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|[[Image:Review_159642103826-ProcLabVirtuales.png|276px|Chronological sequence strategy]] | |[[Image:Review_159642103826-ProcLabVirtuales.png|276px|Chronological sequence strategy]] |
STEM education is a strategy based on four disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), integrated in an innovative interdisciplinary approach. Although, the concept of STEM education is more relevant today, the discussion of a teaching model with special attention in the four subjects aforementioned began in the early 2000s. Taking into account this context, the strategy presented in this paper has been disseminated in Bolivia's main universities for the last five years. A country that has not yet managed to associate basic disciplines such as calculus, matrix algebra, and/or differential equations to solve problems of an applicative nature, that is, to establish the link between theory and practice. To establish the connection, it is necessary to deduce differential equations associated with practical problems; solve these equations with numerical methods, appeal to the simulation concept to later introduce programming languages like Python/VPython to build virtual laboratories. The classical problem addressed for this purpose is the satellite of two degrees of freedom.
keywords
Numerical methods, Programming languages, Simulation, Satellite control.
STEM education is a strategy that proposes teaching based on four disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), integrated in an innovative and interdisciplinary approach [Deming2018]. The United States, the most innovative country, home to the world's top startups, has identified the need to invest in these disciplines as a priority. For these reasons and looking for a high level of competitiveness in the professional market, several universities around the world have introduced computing tools (Matlab-Simulink®, Mathematica, Python, etc.), in their teaching programs which has helped to address a wide type of problems and increase the level of understanding not only in sciences and engineering but also in other STEM areas [gilat2006], [cortes2011], [david2015].
Some universities in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Colombia have already adopted the STEM concept [Espinal2019]. Contrary to this trend in South America, most universities in Bolivia do not apply it. There is a resistance to a methodological change, and to the use of technology to improve education, at the same time research works are just beginning. In this sense, this document aims to present the strategy proposed in Bolivia to improve education through the implementation of virtual laboratories. The strategy presented has been disseminated in the main Bolivian universities (Bolivia has 10 state and over 30 private universities).
For the past five years, different activities have been executed with several Bolivian universities (advanced courses, symposia and recently, master's degrees courses) [pagJav2016].
As a result of this interaction, it has become clear that some universities face several problems, among them, the lack of funds for the purchase of specialized software. At the same time they have been slow in updating their study programs and in the application of modern techniques in higher education. These and other aspects do not allow universities to be much more innovative. These problems increase due to structural failures in high school education (i.e. reduced hours in math sciences) and successive changes of methodology in teaching schools where teachers of basic school are trained [NTJav2018].
The strategy presented in this document was disseminated in several Bolivian universities as a proposal to improve teaching in math sciences and engineering. In the proposal, was also considered students' comments such as, what do I do with so much mathematics?, Calculus I, II, III , differential equations, numerical methods?, where do I apply all this?. These questions are constantly being asked because math science disciplines are still administered without a link of applicative character. This work tries to establish this link as the main contribution to Bolivian universities [NTJav2018].
Figure 1: Chronological sequence strategy |
Figure 1 illustrates the chronological sequence of the strategy that starts from the basic cycle that contains disciplines such as calculus and physics, an intermediate cycle that provides knowledge in numerical methods, automatic control and software languages such as Python/VPhyton. In sequence there are advanced concepts such as simulation and visualization and analysis of the obtained results.
In this sense, section 22 presents basic modeling concepts, section 23 presents a summary of the Python and Vpython tools for building graphical interfaces. Section 24 presents the problem of the two degrees of freedom satellite, its mathematical modeling, simulation and graphical interface. Section 25 contains the corresponding control problem. Finally, some conclusions and discussions are presented in section 26.
Most of the phenomena that occur in nature involve the variation of one quantity related other, leading naturally to mathematical models based on differential equations 1 [kupferman2008]. To obtain these equations, physical laws such as: Newton's second law, the law of conservation of energy, Kirchhoff's law, or those corresponding to a particular phenomenon are used. Some of these basic concepts are presented below.
(1) They can also be algebraic equations.
A dynamic system with degrees of freedom in generalized coordinates 1 and external forces , is described by the following Euler-Lagrange equation:
|
(1) |
where:
|
(2) |
corresponds to Lagrange function, is the kinetic energy and , is potential energy.
The external forces considered are: friction, control input and the interaction between system and environment. The control vector considered is . Friction forces are represented as , where is the function of Rayleigh. In summary, the following external forces are considered:
|
(3) |
where is the signal that contains external perturbations.
(1) Let the set of variables , , and .
Models are represented by the following differential equations:
|
(4) |
where denotes the derivative of related at the time while, , , , are the control variables and , correspond to the state variables, with and . The output variables are given by:
|
(5) |
where . Finally, equations (4) and (5) can be written as:
|
The equilibrium points are solutions of the equations (6) and (7) such as:
The point in the state space is a equilibrium point of if:
|
(8) |
in another form, the equilibrium point is .
In simple problems (like the pendulum), the solution of equation (8) is straightforward [khalil2002]. However, when the degree of difficulty increases, extracting operating conditions is also more complex; an aircraft is a good example [lewis2003], [Vargas2016].
The linearization at a point of operation is a common practice in engineering to analyze nonlinear systems. Once the linear model is obtained, its analysis is done with widely used tools [ogata2011]. However, the approximation around an operation point offers the local behavior of the non-linear system and not the global behavior in which we are interested. One of the most common methods to perform the linearization is the expansion by series of Taylor, effective for small variations around the operation point [duke88], [dagfinn2008].
Figure 2: Python code for pendulum model |
(a) Angular position and rate | (b) Phase diagram |
colspan="2" | |
(c) Simples pendulum behavior | |
Figure 3 |
Figure 4: Virtual environment for double pendulum |
The three-dimensional representation of the double pendulum is illustrated in Figure 4.
Figure 5: Two degree of freedom satellite |
This problem is well known in the area of automatic control, but, is not studied in the Bolivia education program. Also, its importance lies in that it is a problem with multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO) [daniel2007], [vargas2014].
The total kinetic energy of the satellite of Figure 5 is given by:
|
(9) |
The equations (9) and (2) allow obtaining the mathematical model of this problem [wolovich94].
(a) Radial position and rate | (b) Angular position and rate |
colspan="2" | |
(c) Two degree of freedom satélite in two dimensions | |
Figure 6 |
Figure 6b illustrates the results obtained for and . It is verified that remains with constant behavior over time, for this reason the derivative tends to zero. In practice, it is expected that the satellite will describe a trajectory with angular velocity constant and with position constant also.
Figure 7 illustrates the tridimensional virtual environment for the satellite of two degrees of freedom.Figure 7: Virtual environment for two degree of freedom satellite |
Figure 8: Generic control structure |
The algorithm to find a control law 1 is given by:
|
So that the feedback control law minimizes the performance index given by:
|
(12) |
subject to the following state equation:
|
(13) |
The gain matrix is obtained from the solution of Riccati's equation.
|
(14) |
Figure 9: Gains calculation Python code |
(1) In practice, the control variable , it is always limited to its maximum and minimum values.
The controlled variables correspond to the position in relation to the center of the earth and the angular position of the satellite. The desired references are the unit for and a ramp for . Initials conditions of the integrator are . The gain matrix () obtained is:
|
(15) |
(a) Radial distance | (b) Angular position |
colspan="2" | |
(c) Closed loop results satellite TDOF | |
Figure 10 |
Figure 10b illustrates the result obtained for the angular position , which follows the specified ramp with an offset, offset is characteristic of LQR control for ramp reference. To solve this problem it is necessary to study other control strategies [wolovich94].
The main contribution of this proposal is applicative, simple examples show the link between theory and practice, the results obtained through simulations are evaluated in two and three dimensions, which allow the extensive use of virtual laboratories. The presented strategy is used in countries with high development indices, unfortunately this does not happen in Bolivia.
The summary of the methodology that addresses the problems presented is illustrated in Figure 11.Figure 11: Summary of methodology |
The main advantage of the presented strategy is for the country, which will benefit from a future generation with more professionals capable of working in the new industrial era. In this sense, it should be emphasized that this strategy will help in the training and motivation of the new Bolivian scientists in the short and long term period. This strategy is also attractive because programming languages like Python/Vpython are free. Let us not forget that these Virtual Laboratories can be quickly implemented on any computer and managed from a dedicated server that doesn't need the purchase of additional hardware.
Figure 12: Number of presentations and answers of attendees |
The result shows that 75% still administer subjects such as calculus, algebra and others isolated from practical applications. In this sense, the participating students evidenced the improvement in learning disciplines in science and engineering, integrated to the concepts of: modeling, programming languages, numerical methods and simulation. Following, some feedback from participating students are registered:
(a) Inverted pendulum | (b) Coupled springs |
colspan="2" | |
(c) Additional virtual environments | |
Figure 13 |
The participating universities were suggested to use the strategy extensively, as well as to change their science and engineering study plans. After these recommendations where made, some universities have very slowly begun to make the suggested changes. Finally, during the dissemination of the strategy, two books were published, one in Bolivia and another in Brazil [vargas2014], [vargas2015].
Thanks you to the participating universities, teachers and students who made possible this publication. Also, thank you to Juan Poma Rosas for English corrections and to SIB and CIEE of Cochabamba Bolivia for the financial support
[21] NTJav2018 F. J. Triveño Vargas, “UNIVERSIDAD: No quieren dar un paso adelante”, http://www.lostiempos.com/oh/actualidad/20180312/universidad-no-quieren-dar-paso-adelante), Accessed: 2018-11-11, 2018.
[22] dagfinn2008 Dagfinn Gangsaas and John Hodgkinson and Clay Harden, “ Multidisciplinary Control Law Design and Flight Test Demonstration on a Business Jet”, AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference and Exhibit pp. 1-25, 2008.[23] Vargas2016 F. J. Triveno Vargas and F. J. Oliveira Moreira and Pedro Paglione, “Longitudinal stability and control augmentation with robustness and handling qualities requirements using the two degree of freedom controller ”, Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering pp. 1843-1853, 2016.
[24] khalil2002 Hassan K Khalil, “ Nonlinear Systems”, Prentice Hall Inc. Third Edition, 2002.
[25] kupferman2008 Raz Kupferman, “Lecture Notes in Classical Mechanics ”, The Hebrew University, 2008.
[26] Kusalaas2013 Jaan Kusalaas ,“ Numerical Methods in Engineering with Python 3”, Cambridge University Press, 2013.
[27] Magnus2008 Magnus Lie Hetland , “ Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition”,Springer-Verlag New York, 2008. [28] vargas2014 F. J. Triveño Vargas and E. O. Pozo Irusta, `` Modelado, Simulación y Control de Sistemas Mecatronicos y Aeroespacialescon Matlab®y Mathematica , Editorial Serrano, 2014. [29] vargas2015 F. J. Triveño Vargas and Pedro Paglione, “ Aplicações de Modelagem, Simulação e Controle Com Ferramentas de Algebra Computacional ”, Editorial LTC, 2015.[30] siles2019 H. Siles Alvarado, “ Simulaciones en Ciencias y Tecnologia ”, http://www.simcyt.org, Accessed: 2019-09-14, 2019.
Published on 10/06/20
Submitted on 10/05/20
Volume 2, 2020
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA license
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