High-speed cameras explore more details than normal cameras in the time sequence, while the conventional video sampling suffers from the trade-off between temporal and spatial resolutions due to the sensor’s physical limitation. Compressive sensing overcomes this obstacle by combining the sampling and compression procedures together. A single-pixel-based real-time video acquisition is proposed to record dynamic scenes, and a fast nonconvex algorithm for the nonconvex sorted ℓ1 regularization is applied to reconstruct frame differences using few numbers of measurements. Then, an edge-detection-based denoising method is employed to reduce the error in the frame difference image. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm together with the single-pixel imaging system makes compressive video cameras available.
The conventional photographs only record the sum total of light rays of each point on image plane so that they tell little about the amount of light traveling along individual rays. The focus and lens aberration problems have challenged photographers since the very beginning therefore light field photography was proposed to solve these problems. Lens array and multiple camera systems are used to capture 4D light rays, by reordering the different views of scene from multiple directions. The coded aperture is another method to encode the angular information in frequency domain. However, infrared light field sensing is still widely opening to research. In the paper, we will propose micro plane mirror optics together with compressive sensing algorithm to record light field in infrared spectrum. The micro mirror reflects objects irradiation and forms a virtual image behind the plane in which the mirror lies. The Digital Micromirror (DMD) consists of millions microscale mirrors which work as CCD array in the camera and it is controlled separately so as to project linear combination of object image onto lens. Coded aperture could be utilized to control angular resolution of infrared light rays. The carbon nanotube based infrared detector, which has ultra high signal to noise ratio and ultra fast responsibility, will sum up all image information on it without image distortion. Based on a number of measurements, compressive sensing algorithm was used to recover images from distinct angles, which could compute different views of scene to reconstruct infrared light field scence. Two innovative applications of full image recovery using nano scale photodetector and DMD based synthetic aperture photography will also be discussed in this paper.
Nanocarbon materials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, can potentially overcome the short comes in traditional
infrared detector materials because of their excellent electrical and optical properties such as adjustable electrical band
gap, low dark current, fast optical response time etc. This paper will present the development of an infrared imaging
system that is capable of infrared imaging without cooling. The sensing elements of the system are carbon nanotubes and
graphene. When they are illumined by an infrared light, the nano devices generate photocurrents, respectively. As a
result, infrared images can be presented based on using compressive sensing after the collection of photocurrent from the
nano devices. The development of this imaging system overcomes two major difficulties. First, the system uses singlepixel
nano photodetector, so the pixel crosstalk phenomena of conventional sensor arrays can be eliminated. Second, the
requirement of single-pixel unit reduces the manufacturing difficulties and costs. Under this compressive sensing camera
configuration, 50 × 50 pixel infrared images can be reconstructed efficiently. The results demonstrated a possible
solution to overcome the limitation of current infrared imaging.
Using carbon nanotubes (CNT), high performance infrared detectors have been developed. Since the CNTs have
extraordinary optoelectronics properties due to its unique one dimensional geometry and structure, the CNT
based infrared detectors have extremely low dark current, low noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD),
short response time, and high dynamic range. Most importantly, it can detect 3-5 um middle-wave infrared
(MWIR) at room temperature. This unique feature can significantly reduce the size and weight of a MWIR
imaging system by eliminating a cryogenic cooling system. However, there are two major difficulties that impede
the application of CNT based IR detectors for imaging systems. First, the small diameter of the CNTs results in
low fill factor. Secondly, it is difficult to fabricate large scale of detector array for high resolution focal plane due
to the limitations on the efficiency and cost of the manufacturing. In this paper, a new CNT based IR imaging
system will be presented. Integrating the CNT detectors with photonic crystal resonant cavity, the fill factor
of the CNT based IR sensor can reach as high as 0.91. Furthermore, using the compressive sensing technology,
a high resolution imaging can be achieved by CNT based IR detectors. The experimental testing results show
that the new imaging system can achieve the superb performance enabled by CNT based IR detectors, and, at
the same time, overcame its difficulties to achieve high resolution and efficient imaging.
Recently, scientists have been looking for novel materials to improve the performance of optoelectronic devices.
Graphene opens up new possibilities for infrared (IR) sensing applications. With a zero-bandgap graphene, electron-hole
pairs can be generated easily by low energy photons such as middle-wave infrared signal. We have used an electricfield-
assisted method to manipulate graphene between metal microelectrodes successfully. When a graphene contacts
with a metal, a built-in potential forms at the interface and it separates the electron-hole pairs that flow as photocurrents.
Based on this principle, we demonstrated using the graphene-based devices for infrared detection under a zero-bias
operation. We also tried to apply the devices with positive and negative bias voltages, and results indicated the flow of
photocurrent is independent of the polarity of the bias voltages.
Infrared (IR) detectors are enormously important for various applications including medical diagnosis, night vision etc.
The current bottleneck of high-sensitive IR detectors is the requirement of cryogenic cooling to reduce the noise. Carbon
nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit low dark current which allows CNTs to work without cooling. This paper presents the
development of noncryogenic cooled IR focal plane array (FPA) using CNTs. The FPA consists of an array of CNTbased
IR detectors which are sensitive to IR signal at room temperature. The CNT-based detectors can be made by our
nanomanufacturing process. And the sensitivity of the detectors at a special wavelength can be achieved by selecting and
controlling the bandgap of CNTs during the process. Besides, a readout circuitry has been integrated with the FPA to
retrieve signals from the detectors for high throughput applications.
We report high sensitivity carbon nanotube (CNT) based middle wave infrared (MWIR) sensors with a two-dimensional
photonic crystal waveguide. MWIR sensors are of great importance in a variety of current military applications including
ballistic missile defense, surveillance and target detection. Unlike other existing MWIR sensing materials, CNTs exhibit
low noise level and can be used as new nano sensing materials for MWIR detection where cryogenic cooling is not
required. However, the quantum efficiency of the CNT based infrared sensor is still limited by the small sensing area and
low incoming electric field. Here, a photonic nanostructure is used as a resonant cavity for boosting the electric field
intensity at the position of the CNT sensing element. A two-dimensional photonic crystal with periodic holes in a
polymer thin film is fabricated and a resonant cavity is formed by removing holes from the array of the photonic crystal.
Based on the design of the photonic crystal topologies, we theoretically study the electric field distribution to predict the
resonant behavior of the structure. Numerical simulations reveal the field is enhanced and almost fully confined to the
defect region of the photonic crystal. To verify the electric field enhancement effect, experiments are also performed to
measure the photocurrent response of the sensor with and without the photonic crystal resonant cavity. Experimental
results show that the photocurrent increases ~3 times after adding the photonic crystal resonant cavity.
KEYWORDS: Photodiodes, Signal detection, Staring arrays, Electrodes, Mid-IR, Infrared radiation, Semiconductors, Signal processing, Infrared detectors, Electron transport
This paper presents the development of non-cryogenic-cooling spectrum infrared (IR) focal plane array (FPA) using a
single carbon nanotube (CNT). The FPA consists of an array of CNT-based photodiodes. The CNT-based photodiodes
can be made by our nanomanufacturing process and band gaps of CNTs can be tuned precisely by the electric
breakdown system. As a result, the CNT-based photodiodes with high sensitivity at a special wavelength can be
achieved. In this paper, design, fabrication and experimental results of the CNT-based IR photodiode are reported. The
results indicate that CNTs are very sensitive of middle-wave IR (MWIR) signal at room temperature. Moreover, the performances of the photodiodes have been evaluated. These results suggest that CNTs can be used in high throughput sensing applications.
Carbon nanotube (CNT) has been found to be one of the promising materials for efficient detection and used in different
nanoelectronic devices due to its unique electrical properties. Recently, the applications of nanostructural material to
infrared (IR) sensors are considered. Our group has developed non cryogenic cool and multiple spectrums optical
sensors using single CNT and demonstrated the good sensitivity of CNT to the infrared light in different ranges. In this
paper, design, fabrication and experimental result of the CNT-based optical sensor were described. The results indicated
the band gap of CNTs can be tuned by electrical breakdown process, resulting multiple spectrum sensors can be
developed by controlling the band gap of CNTs. Moreover, the
CNT-based optical sensor detected the near-IR (NIR)
signal and middle-wave IR (MWIR) signal in room temperature environment, the temperature dependency of the sensors
has been studied.
Carbon nanotube (CNT) has been found to be one of the promising materials for efficient detection and used in different
nanoelectronic devices due to its unique electrical properties. Recently, the applications of nanostructural material to
infrared (IR) sensors are considered. Our group developed a color detector using a single CNT and demonstrated the
good sensitivity of CNT to the infrared light in different ranges. In this report, the CNT bandgap engineering was
discussed. The design, fabrication and experimental result of the CNT based color detector were described. The results
indicated the heterogeneous electrode structure increased the signal-to-dark current ratio. Moreover, the CNT based color
detectors were capable to sense near-infrared signal and middle-infrared signal in room temperature environment.
By forming a Schottky barrier with the contact metal, a semiconducting CNT based Schottky photodiode is
formed at the CNT-metal contact. The photogenerated electron-hole pairs within the depletion region of the
Schottky barrier are separated by an external electrical field or the built-in field, producing a photocurrent. How
to efficiently read this photocurrent signal out is an essential problem for the photodetectors. Since a semiconducting
CNT normally forms a Schottky barrier at each CNT-electrode contact, two Schottky photodiodes are
reversely connected and their photocurrents will cancel each other, which makes it difficult to measure the overall
photocurrent. With different materials as the contact electrodes, the asymmetric structure enlarged the difference
between the two CNT-metal contacts. Hence the measurable photocurrent is also enlarged. Furthermore,
since the CNT Schottky barrier is determined by the metal work function and the Fermi level of the CNT, the
Schottky barrier is able to be adjusted by controlling the Fermi level of the CNT with a gate electrode. In this
way, the photocurrent can be optimized to a maximum value by varying the gate voltage. CNT based infrared
detectors with different structures were fabricated and tested. Experimental results showed that the asymmetric
structure and the gate controlled CNT based photodiode could significantly improve the performance of CNT
based infrared detectors.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have a potential to be efficient infrared (IR) detection materials due to their unique
electronic properties. The ballistic electronic transport property makes the noise equivalent temperature difference
smaller compared to other semiconducting materials. In order to explore this potential application, CNT
based IR detectors are fabricated by depositing the CNTs on the substrate surface and then aligning them using
the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) based nanomanipulation system. Normally semicnoductive CNT forms a
Schottky barrier with the contact metal. The photogenerated electron-hole pairs within the Schottky barrier
are seperated by an external electric field or the built-in field, producing a photocurrent. This paper will focus
on the performance evaluation and analysis for the CNT based IR detectors. Experiments were carried out to
investigate the photoresponse of single carbon nanotube based IR detectors. Based on the experimental results,
the detectivity D* and the quantum efficiency are calculated and analyzed. The MWNT IR detector has a quantum
efficiency of 0.313, which is much larger than the reported values of SWNTs. And the SWNT IR detector
has a quantum efficiency of 0.01, which is consistent with the reported values. Both MWNT and SWNT show
a low detectivity. The analysis shows that the performance of CNT based IR detectors can be further improved
by using asymmetric contacts instead of symmetric contacts.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have a potential to be efficient infrared (IR) detection material due to their unique
electronic properties. As a one-dimensional nano-structural material, the ballistic electronic transport property
makes the noise equivalent temperature difference smaller compared with other semi-conducting materials. In
order to verify this unique property, a single pixel CNT-based infrared photodetector is fabricated by depositing
the CNTs on the substrate surface and then aligning them to bridge the electrode gap using the atomic force
microscopy (AFM)-based nano-robotic system. The photon-generated electron-hole pairs within the carbon
nanotube are separated by an external electric field between the two electrodes. The separated carriers contribute
to the current flowing through the carbon nanotube and form the photocurrent. By monitoring the photocurrent,
the incident infrared can be detected and quantified. Experimental results show the good sensitivity of CNTs to
the infrared light.
Conjugated polymers have promising applications as actuators in biomimetic robotics and bio/micromanipulation.
For these applications, it is highly desirable to have predictive models available for feasibility study and design
optimization. In this paper a geometrically-scalable model is presented for trilayer conjugated polymer actuators
based on the diffusive-elastic-metal model. The proposed model characterizes actuation behaviors in terms of
intrinsic material parameters and actuator dimensions. Experiments are conducted on polypyrrole actuators of
different dimensions to validate the developed scaling laws for the quasi-static force and displacement output,
the electrical admittance, and the dynamic displacement response.
As a one-dimensional nanostructural material, carbon nanotube (CNT) has been used to build different nanoelectronic
devices due to its unique electrical properties. In this paper, the infrared (IR) responses of individual
single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) and SWNT film are studied. A single-wall carbon nanotube is assembled
onto a pair of electrodes to form Schottky contacts. The photongenerated electron-hole pairs within the carbon
nanotube are seperated by an external electric field between the two electrodes. The separated carriers contribute
to the current flowing through the carbon nanotube and form photocurrent. By monitoring the photocurrent,
the incident infrared can be detected and quantitated. The single-wall carbon nanotube based infrared sensor
is designed and a series of efficient and reliable fabrication and assembly processes are developed for the sensor
fabrication. With an atomic force microscope based nanomanipulation system as the assembly tool, a single
carbon nanotube can be easily assembled onto the electrodes. Since the assembly process is controllable and
reliable, it becomes possible to fabricate an individual carbon nanotubes based infrared sensor array, which was
difficult to fabricate with other fabrication method. The photocurrent responses of individual SWNT IR sensor
and SWNT film IR sensor are measured and analyzed. Experimental results show the good sensitivity of SWNTs
to the infrared light. Our results shows a three orders higher photocurrent than the previous reported results.
It has also been shown that an individual SWNT IR sensor is more sensitive than a SWNT film IR sensor.
Compact sensing methods are desirable for ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators in microrobotic and biomedical applications. In this paper a novel sensing scheme for IPMC actuators is proposed by integrating an IPMC with a PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) thin film. The problem of feedthrough coupling from the actuation signal to the sensing signal, arising from the proximity of IPMC and PVDF, presents a significant challenge in real-time implementation. To reduce the coupling while minimizing the stiffening effect, the thickness of the insulating layer is properly chosen based on the Young's modulus measurement of the IPMC/PVDF structures. Furthermore, a nonlinear circuit model is proposed to capture the dynamics of the still significant coupling effect, and its parameters are identified through a nonlinear fitting process. A compensation scheme based on this model is then implemented to extract the correct sensing signal. Experimental results show that the developed IPMC/PVDF structure, together with the compensation algorithm, can perform effective, simultaneous actuation and sensing. As a first application, the sensori-actuator has been successfully used for the open-loop micro-injection of living Drosophila embryos.
Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have a potential to be efficient infrared (IR) detection materials due to their unique electronic properties. The ballistic electronic transport property makes the noise equivalent temperature difference smaller compared to other semi-conducting materials. By overlaying CNT-based mid-IR (3-5μ) detectors on a
long-wave IR (8-15μ) focal plane array, the mid-IR detector causes no filters loss. In order to verify this approach, a single pixel CNT- based infrared photodetector is fabricated by depositing the CNTs on the substrate surface and then aligning them using the atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based nanomanipulation system. Functionality of the single pixel CNT infrared detector is then verified and dark current is analyzed experimentally.
KEYWORDS: Mobile robots, Robotic systems, Sensor networks, Sensors, Control systems, Systems modeling, Motion models, Space robots, Computer simulations, Detection and tracking algorithms
This paper presents a novel model and distributed algorithms for the cooperation and redeployment of mobile sensor networks. A mobile sensor network composes of a collection of wireless connected mobile robots equipped with a variety of sensors. In such a sensor network, each mobile node has sensing, computation, communication, and locomotion capabilities. The locomotion ability enhances the autonomous deployment of the system. The system can be rapidly deployed to hostile environment, inaccessible terrains or disaster relief operations. The mobile sensor network is essentially a cooperative multiple robot system. This paper first presents a peer-to-peer model to define the relationship between neighboring communicating robots. Delaunay Triangulation and Voronoi diagrams are used to define the geometrical relationship between sensor nodes. This distributed model allows formal analysis for the fusion of spatio-temporal sensory information of the network. Based on the distributed model, this paper discusses a fault tolerant algorithm for autonomous self-deployment of the mobile robots. The algorithm considers the environment constraints, the presence of obstacles and the nonholonomic constraints of the robots. The distributed algorithm enables the system to reconfigure itself such that the area covered by the system can be enlarged. Simulation results have shown the effectiveness of the distributed model and deployment algorithms.
The ability to manipulation of biological cells while having reflective-force information from the cells is a key technology necessary for many new applications in Bio-MEMS, but is currently lacking in all cellular manipulators. We will report on our preliminary experimental work in using an Ionic Conducting Polymer Film (ICPF) to develop a biological cell robotic gripper with force sensing capability. ICPF actuators are able to give large deflection with small input voltage (~5V), and also able to give relatively large output voltage due to deflection by a mechanical forces, thus are investigated as a possible material to make force-feedback controlled cellular manipulators in our work. A laser micromachining process is introduced to fabricate arrays of ICPF griping devices, which can be potentially integrated onto a substrate to develop a micro manipulation system. Individual multi-finger grippers with dimensions of 200micrometers x 200micrometers x 3000micrometers for each finger were realized. We will report on the design, fabrication procedures, and operating performance of these micro-grippers. Further development in the reduction of size of these actuators will enable effective force-feedback control of underwater micro objects and lead to new frontiers in cellular manipulation.
A new design method for non-time based tracking controller is presented. The key to the non-time based control method is the introduction of a suitable action or motion reference variable other than time, which is directly related to the desired and measurable system output.It enables the construction of control system with integrated planning capability, in which planning becomes real-time closed-loop process. The new design method converts a controller designed by traditional time-based approach to a non-time based controller using action reference. It significantly simplifies the design procedure. The design method is exemplified by a unmanned vehicle tracking control problem. The design procedure and simulation results demonstrate the advantages of proposed method.
The real challenge in development of the Internet-based robotic system is to develop a new planning and control method which is capable of coupling with the random communication time delay and independent of a human operator. The technical difficulties include that there does not exist a realistic mathematical model for the Internet time-delay which can be used to design a controller; the probabilistic type of analysis based on a stochastic model is usually not acceptable for some applications such as telemedicine. It is even more difficult to study the common nature of the role of human operators beyond the individual mechanical character. This paper explores a new method for planning and control of Internet-based telerobotic system. The significance of the method is that it can effectively deal with the random time-delay existing in the Internet. In addition, the system stability and dynamic performance is independent of human operator. First, a novel non-time referenced action control scheme will be introduced. Instead of using time as an action reference, a new sensor-based action reference will be developed. As a result, the communication delay will have little impact on the operations, in particular the stability of the system. Furthermore the stability of the system is not dependent on the model of the human operator in the system. All these will lead to the development of the theoretical foundation on the stability of Internet-based telerobotic systems. The implementations and experimental outcomes presented herein will verify the theoretical results.
This paper is devoted to the control problem of a robot manipulator for a class of constrained motions in an unknown environment. To accomplish a task in the presence of uncertainties, we propose a new guidance and control strategy based on multisensor fusion. Three different sensors-robot joint encoders, a wrist force-torque sensor and a vision system--are utilized for our task. First of all, a sensor-based hybrid position/force control scheme is proposed for an unknown contact surface. Secondly, a new multisensor fusion scheme is utilized to handle an uncalibrated workcell, wherein the surface on which there is a path to be followed by a robot is assumed to be unknown but visible by the vision system and the precise position and orientation of camera(s) with respect to the base frame of the robot is also assumed to be unknown. Our work is related with areas such as visual servoing, multisensor fusion and robot control for constrained motion. The main features of the proposed approach are: (1) multi-sensor fusion is used both for two disparate sensors (i.e. force- torque and visual sensors) and for complementary observed data rather than redundant ones as in traditional way; (2) visual servoing is realized on the tangent space of the unknown surface; (3) calibration of the camera with respect to the robot is not needed.
KEYWORDS: Control systems, Manufacturing, Sensing systems, System integration, Systems modeling, Intelligence systems, Reliability, Robotics, Robotic systems
This paper presents a novel approach for solving the challenging problem in intelligent control of manufacturing systems, i.e. the integration of low-level system sensing and simple control with high-level system behavior and perception. The proposed Max-Plus Algebra model combined with event-based planning and control provides a mechanism to efficiently integrate task scheduling, sensing, planning and real-time execution so that task scheduling, which usually deals with discrete types of events, as well as action planning, which usually deals with continuous events, can be treated systematically in a unified analytical model. More importantly, the unique feature of this approach is that interactions between discrete and continuous events can be considered in a unified framework. This feature allows the manufacturing system to intelligently cope with unexpected events and uncertainties so that the efficiency and reliability of the task schedule and action plan can increase significantly. A robotic manufacturing system is used to illustrate the proposed approach. The experimental results clearly demonstrate the advantages of the proposed approach.
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has demonstrated, evaluated, and deployed a telerobotic approach for the remote retrieval of hazardous and radioactive wastes from underground storage tanks. The telerobotic system, built by Spar Aerospace Ltd., is capable of dislodging and removing sludge and gravel- like wastes without endangering the human operators through contact with the environment. Working in partnership with Washington University, ORNL has implemented an Event based planner/function based sharing control (FBSC) as an integral part of their overall telerobotic architecture. These aspects of the system enable the seamless union of the human operator and an autonomous controller in such a way to emphasize safety without any loss of performance. The cooperation between ORNL, Spar, and Washington University requires an open and modular control software architecture to enable the parallel development of various components of the system. ControlShell has been used as the underlying software architecture to help meet these criteria of generality and modularity.
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