected in three different regions of Austria, based on an accident analysis. After sound investigation, two types of floor markings were selected, the so-called “psycho-brake” and specific oval markings, both in order to keep riders away from the centre line. By automatic image processing, trajectories and driving speeds were determined before and after the intervention within more than 14,000 single observations. Both types of floor markings achieved significant changes of the riders’ trajectories. Riding speed hardly changed. A complementary survey collected rider’s impressions and opinions. The results suggest application of floor markings on areas riders should not drive over as a cheap and effective measure to improve road safety.

Concepts and Algorithms for Terminal-Area Traffic Management

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:59:06 +0100

The nation's air-traffic-control system is the subject of an extensive modernization program, including the planned introduction of advanced automation techniques. This paper gives an overview of a concept for automating terminal-area traffic management. Four-dimensional (4D) guidance techniques, which play an essential role in the automated system, are reviewed. One technique, intended for on-board computer implementation, is based on application of optimal control theory. The second technique is a simplified approach to 4D guidance intended for ground computer implementation. It generates advisory messages to help the controller maintain scheduled landing times of aircraft not equipped with on-board 4D guidance systems. An operational system for the second technique, recently evaluated in a simulation, is also described.

Electromagnetic modelling strategies for virtual testing of electrical powertrains

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:56:14 +0100

Electrification of vehicle powertrains is a common response to societal and legislative pressures to de-carbonize transportation. Hybrid and electric cars are among the best known examples, but similar trends are also found in the marine and aerospace sectors. Electrical powertrain components are routinely optimized to meet a wide range of performance targets (electro-chemical, mechanical, thermal etc.), but there are also electromagnetic aspects to be addressed. This paper outlines strategies that have been developed for electromagnetic modelling of both electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues and human exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) associated with electrical powertrains. For EMC investigations, more practicable measurement of individual cells has been used to develop efficient hybrid 3D/circuit models for assemblies of large numbers of such cells used to form traction batteries. For EMF assessments, knowledge of the 3D geometry and the frequency content of traction current waveforms can be used to estimate the spatial distributions of low frequency magnetic fields and exposure metrics.

Effect of pavement roughness and vehicle dynamic loads on decrease of fatigue life of flexible pavements

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:55:56 +0100

Due to the fact that pavement surfaces are not ideally even, dynamic loads of vehicle axles deviate from static loads. Higher dynamic loads contribute to faster pavement distress. The distribution of dynamic loads is similar to normal distribution and can be described by static load and factors DI (dynamic impact) and DLC (dynamic load coefficient). With the deterioration of pavement condition its evenness decreases as well and the roughness index IRI increases. The maximum dynamic loads increase and their detrimental effect on pavement structure increases. The main objective of the paper is to assess how dynamic loads caused by pavement roughness affect pavement distress. In the article a new measure – the coefficient of pavement dynamic susceptibility DSC has been introduced. The coefficient DSC expresses the absolute increase in equivalent axle load factor caused by dynamic load effects. It was shown that with the increase in roughness from IRI = 1.0 mm/m (which is the value measured for new properly constructed pavements) to IRI = 2.0 mm/m, the coefficient DSC increases by up to 8%. Further deterioration of roughness to IRI = 4.0 mm/m causes increase of DSC by up to 32%. In consequence of increase of coefficient DSC the fatigue life of pavement structure decreases by 5.5% for IRI = 2mm/m and by 23% for IRI = 4 mm/m. It means that low initial roughness of pavement structure gained by high quality of road construction and proper maintenance of pavement during service will reduce pavement distress and increase its service life.

Integration of vehicle sharing systems into an intermodal journey planner

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:54:41 +0100

Intermodal journey planners provide a comprehensive view and detailed routing information for different modes of transport. In addition these services often allows a combination of different transport modes to multimodal trip chains, with reasonable interchange points like park and ride facilities to change from car to public transport. Vehicle sharing systems, that become more popular in recent years, present another possibility for such trip chains and have the potential to improve the first mile/last mile connection to other transport modes. This paper deals with different integration scenarios of vehicle sharing content into intermodal journey planners and route calculations, based on the development steps at the Traffic Information Austria (VAO). Furthermore an outline of improvement potential for the calculation of sharing routes with respect to vehicle availability prediction is presented.

European Competitiveness in Commercial Hybrid and Automotive Powertrains (ECOCHAMPS): Effective Passenger Car Hybridization via a 48V DCT

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:53:46 +0100

The ECOCHAMPS project has addressed the topic GV-04-2014 Hybrid Light and Heavy Duty Vehicles of the"br" Green Vehicles work program under Horizon 2020. This project realized, in a single, coordinated action, all the"br" aspects of this call through the activities of a twenty-five member consortium representing of the European"br" Automotive Industry. The overall objectives of the ECCHAMPS project are to achieve efficient, compact, low"br" weight, robust and cost effective hybrid powertrains for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, with"br" increased functionality, improved performance, comfort, safety and emissions levels below Euro 6 or VI. In"br" particular, to achieve 20% powertrain efficiency improvements and weight plus volume reductions with respect to"br" the best in class vehicles on the market at the time of proposal (2013), whilst having a maximum of a 10% cost"br" premium. At the time of the TRA in Vienna, the ECOCHAMPS project will just have been completed after three"br" years of activity."br" In Work Package 4 of the ECOCHAMPS project a 48V hybrid passenger car demonstrator is being developed. In"br" this vehicle, the powertrain is fitted with an electrical machine directly coupled to a double clutch transmission"br" (DCT). As such, the powertrain configuration gives the possibility to achieve hybrid vehicle functionality, e.g."br" regenerative braking, acceleration assistance and limited EV operations, whilst not detracting from the vehicle"br" packaging and being a lower cost solution appropriate for rapid market uptake. Initially the powertrain has been"br" developed with a state of the art electrical machine, rated at up to 15kW when running at 48V. However, an"br" advanced electrical machine and power electronics have been developed, which demonstrate up to a 25 kW rating"br" within the same practical package."br" Results from the overall development and testing of the demonstrator vehicle and advanced electrical system will"br" be presented in this paper. It will be seen that such a hybrid powertrain configuration offers an appropriate step for"br" cost effective improved vehicle efficiency when compared to vehicles currently available. As a consequential"br" impact of the ECOCHAMPS project, the uptake of hybrid vehicle technology in the European passenger car market"br" is expected to be increased.

Impact of heavy goods vehicles with different payload on crashworthiness of safety barriers

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:53:30 +0100

In TRANSFORMERS, a recent co-funded EC project, different configurable and adaptable trucks and trailers were developed for optimal transport efficiency. These new vehicle configurations might have an influence on infrastructure and need to be analyzed with regards to their impact on road equipment. For traffic safety reasons the mechanical impact on different types of safety barriers have been assessed by using numerical simulations (instead of expensive crash tests). Finite-Element models of H4b safety barriers were developed. Investigations showed that the selected safety barriers are just able to contain common heavy goods vehicles with different distributions of payload. But high centers of gravity of the payload have been identified as a critical issue with regard to the risk of rollover in crashes with safety barriers. If the trend in heavier optimally laden vehicles continues, additional requirements for payload positions are highly recommended in a further amendment of Directive 2015/719/EC. Alternatively or in addition a potential amendment of EN 1317 might improve the crashworthiness of safety barriers by introducing other vehicle configurations and/or other containment levels.

Simulation Assisted Safety Impact Analyses for Signalized Urban Intersections

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:52:36 +0100

This study primarily investigates the combination of a microscopic traffic flow simulation and a crash prediction model to develop effective surrogate safety assessment measures at signalized urban intersections. This approach enables the early identification of safety risks in traffic flow and can be utilized for risk assessment of different traffic sites as part of road safety audits by identifying the probability of several accident types. Nevertheless, resulting individual vehicle accidents can only be investigated in detail in nanoscopic accident and vehicle crash simulations that allow the consideration of detailed vehicle dynamics and therefore estimations of collision severity. Hence, the second objective of this study is to combine the existing simulation methods to provide a tool able to analyze critical traffic situations. Furthermore, the tool is also capable to evaluate the pre-crash phase and to assess the effectivity of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems such as Autonomous Emergency Braking.

Review on the research methods of the barrier and explosion-proof properties of porous materials

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:51:20 +0100

Barrier and explosion proof material can quickly transfer heat and block flame propagation, consequently prevent explosion accident. It is the essential safety technology to solve the problem of explosion or “secondary explosion” during the storage and transportation of flammable and explosive dangerous chemicals in liquid or gaseous state. Since the 1960s, the research at home and abroad on the barrier and explosion proof technology has been carried out mainly for the storage and transportation safety of fuel oil. It has been widely used in automobile fuel tank, fuel carrier, gas station, oil pipeline and aircraft fuel tank. In this paper, the research methods of barrier and explosion protection are reviewed, and the development of this technology in the future is prospected.Barrier and explosion proof material can quickly transfer heat and block flame propagation, consequently prevent explosion accident. It is the essential safety technology to solve the problem of explosion or “secondary explosion” during the storage and transportation of flammable and explosive dangerous chemicals in liquid or gaseous state. Since the 1960s, the research at home and abroad on the barrier and explosion proof technology has been carried out mainly for the storage and transportation safety of fuel oil. It has been widely used in automobile fuel tank, fuel carrier, gas station, oil pipeline and aircraft fuel tank. In this paper, the research methods of barrier and explosion protection are reviewed, and the development of this technology in the future is prospected.

Driving Maneuvers Prediction Based on Cognition-driven and Data-driven Method

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:48:21 +0100

dvanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) improve driving safety significantly. They alert drivers from unsafe traffic conditions when a dangerous maneuver appears. Traditional methods to predict driving maneuvers are mostly based on data-driven models alone. However, existing methods to understand the driver's intention remain an ongoing challenge due to a lack of intersection of human cognition and data analysis. To overcome this challenge, we propose a novel method that combines both the cognition-driven model and the data-driven model. We introduce a model named Cognitive Fusion-RNN (CF-RNN) which fuses the data inside the vehicle and the data outside the vehicle in a cognitive way. The CF-RNN model consists of two Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) branches regulated by human reaction time. Experiments on the Brain4Cars benchmark dataset demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms previous methods and achieves state-of-the-art performance.

On-Demand TDMA for Energy Efficient Data Collection with LoRa and Wake-up Receiver

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:43:58 +0100

Low-power and long-range communication tech- nologies such as LoRa are becoming popular in IoT applications due to their ability to cover kilometers range with milliwatt of power consumption. One of the major drawbacks of LoRa is the data latency and the traffic congestion when the number of devices in the network increases. Especially, the latency arises due to the extreme duty cycling of LoRa end-nodes for reducing the overall energy consumption. To overcome this drawback, we propose a heterogeneous network architecture and an energy-efficient On-demand TDMA communication scheme improving both the device lifetime and the data latency of standard LoRa networks. We combine the capabilities of micro- watt wake-up receivers to achieve ultra-low power states and pure asynchronous communication together with the long-range connectivity of LoRa. Experimental results show a data reliability of 100% and a round-trip latency on the order of milliseconds with end devices dissipating less than 46 mJ when active and 1.83 {\\mu}W during periods of inactivity, lasting up to 3 years on a 1200 mAh Lithium battery.

Comment: Accepted at WiMob 2018

Active Power Conditioner Based on a Voltage Source Converter for Harmonics and Negative Sequence Components Compensation in Electrified Railway Systems

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:41:11 +0100

The electrification of railway systems has always presented major challenges to the public electrical power systems. Electric locomotives are usually supplied by a single phase AC catenary, causing unbalance and the appearance of negative sequence components (NSCs) in the three phase electrical power grids. In addition, the traction power system of the electric locomotive is usually comprised by uncontrolled rectifiers to convert AC voltage to DC voltage, which produces high levels of current harmonics. Consequently, the operation of electric locomotives causes serious power quality problems to the public electrical power systems. This paper evaluates the use of Shunt Active Power Conditioners (SAPCs) to compensate power quality problems in single phase 25 kV, 50 Hz railway traction substations, when using the conventional V/V or the Scott traction power transformer between the catenary and the public electrical power systems. This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145–FEDER–007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. This work is financed by the H2020 EU project 777515 - IN2STEMPO. Mohamed Tanta was supported by FCT PhD grant with the reference PD/BD/127815/2016. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Enrichment of OpenStreetMap Data Completeness with Sidewalk Geometries Using Data Mining Techniques

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:40:52 +0100

Tailored routing and navigation services utilized by wheelchair users require certain information about sidewalk geometries and their attributes to execute efficiently. Except some minor regions/cities, such detailed information is not present in current versions of crowdsourced mapping databases including OpenStreetMap. CAP4Access European project aimed to use (and enrich) OpenStreetMap for making it fit to the purpose of wheelchair routing. In this respect, this study presents a modified methodology based on data mining techniques for constructing sidewalk geometries using multiple GPS traces collected by wheelchair users during an urban travel experiment. The derived sidewalk geometries can be used to enrich OpenStreetMap to support wheelchair routing. The proposed method was applied to a case study in Heidelberg, Germany. The constructed sidewalk geometries were compared to an official reference dataset (“ground truth dataset”). The case study shows that the constructed sidewalk network overlays with 96% of the official reference dataset. Furthermore, in terms of positional accuracy, a low Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value (0.93 m) is achieved. The article presents our discussion on the results as well as the conclusion and future research directions.

Document type: Article

ATLAS – Establishing the mapping requirements for fully autonomous navigation

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:40:16 +0100

developments in fully autonomous vehicles move forward, one issue to be considered is the mapping"br" requirements necessary for such vehicles to navigate their way around the road network at any time and between"br" any point of origin and destination. On-board navigation systems already deal with determining the initial route,"br" so that the challenge becomes that of being able to determine the vehicle position at all times, especially in"br" circumstances where GNSS is unavailable. The ATLAS project (supported by Innovate UK) has considered this"br" issue with regards to mapping types, data requirements and technology demands/protocols. Through the"br" development of a cloud-based data service concept, and simulation of the data transmission conditions in"br" different scenarios, ATLAS has demonstrated that achieving fully autonomous navigation will be challenging"br" with current communications technology. However, V2I technologies could help to achieve autonomous"br" navigation in the short term as well as delivering additional operational benefits to road owners.

QoSVisor: QoS Framework for SDN

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:33:14 +0100

The increasing demand for network services and quality across wide selections of digital applications in the internet era has caused growing congestion and raised questions about how to deal with prioritizing data in ways tailored to particular uses of applications and managing peak congestion times. Software Defined Network (SDN) in particular Slicing Strategy, seems the best solution due to its new constitution intelligently implemented through the SDN OpenFlow protocol. However, Slicing Strategies specifically “FlowVisor” are limited in certain mechanisms such as Traffic Engineering (TE), which make it a requirement to find new ways to deliver Quality of Service (QoS) for different applications. In this paper, QoSVisor presented as an SDN extension action QoS Slicer based as an enhancement to the standard FlowVisor operation slicing tools to ensure the QoS for each Slice-based class of application.

Integration of an Automated Valet Parking Service into an Internet of Things Platform

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:31:39 +0100

This paper presents an architecture for Automated Valet Parking (AVP) connected to cloud-based IoT services and mobile user interfaces. The goal is to enable AVP services for automatic vehicles. From the user perspective, automatic car drop-off and pick-up are activated via smart phone application, and the user will be able to continuously monitor the vehicle status together with additional services as cleaning or recharge during the parking phase. Further, the IoT platform allows the integration of live services that will interact with automatic driving and parking. As an example, the presented AVP setup includes the operation of service drones to automatically guide a vehicle to the best parking spot. The demonstration in this paper comprises a parking car and a micro aerial vehicle (MAV) connected in real-time through the IoT platform as well as the smart phone application where the car is controlled and supervised.

Improvements to motor fuel taxation in Russia as impetus for sustainable development of cities

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:31:24 +0100

The article considers the role of the transportation system in the sustainable development of cities. The article pays special attention to the development dynamics of road transport in Russia and of the emissions of air pollutants by motor vehicles. The role and significance of fuel taxes in the system of government revenue are investigated. The author analyzes the existing system of fuel taxes in the Russian Federation and concludes that the mechanism of taxing motor fuel is based on consumption and does not take into account the adverse impact on the environment and the energy content of fuels. The author provides arguments for changing the mechanism of calculating the rate of the excise tax on motor fuel so that it factors in its energy efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions. A conclusion is drawn that the introduction of the proposed adjustments would produce a substantial fiscal impact on government revenues and would make it possible to eliminate the existing distortions for two competing sources of energy (petrol versus diesel fuel); would encourage the use and development of public transport and help reduce the emissions of air pollutants. The objective of the study is to work out proposals for improving fuel taxation that would also contribute to the sustainable development of cities. © 2018 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved. The work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, contract No. 17-22-21001.

The effects of longer trucks on freight transport demand in Germany

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:31:09 +0100

In 2012 the German Federal Government started a five-year field trial with longer trucks. One scientific project"br" focused on empirical data of the logistic and transport processes as well as the modelling of future mileage and"br" market shares of longer trucks. Based on predefined scenarios, potential areas of application and accessible"br" routes for longer trucks were determined using a likelihood approach with particular attention to the different"br" definitions of a longer truck suitable road network. In a second step empirical data covering logistic"br" characteristics collected from participating carriers and forwarders were integrated into a sophisticated transport"br" model in order to estimate transport demand effects and emissions of air pollutants as well as greenhouse gases"br" stemming from longer trucks in normal business operations. The analyses of the traffic demand modelling for the"br" scenarios shows for the reference years 2014 and 2030 that due to logistical constraints and requirements"br" (generally) only a small part of all German heavy good vehicle trips (about 3.0 to 3.2 %) and even a smaller part"br" of all rail and inland waterway transport performance (1.8 and 2.9 %) can be considered as potentially shiftable"br" to longer trucks.

Vertical Workflows: Service Orchestration across Cloud & Edge Resources

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:30:54 +0100

Currently devices used for data capture often differ from those that are used to subsequently carry out analysis on such data. Many Internet of Things (IoT) applications today involve data capture from sensors that are close to the phenomenon being measured, with such data subsequently being transmitted to Cloud data centers for analysis and storage. Increasing availability of storage and processing devices closer to the data capture device, perhaps over a one-hop network connection or even directly connected to the IoT device itself, requires more efficient allocation of processing across such edge devices and data centers. We refer to these as "vertical workflows" – i.e. workflows which are enacted across resources that can vary in: (i) type and behaviour; (ii) processing and storage capacity; (iii) latency and security profiles. Understanding how a workflow pipeline can be enacted across these resource types is outlined, motivated through two scenarios. The overall objective considered is the completion of the workflow within some deadline constraint, but with flexibility on where data processing is carried out.

Problem of trespassing railway property as an accompanying effect of suburbanization

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:30:12 +0100

Railway trespassing is very common, though risky and illegal behavior in the Czech Republic. Number of victims of train-person crashes is about 200 fatalities every year. We can find several types of risk localities where unauthorised access to the railway tracks occurs, with various motivations, users, layout, risk rate, and intensity of trespassing. Field research revealed, in addition to other facts, that localities with very high intensity of trespassing are often situated at local connections between origins and destinations of everyday trips (housing, factories, schools, offices, services, shops, recreation, and sport facilities). This aspect was further explored in the context of land use development. This paper illustrates how risk trespassing sites are formed in the areas affected by suburbanization, either due to imperfections in master plans, or by improper implementation of the master plan in practice.

ECOCHAMPS - Project Targets, their Tracking and the Evaluation of the Demonstrator Vehicles

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:29:12 +0100

The ECOCHAMPS project addresses the topic GV-04-2014 Hybrid Light and Heavy Duty Vehicles under the Horizon2020 programme (GA #653468) and is realized by a 26-member consortium. The overall objectives are to achieve efficient, compact, lightweight, robust and cost effective hybrid powertrains for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, with increased functionality, improved performance, comfort and emissions levels below Euro 6/VI. In particular, an expected impact of 20% powertrain efficiency improvements and weight plus volume reductions with respect to the best-in-class vehicles on the market in the reference year 2013 is set, whilst having a maximum 10% cost premium. This paper presents the targets and the tracking of the developments of the OEMs and the approach for the final evaluation of the five demonstrator vehicles built by Q1-2018. Moreover the paper also looks towards the development of current and future CO2 declaration methods for hybrid heavy duty commercial vehicles, supporting the deployment of next generation propulsion technologies for decarbonising freight transport.

Auxetic lightweight composite panels – enhanced mechanical properties and vibration damping in transportation structures

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:28:21 +0100

uxetic materials and structures are characterized by possessing an overall negative Poisson’s ratio and, thus, are able to expand/contract in tension/compression. This behaviour does not contradict the imposed thermodynamic limits on isotropic solid bodies by the classical theory of elasticity that defines the allowable values of Poisson’s ratio as being confined between -1 and 0.5. In practical terms, due to this counterintuitive deformation behaviour these materials are expected to possess high relative shear and fracture resistance, elevated relative hardness and superior vibration damping. The referred characteristics may be extremely advantageous in transportation structures, given that they may allow the design of components with reduced weight, enhanced riding comfort by mitigation of on board vibrations and the increase of the life span of mechanical components by the mitigation of vibration induced mechanical fatigue. Due to the apparent lack of isotropic auxetics in natural states, many researchers have devoted their efforts to the design and manufacture of artificial structures that mimic such behaviour, such as chiral, rotating geometry and reentrant models. In this study, a novel class of Reinforced Honeycomb and Auxetic Reentrant Auxetic Lattices are presented, being used to show the advantages of negative Poisson’s ratio materials in the form of lightweight composite panels. It is shown that the presence of negative Poisson’s ratio enhances the static, impact and dynamic mechanical behavior and, therefore, may be an interesting evolution on new materials for the transposition industry.

Towards Interactive Curation & Automatic Tuning of ML Pipelines

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:26:54 +0100

Democratizing Data Science requires a fundamental rethinking of the way data analytics and model discovery is done. Available tools for analyzing massive data sets and curating machine learning models are limited in a number of fundamental ways. First, existing tools require well-trained data scientists to select the appropriate techniques to build models and to evaluate their outcomes. Second, existing tools require heavy data preparation steps and are often too slow to give interactive feedback to domain experts in the model building process, severely limiting the possible interactions. Third, current tools do not provide adequate analysis of statistical risk factors in the model development. In this work, we present the first iteration of QuIC-M (pronounced quick-m), an interactive human-in-the-loop data exploration and model building suite. The goal is to enable domain experts to build the machine learning pipelines an order of magnitude faster than machine learning experts while having model qualities comparable to expert solutions.

GUIDELINES FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT IN SELECTED AREAS OF THE CITY OF TSHWANE, SOUTH AFRICA

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:25:25 +0100