Improving the Detection of the Contact Point in Active Sensing Antennae by Processing Combined Static and Dynamic Information

Abstract

The design and application of sensing antenna devices that mimic insect antennae or mammal whiskers is an active field of research. However, these devices still require new developments if they are to become efficient and reliable components of robotic systems. We, therefore, develop and build a prototype composed of a flexible beam, two servomotors that drive the beam and a load cell sensor that measures the forces and torques at the base of the flexible beam. This work reports new results in the area of the signal processing of these devices. These results will make it possible to estimate the point at which the flexible antenna comes into contact with an object (or obstacle) more accurately than has occurred with previous algorithms. Previous research reported that the estimation of the fundamental natural frequency of vibration of the antenna using dynamic information is not sufficient as regards determining the contact point and that the estimation of the contact point using static information provided by the forces and torques measured by the load cell sensor is not very accurate. We consequently propose an algorithm based on the fusion of the information provided by the two aforementioned strategies that enhances the separate benefits of each one. We demonstrate that the adequate combination of these two pieces of information yields an accurate estimation of the contacted point of the antenna link. This will enhance the precision of the estimation of points on the surface of the object that is being recognized by the antenna. Thorough experimentation is carried out in order to show the features of the proposed algorithm and establish its range of application.

Optimization of Coverage and Capacity Using Smart Antennae

“…These designs enable signals to be utilized more effectively during both reception and transmission, thereby achieving communication or sensing objectives [13,14], In order to simultaneously maintain a high base station coverage rate and effectively reduce UE interference issues, this study employed intelligent adaptive directional antennas for the Many scholars have proposed innovative smart antenna designs based on antenna theory. These designs enable signals to be utilized more effectively during both reception and transmission, thereby achieving communication or sensing objectives [13,14], In order to simultaneously maintain a high base station coverage rate and effectively reduce UE interference issues, this study employed intelligent adaptive directional antennas for the base stations. Unlike traditional omni-directional antennas, where the antenna gain remained the same at different angles, intelligent adaptive directional antennas can control the signal strength in different directions, resulting in varying antenna gains for terminal devices at different angles.…”

“…Many scholars have proposed innovative smart antenna designs based on antenna theory. These designs enable signals to be utilized more effectively during both reception and transmission, thereby achieving communication or sensing objectives [13,14], In order to simultaneously maintain a high base station coverage rate and effectively reduce UE interference issues, this study employed intelligent adaptive directional antennas for the base stations. Unlike traditional omni-directional antennas, where the antenna gain remained the same at different angles, intelligent adaptive directional antennas can control the signal strength in different directions, resulting in varying antenna gains for terminal devices at different angles.…”

A Lightweight Beak-Like Sensing System for Grasping Tasks of Flapping Aerial Robots

“…Finally, in [20], a contact point estimator that combines static and dynamic information of the six-axis force/moment sensor placed at the base of the link was proposed. The method proposes a fusion of the information provided by two of the previous strategies: the one that uses the natural frequencies of vibration of the antenna [16] and the one that uses the static information provided by the forces and torques measured at the base of the antenna.…”

“…For simplicity, in this paper the estimator proposed in [20] and [25] is used, which attains very good results. This algorithm is based on detecting when the residue of the torque at the base of the beak, i.e., the difference between the torque measured at the base by the strain gauges Γ 1 (0,t) and its value predicted by the model Γ p 1 (0,t), exceeds a threshold.…”

Advanced Motor Control for Improving the Trajectory Tracking Accuracy of a Low-Cost Mobile Robot

“…The robotic whisker has been defined in previous works [23], and it has been used as a tactile sensor to detect objects surrounding the whisker [24]. Previous whisker setup was static, allowing for a small range of object detection.…”