A journal of IEEE and CAA , publishes high-quality papers in English on original theoretical/experimental research and development in all areas of automation

## Early Access

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, Available online
Abstract:
In the last decade, market financial forecasting has attracted high interests amongst the researchers in pattern recognition. Usually, the data used for analysing the market, and then gamble on its future trend, are provided as time series; this aspect, along with the high fluctuation of this kind of data, cuts out the use of very efficient classification tools, very popular in the state of the art, like the well known convolutional neural networks models such as Inception, ResNet, AlexNet, and so on. This forces the researchers to train new tools from scratch. Such operations could be very time consuming. This paper exploits an ensemble of CNNs, trained over Gramian angular fields (GAF) images, generated from time series related to the Standard & Poor’s 500 index future; the aim is the prediction of the future trend of the U.S. market. A multi-resolution imaging approach is used to feed each CNN, enabling the analysis of different time intervals for a single observation. A simple trading system based on the ensemble forecaster is used to evaluate the quality of the proposed approach. Our method outperforms the Buy&Hold strategy in a time frame where the latter provides excellent returns. Both quantitative and qualitative results are provided.
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Abstract:
This work investigates adaptive stiffness control and motion optimization of a snake-like robot with variable stiffness actuators. The robot can vary its stiffness by controlling magneto-rheological fluid (MRF) around actuators. In order to improve the robot’s physical stability in complex environments, this work proposes an adaptive stiffness control strategy. This strategy is also useful for the robot to avoid disturbing caused by emergency situations such as collisions. In addition, to obtain optimal stiffness and reduce energy consumption, both torques of actuators and stiffness of the MRF braker are considered and optimized by using an evolutionary optimization algorithm. Simulations and experiments are conducted to verify the proposed adaptive stiffness control and optimization methods for a variable stiffness snake-like robots.
, Available online
Abstract:
This study deals with reliable control problems in data-driven cyber-physical systems (CPSs) with intermittent communication faults, where the faults may be caused by bad or broken communication devices and/or cyber attackers. To solve them, a watermark-based anomaly detector is proposed, where the faults are divided to be either detectable or undetectable. Secondly, the fault's intermittent characteristic is described by the average dwell-time (ADT)-like concept, and then the reliable control issues, under the undetectable faults to the detector, are converted into stabilization issues of switched systems. Furthermore, based on the identifier-critic-structure learning algorithm, a data-driven switched controller with a prescribed-performance-based switching law is proposed, and by the ADT approach, a tolerated fault set is given. Additionally, it is shown that the presented switching laws can improve the system performance degradation in asynchronous intervals, where the degradation is caused by the fault-maker-triggered switching rule, which is unknown for CPS operators. Finally, an illustrative example validates the proposed method.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2020.1003111
Abstract:
One of challenging issues on stability analysis of time-delay systems is how to obtain a stability criterion from a matrix-valued polynomial on a time-varying delay. The first contribution of this paper is to establish a necessary and sufficient condition on a matrix-valued polynomial inequality over a certain closed interval. The degree of such a matrix-valued polynomial can be an arbitrary finite positive integer. The second contribution of this paper is to introduce a novel Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, which includes a cubic polynomial on a time-varying delay, in stability analysis of time-delay systems. Based on the novel Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and the necessary and sufficient condition on matrix-valued polynomial inequalities, two stability criteria are derived for two cases of the time-varying delay. A well-studied numerical example is given to show that the proposed stability criteria are of less conservativeness than some existing ones.
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Abstract:
Robots in a swarm are programmed with individual behaviors but then interactions with the environment and other robots produce more complex, emergent swarm behaviors. One discriminating feature of the emergent behavior is the local distribution of robots in any given region. In this work, we show how local observations of the robot distribution can be correlated to the environment being explored and hence the location of openings or obstructions can be inferred. The correlation is achieved here with a simple, single-layer neural network that generates physically intuitive weights and provides a degree of robustness by allowing for variation in the environment and number of robots in the swarm. The robots are simulated assuming random motion with no communication, a minimalist model in robot sophistication, to explore the viability of cooperative sensing. We culminate our work with a demonstration of how the local distribution of robots in an unknown, office-like environment can be used to locate unobstructed exits.
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Abstract:
This paper presents an approach to recursively estimate the simplest linear model that approximates the time-varying local behaviors from imperfect (noisy and incomplete) measurements in the internet of things (IoT) based distributed decision-making problems. We first show that the problem of finding the lowest order model for a multi-input single-output system is a cardinality (0) optimization problem, known to be NP-hard. To solve the problem a simpler approach is proposed which uses the recently developed atomic norm concept and the modified Frank-Wolfe (mFW) algorithm is introduced. Further, the paper computes the minimum data-rate required for computing the models with imperfect measurements. The proposed approach is illustrated on a building heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control system that aims at optimizing energy consumption in commercial buildings using IoT devices in a distributed manner. The HVAC control application requires recursive thermal dynamical model updates due to frequently changing conditions and non-linear dynamics. We show that the method proposed in this paper can approximate such complex dynamics on single-board computers interfaced to sensors using unreliable communication channels. Real-time experiments on HVAC systems and simulation studies are used to illustrate the proposed method.
, Available online
Abstract:
The enormous energy use of the building sector and the requirements for indoor living quality that aim to improve occupants’ productivity and health, prioritize Smart Buildings as an emerging technology. The Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system is considered one of the most critical and essential parts in buildings since it consumes the largest amount of energy and is responsible for humans comfort. Due to the intermittent operation of HVAC systems, faults are more likely to occur, possibly increasing eventually building's energy consumption and/or downgrading indoor living quality. The complexity and large scale nature of HVAC systems complicate the diagnosis of faults in a centralized framework. This paper presents a distributed intelligent fault diagnosis algorithm for detecting and isolating multiple sensor faults in large-scale HVAC systems. Modeling the HVAC system as a network of interconnected subsystems allows the design of a set of distributed sensor fault diagnosis agents capable of isolating multiple sensor faults by applying a combinatorial decision logic and diagnostic reasoning. The performance of the proposed method is investigated with respect to robustness, fault detectability and scalability. Simulations are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in the presence of multiple sensor faults applied to a 83-zone HVAC system and to evaluate the sensitivity of the method with respect to sensor noise variance.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2020.1003099
Abstract:
In recent years, network traffic data have become larger and more complex, leading to higher possibilities of network intrusion. Traditional intrusion detection methods face difficulty in processing high-speed network data and cannot detect currently unknown attacks. Therefore, this paper proposes a network attack detection method combining a flow calculation and deep learning. The method consists of two parts: a real-time detection algorithm based on flow calculations and frequent patterns and a classification algorithm based on the deep belief network and support vector machine (DBN-SVM). Sliding window stream data processing enables real-time detection, and the DBN-SVM algorithm can improve classification accuracy. Finally, to verify the proposed method, a system is implemented. Based on the CICIDS2017 open source data set, a series of comparative experiments are conducted. The method’s real-time detection efficiency is higher than that of traditional machine learning algorithms. The attack classification accuracy is 0.7 percentage points higher than that of a DBN, which is 2 percentage points higher than that of the integrated algorithm boosting and bagging methods. Hence, it is suitable for the real-time detection of high-speed network intrusions.
, Available online
Abstract:
A latent variable regression algorithm with a regularization term (rLVR) is proposed in this paper to extract latent relations between process data X and quality data Y. In rLVR, the prediction error between X and Y is minimized, which is proved to be equivalent to maximizing the projection of quality variables in the latent space. The geometric properties and model relations of rLVR are analyzed, and the geometric and theoretical relations among rLVR, partial least squares, and canonical correlation analysis are also presented. The rLVR-based monitoring framework is developed to monitor process-relevant and quality-relevant variations simultaneously. The prediction and monitoring effectiveness of rLVR algorithm is demonstrated through both numerical simulations and the Tennessee Eastman (TE) process.
, Available online
Abstract:
By virtue of alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), Newton-Raphson method, ratio consensus approach and running sum method, two distributed iterative strategies are presented in this paper to address the economic dispatch problem (EDP) in power systems. Different from most of the existing distributed ED approaches which neglect the effects of packet drops or/and time delays, this paper takes into account both packet drops and time delays which frequently occur in communication networks. Moreover, directed and possibly unbalanced graphs are considered in our algorithms, over which many distributed approaches fail to converge. Furthermore, the proposed schemes can address the EDP with local constraints of generators and nonquadratic convex cost functions, not just quadratic ones required in some existing ED approaches. Both theoretical analyses and simulation studies are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.
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This work studies the robust deadlock control of automated manufacturing systems with multiple unreliable resources. Our goal is to ensure the continuous production of the jobs that only require reliable resources. To reach this goal, we propose a new modified Banker’s algorithm (MBA) to ensure that all resources required by these jobs can be freed. Moreover, a Petri net based deadlock avoidance policy (DAP) is introduced to ensure that all jobs remaining in the system after executing the new MBA can complete their processing smoothly when their required unreliable resources are operational. The new MBA together with the DAP forms a new DAP that is robust to the failures of unreliable resources. Owing to the high permissiveness of the new MBA and the optimality of the DAP, it is tested to be more permissive than state-of-the-art control policies.
, Available online
Abstract:
Monocular vision-based navigation is a considerable ability for a home mobile robot. However, due to diverse disturbances, helping robots avoid obstacles, especially non-Manhattan obstacles, remains a big challenge. In indoor environments, there are many spatial right-corners that are projected into two dimensional projections with special geometric configurations. These projections, which consist of three lines, might enable us to estimate their position and orientation in 3D scenes. In this paper, we present a method for home robots to avoid non-Manhattan obstacles in indoor environments from a monocular camera. The approach first detects non-Manhattan obstacles. Through analyzing geometric features and constraints, it is possible to estimate posture differences between orientation of the robot and non-Manhattan obstacles. Finally according to the convergence of posture differences, the robot can adjust its orientation to keep pace with the pose of detected non-Manhattan obstacles, making it possible avoid these obstacles by itself. Based on geometric inferences, the proposed approach requires no prior training or any knowledge of the camera’s internal parameters, making it practical for robots navigation. Furthermore, the method is robust to errors in calibration and image noise. We compared the errors from corners of estimated non-Manhattan obstacles against the ground truth. Furthermore, we evaluate the validity of convergence of differences between the robot orientation and the posture of non-Manhattan obstacles. The experimental results showed that our method is capable of avoiding non-Manhattan obstacles, meeting the requirements for indoor robot navigation.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2020.1003114
Abstract:
Smart manufacturing refers to optimization techniques that are implemented in production operations by utilizing advanced analytics approaches. With the widespread increase in deploying industrial internet of things (IIoT) sensors in manufacturing processes, there is a progressive need for optimal and effective approaches to data management. Embracing machine learning and artificial intelligence to take advantage of manufacturing data can lead to efficient and intelligent automation. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive analysis based on evolutionary computing and deep learning algorithms toward making semiconductor manufacturing smart. We propose a dynamic algorithm for gaining useful insights about semiconductor manufacturing processes and to address various challenges. We elaborate on the utilization of a genetic algorithm and neural network to propose an intelligent feature selection algorithm. Our objective is to provide an advanced solution for controlling manufacturing processes and to gain perspective on various dimensions that enable manufacturers to access effective predictive technologies.
, Available online
Abstract:
Base on the accurate inverse of a system, the feedforward compensation method can compensate the tracking error of a linear system dramatically. However, many control systems have complex dynamics and their accurate inverses are difficult to obtain. In the paper, a variable parameter model is proposed to describe a system and a multi-step adaptive seeking approach is used to obtain its parameters in real time. Based on the proposed model, a variable-parameter-model-based feedforward compensation method is proposed, and a disturbance observer is used to overcome the influence of the model uncertainty. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the variable-parameter-model-based feedforward compensation method can obtain better performance than the traditional feedforward compensation.
, Available online
Abstract:
This work deals with the robust D-stability test of linear time-invariant (LTI) general fractional order control systems in a closed loop where the system and/or the controller may be of fractional order. The concept of general implies that the characteristic equation of the LTI closed loop control system may be of both commensurate and non-commensurate orders, both the coefficients and the orders of the characteristic equation may be nonlinear functions of uncertain parameters, and the coefficients may be complex numbers. Some new specific areas for the roots of the characteristic equation are found so that they reduce the computational burden of testing the robust D-stability. Based on the value set of the characteristic equation, a necessary and sufficient condition for testing the robust D-stability of these systems is derived. Moreover, in the case that the coefficients are linear functions of the uncertain parameters and the orders do not have any uncertainties, the condition is adjusted for further computational burden reduction. Various numerical examples are given to illustrate the merits of the achieved theorems.
, Available online
Abstract:
Road safety performance function (SPF) analysis using data-driven and nonparametric methods, especially recent developed deep learning approaches, has gained increasing achievements. However, due to the learning mechanisms are hidden in a “black box” in deep learning, traffic features extraction and intelligent importance analysis are still unsolved and hard to generate. This paper focuses on this problem using a deciphered version of deep neural networks (DNN), one of the most popular deep learning models. This approach builds on visualization, feature importance and sensitivity analysis, can evaluate the contributions of input variables on model’s “black box” feature learning process and output decision. Firstly, a visual feature importance (ViFI) method that describes the importance of input features is proposed by adopting diagram and numerical-analysis. Secondly, by observing the change of weights using ViFI on unsupervised training and fine-tuning of DNN, the final contributions of input features are calculated according to importance equations for both steps that we proposed. Sequentially, a case study based on a road SPF analysis is demonstrated, using data collected from a major Canadian highway, Highway 401. The proposed method allows effective deciphering of the model’s inner workings and allows the significant features to be identified and the bad features to be eliminated. Finally, the revised dataset is used in crash modeling and vehicle collision prediction, and the testing result verifies that the deciphered and revised model achieves state-of-the-art performance.
, Available online
Abstract:
This paper is concerned with the problem of finite-time control for a class of discrete-time networked systems. The measurement output and control input signals are quantized before being transmitted in communication network. The quantization density of the network is assumed to be variable depending on the throughputs of network for the sake of congestion avoidance. The variation of the quantization density modes satisfies persistent dwell-time (PDT) switching which is more general than dwell-time switching in networked channels. By using a quantization-error-dependent Lyapunov function approach, sufficient conditions are given to ensure that the quantized systems are finite-time stable and finite-time bounded with a prescribed \begin{document}${\cal H}_{\infty }$\end{document} performance, upon which a set of controllers depending on the mode of quantization density are designed. In order to show the effectiveness of the designed \begin{document}${\cal H}_{\infty }$\end{document} controller, we apply the developed theoretical results to a numerical example.
, Available online
Abstract:
Offshore cranes are widely applied to transfer large-scale cargoes and it is challenging to develop effective control for them with sea wave disturbances. However, most existing controllers can only yield ultimate uniform boundedness or asymptotical stability results for the system’s equilibrium point, and the state variables’ convergence time cannot be theoretically guaranteed. To address these problems, a nonlinear sliding mode-based controller is suggested to accurately drive the boom/rope to their desired positions. Simultaneously, payload swing can be eliminated rapidly with sea waves. As we know, this paper firstly presents a controller by introducing error-related bounded functions into a sliding surface, which can realize boom/rope positioning within a finite time, and both controller design and analysis based on the nonlinear dynamics are implemented without any linearization manipulations. Moreover, the stability analysis is theoretically ensured with the Lyapunov method. Finally, we employ some experiments to validate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2020.1003015
Abstract:
Fault and delay accommodating simultaneously for a class of linear systems subject to state delays, actuator faults and disturbances is investigated in this work. A matrix norm minimization technique is applied to minimize the norms of coefficient matrix on time delay terms of the system in consideration. Compared with the matrix inequality scaling technique, the minimization technique can relax substantially the obtained stability conditions for state delay systems, especially, when the coefficient matrices of time delay terms have a large order of magnitudes. An output feedback adaptive fault-delay tolerant controller (AFDTC) is designed subsequently to stabilize the plant with state delays and actuator faults. Compared with the conventional fault tolerant controller (FTC), the designed output feedback AFDTC can be updated on-line to compensate the effect of both faults and delays on systems. Simulation results under two numerical examples exhibit the effectiveness and merits of the proposed method.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911624
Abstract:
This paper investigates the stability of switched systems with time-varying delay and all unstable subsystems. According to the stable convex combination, we design a state-dependent switching rule. By employing wirtinger integral inequality and Leibniz-Newton formula, the stability results of nonlinear delayed switched systems whose nonlinear terms satisfy Lipschitz condition under the designed state-dependent switching rule are established for different assumptions on time delay. Moreover, some new stability results for linear delayed switched systems are also presented. The effectiveness of the proposed results is validated by three typical numerical examples.
, Available online
Abstract:
Multi-agent systems are usually equipped with open communication infrastructures to improve interactions efficiency, reliability and sustainability. Although technologically cost-effective, this makes them vulnerable to cyber-attacks with potentially catastrophic consequences. To this end, we present a novel control architecture capable to deal with the distributed constrained regulation problem in the presence of time-delay attacks on the agents communication infrastructure. The basic idea consists of orchestrating the interconnected cyber-physical system as a leader-follower configuration so that adequate control actions are computed to isolate the attacked unit before it compromises the system operations. Simulations on a multi-area power system confirm that the proposed control scheme can reconfigure the leader-follower structure in response to denialof-service (DoS) attacks.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911663
Abstract:
In this paper, an open-loop PD-type iterative learning control (ILC) scheme is first proposed for two kinds of distributed parameter systems (DPSs) which are described by parabolic partial differential equations using non-collocated sensors and actuators. Then, a closed-loop PD-type ILC algorithm is extended to a class of distributed parameter systems with a non-collocated single sensor and m actuators when the initial states of the system exist some errors. Under some given assumptions, the convergence conditions of output errors for the systems can be obtained. Finally, one numerical example for a distributed parameter system with a single sensor and two actuators is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed ILC schemes.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2020.1003102
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In this paper, a novel non-monotonic Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional approach is proposed to deal with the stability analysis and stabilization problem of linear discrete time-delay systems. This technique is utilized to relax the monotonic requirement of the Lyapunov-Krasovskii theorem. In this regard, the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional is allowed to increase in a few steps, while being forced to be overall decreasing. As a result, it relays on a larger class of Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals to provide stability of a state-delay system. To this end, using the non-monotonic Lyapunov-Krasovskii theorem, new sufficient conditions are derived regarding linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) to study the global asymptotic stability of state-delay systems. Moreover, new stabilization conditions are also proposed for time-delay systems in this article. Both simulation and experimental results on a pH neutralizing process are provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911738
Abstract:
In networked robot manipulators that deeply integrate control, communication and computation, the controller design needs to take into consideration the limited or costly system resources and the presence of disturbances/uncertainties. To cope with these requirements, this paper proposes a novel dynamic event-triggered robust tracking control method for a one-degree of freedom (DOF) link manipulator with external disturbance and system uncertainties via a reduced-order generalized proportional-integral observer (GPIO). By only using the sampled-data position signal, a new sampled-data robust output feedback tracking controller is proposed based on a reduced-order GPIO to attenuate the undesirable influence of the external disturbance and the system uncertainties. To save the communication resources, we propose a discrete-time dynamic event-triggering mechanism (DETM), where the estimates and the control signal are transmitted and computed only when the proposed discrete-time DETM is violated. It is shown that with the proposed control method, both tracking control properties and communication properties can be significantly improved. Finally, simulation results are shown to demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed control approach.
, Available online
Abstract:
Data volume grows explosively with the proliferation of powerful smartphones and innovative mobile applications. The ability to accurately and extensively monitor and analyze these data is necessary. Much concern in mobile data analysis is related to human beings and their behaviours. Due to the potential value that lies behind these massive data, there have been different proposed approaches for understanding corresponding patterns. To that end, monitoring people’s interactions, whether counting them at fixed locations or tracking them by generating origindestination matrices is crucial. The former can be used to determine the utilization of assets like roads and city attractions. The latter is valuable when planning transport infrastructure. Such insights allow a government to predict the adoption of new roads, new public transport routes, modification of existing infrastructure, and detection of congestion zones, resulting in more efficient designs and improvement. Smartphone data exploration can help research in various fields, e.g., urban planning, transportation, health care, and business marketing. It can also help organizations in decision making, policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation at all levels. This work aims to review the methods and techniques that have been implemented to discover knowledge from mobile phone data. We classify these existing methods and present a taxonomy of the related work by discussing their pros and cons.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2020.1003105
Abstract:
Gaussian belief propagation algorithm (GaBP) is one of the most important distributed algorithms in signal processing and statistical learning involving Markov networks. It is well known that the algorithm correctly computes marginal density functions from a high dimensional joint density function over a Markov network in a finite number of iterations when the underlying Gaussian graph is acyclic. It is also known more recently that the algorithm produces correct marginal means asymptotically for cyclic Gaussian graphs under the condition of walk summability (or generalised diagonal dominance). This paper extends this convergence result further by showing that the convergence is exponential under the generalised diagonal dominance condition, and provides a simple bound for the convergence rate. Our results are derived by combining the known walk summability approach for asymptotic convergence analysis with the control systems approach for stability analysis.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2020.1003090
Abstract:
In this paper we present a CNN based approach for a real time 3D-hand pose estimation from the depth sequence. Prior discriminative approaches have achieved remarkable success but are facing two main challenges: Firstly, the methods are fully supervised hence require large numbers of annotated training data to extract the dynamic information from a hand representation. Secondly, unreliable hand detectors based on strong assumptions or a weak detector which often fail in several situations like complex environment and multiple hands. In contrast to these methods, our method can be considered as semi-supervised as we perform predictive coding of image sequences of hand poses in order to capture latent features underlying a given image without supervision. We then model the hand using a novel latent tree dependency model (LDTM) which transforms internal joint location to an explicit representation. We further combine the modeled hand topology with the pose estimator using data dependent method to jointly learn latent variable of the posterior pose appearance and the pose configuration respectively. Finally, an unsupervised error term which is a part of the recurrent architecture ensures smooth estimations of the final pose. Our experiment on three challenging public datasets, ICVL, MSRA, and NYU demonstrate the significant performance of our method which is comparable or better than state-of-the-art approaches.
, Available online
Abstract:
This paper investigates the secure synchronization control problem for a class of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) with unknown system matrices and intermittent denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. For the attack free case, an optimal control law consisting of a feedback control and a compensated feedforward control is proposed to achieve the synchronization, and the feedback control gain matrix is learned by iteratively solving an Algebraic Riccati Equation (ARE). For considering the attack cases, it is difficult to perform the stability analysis of the synchronization errors by using the existing Lyapunov function method due to the presence of unknown system matrices. In order to overcome this difficulty, a matrix polynomial replacement method is given and it is shown that, the proposed optimal control law can still guarantee the asymptotical convergence of synchronization errors if two inequality conditions related with the DoS attacks hold. Finally, two examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2020.1003093
Abstract:
The parameter identification of a nonlinear Hammerstein-type process is likely to be complex and challenging due to the existence of significant nonlinearity at the input side. In this paper, a new parameter identification strategy for a block-oriented Hammerstein process is proposed using the Haar wavelet operational matrix (HWOM). To determine all the parameters in the Hammerstein model, a special input excitation is utilized to separate the identification problem of the linear subsystem from the complete nonlinear process. During the first test period, a simple step response data is utilized to estimate the linear subsystem dynamics. Then, the overall system response to sinusoidal input is used to estimate nonlinearity in the process. A single-pole fractional order transfer function with time delay is used to model the linear subsystem. In order to reduce the mathematical complexity resulting from the fractional derivatives of signals, a HWOM based algebraic approach is developed. The proposed method is proven to be simple and robust in the presence of measurement noises. The numerical study illustrates the efficiency of the proposed modeling technique through four different nonlinear processes and results are compared with existing methods.
, Available online
Abstract:
In this paper, a new paradigm named parallel dis-tance is presented to measure the data information in parallel driving system. As an example, the core variables in the parallel driving system are measured and evaluated in the parallel distance framework. First, the parallel driving 3.0 system included control and management platform, intelligent vehicle platform and remote-control platform is introduced. Then, Markov chain (MC) is utilized to model the transition probability matrix of control commands in these systems. Furthermore, to distinguish the control variables in artificial and physical driving conditions, different distance calculation methods are enumerated to specify the differences between the virtual and real signals. By doing this, the real system can be guided and the virtual system can be im-proved. Finally, simulation results exhibit the merits and multiple applications of the proposed parallel distance framework.
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Abstract:
An optimal control strategy of winner-take-all (WTA) model is proposed for target tracking and cooperative competition of multi-UAVs. In this model, firstly, based on the artificial potential field method, the artificial potential field function is improved and the fuzzy control decision is designed to realize the trajectory tracking of dynamic targets. Secondly, according to the finite-time convergence high-order differentiator, a double closed-loop UAV speed tracking controller is designed to realize the speed control and tracking of the target tracking trajectory. Numerical simulation results show that the designed speed tracking controller has the advantages of fast tracking, high precision, strong stability and avoiding chattering. Finally, a cooperative competition scheme of multiple UAVs based on WTA is designed to find the minimum control energy from multiple UAVs and realize the optimal control strategy. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation results show that the model has the fast convergence, high control accuracy, strong stability and good robustness.
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Abstract:
Embedded systems have numerous applications in everyday life. Petri-net-based Representation for embedded systems (PRES+) is an important methodology for the modeling and analysis of these embedded systems. For a large complex embedded system, the state space explosion is a difficult problem for PRES+ to model and analyze. The Petri net synthesis method allows one to bypass the state space explosion issue. To solve this problem, as well as model and analyze large complex systems, two synthesis methods for PRES+ are presented in this paper. First, the property preservation of the synthesis shared transition set method is investigated. The property preservation of the synthesis shared transition subnet set method is then studied. An abstraction-synthesis-refinement representation method is proposed. Through this representation method, the synthesis shared transition set approach is used to investigate the property preservation of the synthesis shared transition subnet set operation. Under certain conditions, several important properties of these synthetic nets are preserved, namely reachability, timing, functionality, and liveness. An embedded control system model is used as an example to illustrate the effectiveness of these synthesis methods for PRES+.
, Available online
Abstract:
Due to the critical defects of techniques in fully autonomous vehicles, man-machine cooperative driving is still of great significance in today’s transportation system. Unlike the previous shared control structure, this paper introduces a double loop structure which is applied to indirect shared steering control between driver and automation. In contrast to the tandem indirect shared control, the parallel indirect shared control put the authority allocation system of steering angle into the framework to allocate the corresponding weighting coefficients reasonably and output the final desired steering angle according to the current deviation of vehicle and the accuracy of steering angles. Besides, the active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC) is also added in the frame in order to track the desired steering angle fleetly and accurately as well as restrain the internal and external disturbances effectively which including the steering friction torque, wind speed and ground interference etc. Eventually, we validated the advantages of double loop framework through three sets of double lane change and slalom experiments, respectively. Exactly as we expected, the simulation results show that the double loop structure can effectively reduce the lateral displacement error caused by the driver or the controller, significantly improve the tracking precision and keep great performance in trajectory tracking characteristics when driving errors occur in one of driver and controller.
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Abstract:
This paper discusses a novel rational approximation algorithm of arbitrary-order fractances, which has high order-stability characteristic and wider approximation frequency bandwidth. The fractor has been exploited extensively in various scientific domains. The well-known shortcoming of the existing fractance approximation circuits, such as the oscillation phenomena, is still in great need of special research attention. Motivated by this need, a novel algorithm with high order-stability characteristic and wider approximation frequency bandwidth is introduced. In order to better understand the iterating process, the approximation principle of this algorithm is investigated at first. Next, features of the iterating function and frequency-domain characteristics of the impedance function calculated by this algorithm are researched, respectively. Furthermore, approximation performance comparisons have been made between the corresponding circuit and other types of fractance approximation circuits. Finally, a fractance approximation circuit with the impedance function of negative 2/3-order is designed. The high order-stability characteristic and wider approximation frequency bandwidth are fundamental important advantages, which make our proposed algorithm competitive in practical applications.
, Available online
Abstract:
In many traditional non-rigid structure from motion (NRSFM) approaches, the estimation results of part feature points may significantly deviate from their true values because only the overall estimation error is considered in their models. Aimed at solving this issue, a local deviation-constrained-based column-space-fitting approach is proposed in this paper to alleviate estimation deviation. In our work, an effective model is first constructed with two terms: the overall estimation error, which is computed by a linear subspace representation, and a constraint term, which is based on the variance of the reconstruction error for each frame. Furthermore, an augmented lagrange multipliers (ALM) iterative algorithm is presented to optimize the proposed model. Moreover, a convergence analysis is performed with three steps for the optimization process. As both the overall estimation error and the local deviation are utilized, the proposed method can achieve a good estimation performance and a relatively uniform estimation error distribution for different feature points. Experimental results on several widely used synthetic sequences and real sequences demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed algorithm.
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Abstract:
This paper investigates the distributed model predictive control (MPC) problem of linear systems whose network topologies are changeable by the way of inserting new subsystems, disconnecting existing subsystems, or merely modifying the couplings between different subsystems. To equip live systems with the quick response ability when modifying network topology, while keeping a satisfactory dynamic performance, a novel reconfiguration control scheme based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is presented. In this scheme, the local controllers directly influenced by the structure realignment are redesigned in the reconfiguration control. Meanwhile, by employing the powerful ADMM algorithm, the iterative formulas for solving the reconfigured optimization problem are obtained, which significantly accelerate the computation speed and ensure a timely output of the reconfigured optimal control response. Ultimately, the presented reconfiguration scheme is applied to the level control of a benchmark four-tank plant to illustrate its effectiveness and main characteristics.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911801
Abstract:
Random vector functional link networks (RVFL) is a class of single hidden layer neural networks based on a learner paradigm by which some parameters are randomly selected and contains more information due to the direct links between inputs and outputs. In this paper, combining the advantages of RVFL and the ideas of online sequential extreme learning machine (OS-ELM) and initial-training-free online extreme learning machine (ITF-OELM), a novel online learning algorithm which is named as initial-training-free online random vector functional link (ITF-ORVFL) is investigated for training RVFL. Because the idea of ITF-ORVFL comes from OS-ELM and ITF-OELM, the link vector of RVFL can be analytically determined based on sequentially arriving data by ITF-ORVFL with a high learning speed. Besides a novel variable is added to the update formulae of ITF-ORVFL, and the stability for nonlinear systems based on this learning algorithm is guaranteed. The experiment results indicate that the proposed ITF-ORVFL is effective in estimating nonparametric uncertainty.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911729
Abstract:
In this paper, a kind of lateral stability control strategy is put forward about the four wheel independent drive electric vehicle. The design of control system adopts hierarchical structure. Unlike the previous control strategy, this paper introduces a method which is the combination of sliding mode control and optimal allocation algorithm. According to the driver's operation commands (steering angle and speed), the steady state responses of the sideslip angle and yaw rate are obtained. Based on this, the reference model is built. Upper controller adopts the sliding mode control principle to obtain the desired yawing moment demand. Lower controller is designed to satisfy the desired yawing moment demand by optimal allocation of the tire longitudinal forces. Firstly, the optimization goal is built to minimize the actuator cost. Secondly, the weighted least-square method is used to design the tire longitudinal forces optimization distribution strategy under the constraint conditions of actuator and the friction oval. Beyond that, when the optimal allocation algorithm is not applied, a method of axial load ratio distribution is adopted. Finally, CarSim associated with Simulink simulation experiments are designed under the conditions of different velocities and different pavements. The simulation results show that the control strategy designed in this paper has a good following effect comparing with the reference model and the sideslip angle \begin{document}$\beta$\end{document} is controlled within a small rang at the same time. Beyond that, based on the optimal distribution mode, the electromagnetic torque phase of each wheel can follow the trend of the vertical force of the tire, which shows the effectiveness of the optimal distribution algorithm.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911555
Abstract:
For the complex batch process with characteristics of unequal batch data length, a novel data-driven batch process monitoring method is proposed based on mixed data features analysis and multi-way kernel entropy component analysis (MDFA-MKECA) in this paper. Combining the mechanistic knowledge, different mixed data features of each batch including statistical and thermodynamics entropy features, are extracted to finish data pre-processing. After that, MKECA is applied to reduce data dimensionality and finally establish a monitoring model. The proposed method is applied to a reheating furnace industry process, and the experimental results demonstrate that the MDFA-MKECA method can reduce the calculated amount and effectively provide on-line monitoring of the batch process.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911726
Abstract:
In order to increase the capacity of encrypted information and reduce the loss of information transmission, a three-dimensional scene encryption algorithm based on the phase iteration of the angular spectrum domain is proposed in this paper. The algorithm, which adopts the layer-oriented method, generates the computer generated hologram by encoding the three-dimensional scene. Then the computer generated hologram is encoded into three pure phase functions by adopting the phase iterative algorithm based on angular spectrum domain, and the encryption process is completed. The three-dimensional scene encryption can improve the capacity of the information, and the three-phase iterative algorithm can guarantee the security of the encryption information. The numerical simulation results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper realized the encryption and decryption of three-dimensional scene. At the same time, it can ensure the safety of the encrypted information and increase the capacity of the encrypted information.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911552
Abstract:
Miss distance is a critical parameter of assessing the performance for highly maneuvering targets interception (HMTI). In a realistic terminal guidance system, the control of pursuer \begin{document}$u$\end{document} depends on the estimate of unknown state, thus the miss distance becomes a random variable with a prior unknown distribution. Currently, such a distribution is mainly evaluated by the method of Monte Carlo simulation. In this paper, by integrating the estimation error model of zero-effort miss distance (ZEM) obtained by our previous work, an analytic method for solving the distribution of miss distance is proposed, in which the system is presumed to use a bang-bang control strategy. By comparing with the results of Monte Carlo simulations under four different types of disturbances (maneuvers), the correctness of the proposed method is validated. Results of this paper provide a powerful tool for the design, analysis and performance evaluation of guidance system.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911549
Abstract:
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911732
Abstract:
Path planning and obstacle avoidance are two challenging problems in the study of intelligent robots. In this paper, we develop a new method to alleviate these problems based on deep Q-learning with experience replay and heuristic knowledge. In this method, a neural network has been used to resolve the " curse of dimensionality” issue of the Q-table in reinforcement learning. When a robot is walking in an unknown environment, it collects experience data which is used for training a neural network; such a process is called experience replay. Heuristic knowledge helps the robot avoid blind exploration and provides more effective data for training the neural network. The simulation results show that in comparison with the existing methods, our method can converge to an optimal action strategy with less time and can explore a path in an unknown environment with fewer steps and larger average reward.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911531
Abstract:
This paper investigates the sliding mode control problem for a class of discrete-time nonlinear networked Markovian jump systems in the presence of probabilistic Denial-of-Service attacks. The communication network via which the data is propagated is unsafe and the malicious adversary can attack the system during state feedback. By considering random Denial-of-Service attacks, a new sliding mode variable is designed, which takes into account the distribution information of the probabilistic attacks. Then, by resorting to Lyapunov theory and stochastic analysis methods, sufficient conditions are established for the existence of the desired sliding mode controller, guaranteeing both reachability of the designed sliding surface and stability of the resulting sliding motion. Finally, a simulation example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed sliding mode control algorithm.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911720
Abstract:
In a passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) system, the recovery of collided tag signals on a physical layer can enhance identification efficiency. However, frequency drift is very common in UHF RFID systems, and will have an influence on the recovery on the physical layer. To address the problem of recovery with the frequency drift, this paper adopts a radial basis function (RBF) network to separate the collision signals, and decode the signals via FM0 to recovery collided RFID tags. Numerical results show that the method in this paper has better performance of symbol error rate (SER) and separation efficiency compared to conventional methods when frequency drift occurs.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911528
Abstract:
Structure reconstruction of 3D anatomy from bi-planar X-ray images is a challenging topic. Traditionally, the elastic-model-based method was used to reconstruct 3D shapes by deforming the control points on the elastic mesh. However, the reconstructed shape is not smooth because the limited control points are only distributed on the edge of the elastic mesh. Alternatively, statistical-model-based methods, which include shape-model-based and intensity-model-based methods, are introduced due to their smooth reconstruction. However, both suffer from limitations. With the shape-model-based method, only the boundary profile is considered, leading to the loss of valid intensity information. For the intensity-based-method, the computation speed is slow because it needs to calculate the intensity distribution in each iteration. To address these issues, we propose a new reconstruction method using X-ray images and a specimen’s CT data. Specifically, the CT data provides both the shape mesh and the intensity model of the vertebra. Intensity model is used to generate the deformation field from X-ray images, while the shape model is used to generate the patient specific model by applying the calculated deformation field. Experiments on the public synthetic dataset and clinical dataset show that the average reconstruction errors are 1.1 mm and 1.2 mm, separately. The average reconstruction time is 3 minutes.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911636
Abstract:
The Möller algorithm is a self-stabilizing minor component analysis algorithm. This research document involves the study of the convergence and dynamic characteristics of the Möller algorithm using the deterministic discrete time (DDT) methodology. Unlike other analysis methodologies, the DDT methodology is capable of serving the distinct time characteristic and having no constraint conditions. Through analyzing the dynamic characteristics of the weight vector, several convergence conditions are drawn, which are beneficial for its application. The performing computer simulations and real applications demonstrate the correctness of the analysis’s conclusions.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911534
Abstract:
Hand gesture recognition is a popular topic in computer vision and makes human-computer interaction more flexible and convenient. The representation of hand gestures is critical for recognition. In this paper, we propose a new method to measure the similarity between hand gestures and exploit it for hand gesture recognition. The depth maps of hand gestures captured via the Kinect sensors are used in our method, where the 3D hand shapes can be segmented from the cluttered backgrounds. To extract the pattern of salient 3D shape features, we propose a new descriptor–3D Shape Context, for 3D hand gesture representation. The 3D Shape Context information of each 3D point is obtained in multiple scales because both local shape context and global shape distribution are necessary for recognition. The description of all the 3D points constructs the hand gesture representation, and hand gesture recognition is explored via dynamic time warping algorithm. Extensive experiments are conducted on multiple benchmark datasets. The experimental results verify that the proposed method is robust to noise, articulated variations, and rigid transformations. Our method outperforms state-of-the-art methods in the comparisons of accuracy and efficiency.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911648
Abstract:
The passwords for unlocking the mobile devices are relatively simple, easier to be stolen, which causes serious potential security problems. An important research direction of identity authentication is to establish user behavior models to authenticate users. In this paper, a mobile terminal APP browsing behavioral authentication system architecture which synthesizes multiple factors is designed. This architecture is suitable for users using the mobile terminal APP in the daily life. The architecture includes data acquisition, data processing, feature extraction, and sub model training. We can use this architecture for continuous authentication when the user uses APP at the mobile terminal.
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911627
Abstract:
The stabilization problem of distributed proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers for general first-order multi-agent systems with time delay is investigated in the paper. The closed-loop multi-input multi-output (MIMO) framework in frequency domain is firstly introduced for the multi-agent system. Based on the matrix theory, the whole system is decoupled into several subsystems with respect to the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix. Considering that the eigenvalues may be complex numbers, the consensus problem of the multi-agent system is transformed into the stabilizing problem of all the subsystems with complex coefficients. For each subsystem with complex coefficients, the range of admissible proportional gains \begin{document}${k_{\rm{P}}}$\end{document} is analytically determined. Then, the stabilizing region in the space of integral gain (\begin{document}${k_{\rm{I}}}$\end{document}) and derivative gain (\begin{document}${k_{\rm{D}}}$\end{document}) for a given \begin{document}${k_{\rm{P}}}$\end{document} value is also obtained in an analytical form. The entire stabilizing set can be determined by sweeping \begin{document}${k_{\rm{P}}}$\end{document} in the allowable range. The proposed method is conducted for general first-order multi-agent systems under arbitrary topology including undirected and directed graph topology. Besides, the results in the paper provide the basis for the design of distributed PID controllers satisfying different performance criteria. The simulation examples are presented to check the validity of the proposed control strategy
, Available online  , doi: 10.1109/JAS.2019.1911645
Abstract:
Prediction intervals (PIs) for industrial time series can provide useful guidance for workers. Given that the failure of industrial sensors may cause the missing point in inputs, the existing kernel dynamic Bayesian networks (KDBN), serving as an effective method for PIs construction, suffer from high computational load using the stochastic algorithm for inference. This study proposes a variational inference method for the KDBN for the purpose of fast inference, which avoids the time-consuming stochastic sampling. The proposed algorithm contains two stages. The first stage involves the inference of the missing inputs by using a local linearization based variational inference, and based on the computed posterior distributions over the missing inputs the second stage sees a Gaussian approximation for probability over the nodes in future time slices. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, a synthetic dataset and a practical dataset of generation flow of blast furnace gas (BFG) are employed with different ratios of missing inputs. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can provide reliable PIs for the generation flow of BFG and it exhibits shorter computing time than the stochastic based one.

IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica

• Indexed in: SCIE, EI, Scopus, etc.
CiteScore 2018: 5.31
Rank：Top 9% (Category of Control and Systems Engineering), Top 10% (Categories of Information System and Artificial Intelligence)