Current Search: Interactive Simulation (x)
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- Title
- TOWARD A REAL-TIME CELESTIAL BODY INFORMATION SYSTEM.
- Creator
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Guise, Brian, Proctor, Michael, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration maintains a challenging schedule of planned and on-going space exploration missions that extend to the outer reaches of our galaxy. New missions represent a huge investment, in terms of actual costs for equipment and support infrastructure, and personnel training. The success of a mission is critical considering both the monetary investment, and for manned missions, the lives which are put at risk. Tragedies involving Challenger, Columbia,...
Show moreThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration maintains a challenging schedule of planned and on-going space exploration missions that extend to the outer reaches of our galaxy. New missions represent a huge investment, in terms of actual costs for equipment and support infrastructure, and personnel training. The success of a mission is critical considering both the monetary investment, and for manned missions, the lives which are put at risk. Tragedies involving Challenger, Columbia, Apollo 7, and the near tragedy of Apollo 13 exemplify that space exploration is a dangerous endeavor, posing extreme environmental conditions on both equipment and personnel. NASA, the National Science Foundation' and numerous independent researchers indicate that predictive simulations have the potential to decrease risk and increase efficiency and effectiveness in space exploration activity. Simulations provide the capability to conduct planning and rehearsal of missions, allowing risk reducing designs and techniques to be discovered and tested. Real-time simulations may improve the quality of the response in a real-time crisis situation. The US Army developed Layered Terrain Format (LTF) database is a uniquely architected database approach that provides high fidelity representation of terrain and specialized terrain query functions that are optimized to support real-time simulations. This dissertation investigates the question; can the unique LTF database architecture be applied to the general problem of celestial body representation? And if so, what benefits might it bring for mission planners and personnel executing the mission? Due to data limitations, this research investigates these questions through a lunar analog setting involving S band and Earth-bound communication signals as might be needed to conduct manned and/or robotic mission on the moon. The target terrain data set includes portions of the Black Point Lava Flow in Arizona which will be used for NASA's 2010 Desert RATS analog studies. Applied Research Associates Inc, the developer of the LTF product, generated Black Point databases and made limited modifications to the LTF Viewer tool, RAVEN, which is used for visualization of the database. Through the results attained during this research it is concluded that LTF product does provide a useful simulation capability which could be used by mission personnel both in pre-mission planning and during mission execution. Additionally, LTF is shown to have application an information system, allowing geo-specific data of interest to the mission to be implemented within its layers. The Florida Space Research & Education Grant Program sponsored by FSGC, Space Florida and UCF provided a grant of $31,500 to perform this research.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003403, ucf:48424
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003403
- Title
- DATA BANDWIDTH REDUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR DISTRIBUTED EMBEDDED SIMULATION USING CONCURRENT BEHAVIOR MODELS.
- Creator
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Bahr, Hubert, DeMara, Ronald, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Maintaining coherence between the independent views of multiple participants at distributed locations is essential in an Embedded Simulation environment. Currently, the Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) protocol maintains coherence by broadcasting the entity state streams from each simulation station. In this dissertation, a novel alternative to DIS that replaces the transmitting sources with local sources is developed, validated, and assessed by analytical and experimental means. The...
Show moreMaintaining coherence between the independent views of multiple participants at distributed locations is essential in an Embedded Simulation environment. Currently, the Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) protocol maintains coherence by broadcasting the entity state streams from each simulation station. In this dissertation, a novel alternative to DIS that replaces the transmitting sources with local sources is developed, validated, and assessed by analytical and experimental means. The proposed Concurrent Model approach reduces the communication burden to transmission of only synchronization and model-update messages. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the correctness of Concurrent Models in a discrete event simulation environment are established by developing Behavioral Congruence ¨B(EL, ER) and Temporal Congruence ¨T(t, ER) functions. They indicate model discrepancies with respect to the simulation time t, and the local and remote entity state streams EL and ER, respectively. Performance benefits were quantified in terms of the bandwidth reduction ratio BR=N/I obtained from the comparison of the OneSAF Testbed Semi-Automated Forces (OTBSAF) simulator under DIS requiring a total of N bits and a testbed modified for the Concurrent Model approach which required I bits. In the experiments conducted, a range of 100 d BR d 294 was obtained representing two orders of magnitude reduction in simulation traffic. Investigation showed that the models rely heavily on the priority data structure of the discrete event simulation and that performance of the overall simulation can be enhanced by an additional 6% by improving the queue management. A low run-time overhead, self-adapting storage policy called the Smart Priority Queue (SPQ) was developed and evaluated within the Concurrent Model. The proposed SPQ policies employ a lowcomplexity linear queue for near head activities and a rapid-indexing variable binwidth calendar queue for distant events. The SPQ configuration is determined by monitoring queue access behavior using cost scoring factors and then applying heuristics to adjust the organization of the underlying data structures. Results indicate that optimizing storage to the spatial distribution of queue access can decrease HOLD operation cost between 25% and 250% over existing algorithms such as calendar queues. Taken together, these techniques provide an entity state generation mechanism capable of overcoming the challenges of Embedded Simulation in harsh mobile communications environments with restricted bandwidth, increased message latency, and extended message drop-outs.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2004
- Identifier
- CFE0000198, ucf:46166
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000198
- Title
- EFFECT OF OPERATOR CONTROL CONFIGURATION ON UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM TRAINABILITY.
- Creator
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Neumann, John, Kincaid, Peter, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) carry no pilot on board, yet they still require live operators to handle critical functions such as mission planning and execution. Humans also interpret the sensor information provided by these platforms. This applies to all classes of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's), including the smaller portable systems used for gathering real-time reconnaissance during military operations in urban terrain. The need to quickly and reliably train soldiers to control small...
Show moreUnmanned aerial systems (UAS) carry no pilot on board, yet they still require live operators to handle critical functions such as mission planning and execution. Humans also interpret the sensor information provided by these platforms. This applies to all classes of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's), including the smaller portable systems used for gathering real-time reconnaissance during military operations in urban terrain. The need to quickly and reliably train soldiers to control small UAS operations demands that the human-system interface be intuitive and easy to master. In this study, participants completed a series of tests of spatial ability and were then trained (in simulation) to teleoperate a micro-unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with forward and downward fixed cameras. Three aspects of the human-system interface were manipulated to assess the effects on manual control mastery and target detection. One factor was the input device. Participants used either a mouse or a specially programmed game controller (similar to that used with the Sony Playstation 2 video game console). A second factor was the nature of the flight control displays as either continuous or discrete (analog v. digital). The third factor involved the presentation of sensor imagery. The display could either provide streaming video from one camera at a time, or present the imagery from both cameras simultaneously in separate windows. The primary dependent variables included: 1) time to complete assigned missions, 2) number of collisions, 3) number of targets detected, and 4) operator workload. In general, operator performance was better with the game controller than with the mouse, but significant improvement in time to complete occurred over repeated trials regardless of the device used. Time to complete missions was significantly faster with the game controller, and operators also detected more targets without any significant differences in workload compared to mouse users. Workload on repeated trials decreased with practice, and spatial ability was a significant covariate of workload. Lower spatial ability associated with higher workload scores. In addition, demographic data including computer usage and video gaming experience were collected and analyzed, and correlated with performance. Higher video gaming experience was also associated with lower workload.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2006
- Identifier
- CFE0001496, ucf:47080
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001496
- Title
- Coordinated Optimal Power Planning of Wind Turbines in an Offshore Wind Farm.
- Creator
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Vishwakarma, Puneet, Xu, Yunjun, Kapat, Jayanta, Kauffman, Jeffrey, Behal, Aman, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Wind energy is on an upswing due to climate concerns and increasing energy demands on conventional sources. Wind energy is attractive and has the potential to dramatically reduce the dependency on non-renewable energy resources. With the increase in wind farms there is a need to improve the efficiency in power allocation and power generation among wind turbines. Wake interferences among wind turbines can lower the overall efficiency considerably, while offshore conditions pose increased...
Show moreWind energy is on an upswing due to climate concerns and increasing energy demands on conventional sources. Wind energy is attractive and has the potential to dramatically reduce the dependency on non-renewable energy resources. With the increase in wind farms there is a need to improve the efficiency in power allocation and power generation among wind turbines. Wake interferences among wind turbines can lower the overall efficiency considerably, while offshore conditions pose increased loading on wind turbines. In wind farms, wind turbines' wake affects each other depending on their positions and operation modes. Therefore it becomes essential to optimize the wind farm power production as a whole than to just focus on individual wind turbines. The work presented here develops a hierarchical power optimization algorithm for wind farms. The algorithm includes a cooperative level (or higher level) and an individual level (or lower level) for power coordination and planning in a wind farm. The higher level scheme formulates and solves a quadratic constrained programming problem to allocate power to wind turbines in the farm while considering the aerodynamic effect of the wake interaction among the turbines and the power generation capabilities of the wind turbines. In the lower level, optimization algorithm is based on a leader-follower structure driven by the local pursuit strategy. The local pursuit strategy connects the cooperative level power allocation and the individual level power generation in a leader-follower arrangement. The leader, could be a virtual entity and dictates the overall objective, while the followers are real wind turbines considering realistic constraints, such as tower deflection limits. A nonlinear wind turbine dynamics model is adopted for the low level study with loading and other constraints considered in the optimization. The stability of the algorithm in the low level is analyzed for the wind turbine angular velocity. Simulations are used to show the advantages of the method such as the ability to handle non-square input matrix, non-homogenous dynamics, and scalability in computational cost with rise in the number of wind turbines in the wind farm.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005899, ucf:50896
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005899
- Title
- Quantitative Framework For Social Cultural Interactions.
- Creator
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Bhatia, Taranjeet, Boloni, Ladislau, Turgut, Damla, Sukthankar, Gita, Fiore, Stephen, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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For an autonomous robot or software agent to participate in the social life of humans, it must have a way to perform a calculus of social behavior. Such a calculus must have explanatory power (it must provide a coherent theory for why the humans act the way they do), and predictive power (it must provide some plausible events from the predicted future actions of the humans).This dissertation describes a series of contributions that would allow agents observing or interacting with humans to...
Show moreFor an autonomous robot or software agent to participate in the social life of humans, it must have a way to perform a calculus of social behavior. Such a calculus must have explanatory power (it must provide a coherent theory for why the humans act the way they do), and predictive power (it must provide some plausible events from the predicted future actions of the humans).This dissertation describes a series of contributions that would allow agents observing or interacting with humans to perform a calculus of social behavior taking into account cultural conventions and socially acceptable behavior models. We discuss the formal components of the model: culture-sanctioned social metrics (CSSMs), concrete beliefs (CBs) and action impact functions. Through a detailed case study of a crooked seller who relies on the manipulation of public perception, we show that the model explains how the exploitation of social conventions allows the seller to finalize transactions, despite the fact that the clients know that they are being cheated. In a separate study, we show that how the crooked seller can find an optimal strategy with the use of reinforcement learning.We extend the CSSM model for modeling the propagation of public perception across multiple social interactions. We model the evolution of the public perception both over a single interaction and during a series of interactions over an extended period of time. An important aspect for modeling the public perception is its propagation - how the propagation is affected by the spatio-temporal context of the interaction and how does the short-term and long-term memory of humans affect the overall public perception.We validated the CSSM model through a user study in which participants cognizant with the modeled culture had to evaluate the impact on the social values. The scenarios used in the experiments modeled emotionally charged social situations in a cross-cultural setting and with the presence of a robot. The scenarios model conflicts of cross-cultural communication as well as ethical, social and financial choices. This study allowed us to study whether people sharing the same culture evaluate CSSMs at the same way (the inter-cultural uniformity conjecture). By presenting a wide range of possible metrics, the study also allowed us to determine whether any given metric can be considered a CSSM in a given culture or not.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006262, ucf:51047
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006262
- Title
- Evaluating Improvisation as a Technique for Training Pre-Service Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms.
- Creator
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Becker, Theresa, Hines, Rebecca, Beverly, Monifa, Hopp, Carolyn, Hamed, Kastro, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Improvisation is a construct that uses a set of minimal heuristic guidelines to create a highly flexible scaffold that fosters extemporaneous communication. Scholars from diverse domains: such as psychology, business, negotiation, and education have suggested its use as a method for preparing professionals to manage complexity and think on their feet. A review of the literature revealed that while there is substantial theoretical scholarship on using improvisation in diverse domains, little...
Show moreImprovisation is a construct that uses a set of minimal heuristic guidelines to create a highly flexible scaffold that fosters extemporaneous communication. Scholars from diverse domains: such as psychology, business, negotiation, and education have suggested its use as a method for preparing professionals to manage complexity and think on their feet. A review of the literature revealed that while there is substantial theoretical scholarship on using improvisation in diverse domains, little research has verified these assertions. This dissertation evaluated whether improvisation, a specific type of dramatic technique, was effective for training pre-service teachers in specific characteristics of teacher-child classroom interaction, communication and affective skills development. It measured the strength and direction of any potential changes such training might effect on pre-service teacher's self-efficacy for teaching and for implementing the communication skills common to improvisation and teaching while interacting with student in an inclusive classroom setting. A review of the literature on teacher self-efficacy and improvisation clarified and defined key terms, and illustrated relevant studies. This study utilized a mixed-method research design based on instructional design and development research. Matched pairs t-tests were used to analyze the self-efficacy and training skills survey data and pre-service teacher reflections and interview transcripts were used to triangulate the qualitative data. Results of the t-tests showed a significant difference in participants' self-efficacy for teaching measured before and after the improvisation training. A significant difference in means was also measured in participants' aptitude for improvisation strategies and for self-efficacy for their implementation pre-/post- training. Qualitative results from pre-service teacher class artifacts and interviews showed participants reported beneficial personal outcomes as well as confirmed using skills from the training while interacting with students. Many of the qualitative themes parallel individual question items on the teacher self-efficacy TSES scale as well as the improvisation self-efficacy scale CSAI. The self-reported changes in affective behavior such as increased self-confidence and ability to foster positive interaction with students are illustrative of changes in teacher agency. Self-reports of being able to better understand student perspectives demonstrate a change in participant ability to empathize with students. Participants who worked with both typically developing students as well as with students with disabilities reported utilizing improvisation strategies such as Yes, and..., mirroring emotions and body language, vocal prosody and establishing a narrative relationship to put the students at ease, establish a positive learning environment, encourage student contributions and foster teachable moments. The improvisation strategies showed specific benefit for participants working with nonverbal students or who had commutation difficulties, by providing the pre-service teachers with strategies for using body language, emotional mirroring, vocal prosody and acceptance to foster interaction and communication with the student.Results from this investigation appear to substantiate the benefit of using improvisation training as part of a pre-service teacher methods course for preparing teachers for inclusive elementary classrooms. Replication of the study is encouraged with teachers of differing populations to confirm and extend results.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004516, ucf:49273
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004516