We present a framework to enable a fleet of rigidly attached quadrotor aerial robots to transport heavy objects along a known reference trajectory without inter-robot communication or centralized coordination. Leveraging a distributed wrench controller, we provide exponential stability guarantees for the entire assembly, under a mild geometric condition. This is achieved by each quadrotor independently solving a local optimization problem to counteract the biased torque effects from each robot in the assembly. We rigorously analyze the controllability of the object, design a distributed compensation scheme to address these challenges, and show that the resulting strategy collectively guarantees full group control authority. To ensure feasibility for online implementation, we derive bounds on the net desired control wrench, characterize the output wrench space of each quadrotor, and perform subsequent trajectory optimization under these input constraints. We thoroughly validate our method in simulation with eight quadrotors transporting a heavy object in a cluttered environment subject to various sources of uncertainty, and demonstrate the algorithm's resilience.

We consider a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) relaying broadcast channel in downlink cellular networks, where the base station and the relay stations are both equipped with multiple antennas, and each user terminal has only a single antenna. In practical scenarios, channel estimation is imperfect at the receivers. Aiming to maximize the signal-to-interference noise ratio (SINR), at each user, we develop two robust linear beamforming schemes for the single-relay case and the multirelay case, respectively. The two proposed schemes are based on singular value decomposition (SVD), minimum mean square error (MMSE), and regularized zero forcing (RZF). Simulation results show that the proposed scheme outperforms the conventional schemes with imperfect channel estimation.

Cement-based components have been widely used in civil engineering structures. However, due to wearing and deterioration, the cement-based components may have brittle failure. To provide early warning and to support predictive reinforcement, the piezoelectric materials are embedded into the cement-based components to excite and receive elastic waves. By recognizing the abnormalities in the elastic waves, hidden damage can be identified in advance. However, few research has been published regarding the damage quantification. In this paper, the wavelet packet analysis is adopted to calculate the energy of the transmitted elastic waves based on the improved piezoelectric aggregates (IPAs). Due to the growth of the damage, less elastic waves can pass through the damage zone, decreasing the energy of the acquired signals. A set of cement beams with different crack depths at the mid-span is tested in both numerical and experimental ways. A damage quantification index, namely the wavelet packet-based energy index (WPEI), is developed. Both the numerical and experimental results demonstrate that the WPEI decreases with respect to the crack depth. Based on the regression analysis, a strong linear relationship has been observed between the WPEI and the crack depth. By referring to the linear relationship, the crack depth can be estimated by the WPEI with a good accuracy. The results demonstrated that the use of the IPAs and the WPEI can fulfill the real-time quantification of the crack depth in the cement beams.

In this paper, we consider a dual-hop multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) wireless multirelay network, in which a source-destination pair, both equipped with multiple antennas, communicates through multiple half-duplex amplify-and-forward (AF) relay terminals, which are also with multiple antennas. Since perfect channel-state information (CSI) is difficult to obtain in a practical multirelay network, we consider imperfect CSI for all channels. We focus on maximizing the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the destination. We propose a novel robust linear beamforming at the relays, based on the QR decomposition filter at the destination node, which performs successive interference cancellation (SIC). Using the law of large numbers, we obtain the asymptotic rate in the presence of imperfect CSI, upon which the proposed relay beamforming is optimized. Simulation results show that the asymptotic rate matches with the ergodic rate well. Analysis and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed beamforming outperforms the conventional beamforming schemes for any power of CSI errors and SNR regions.

A pulsed power supply of a 1.5-MJ capacitor bank has been developed for high-current high-velocity sliding electrical contact studies in railgun launches. The system consists of 8 small modules, each with a capacitance of 15 mF, and one large module with a capacitance of 54 mF. All of nine modules use triggered spark gaps as the main switches. Various shapes of high-current pulse can be formed by controlling the charging voltage and firing time of each module. The small module has been designed for the maximum operating voltage of 5 kV, the peak current of 140 kA, the pulse rise time of 0.9 ms, in which semiconducting diode stack is used as crowbar switch. Since the large module has no crowbar switch and relatively small pulse forming inductance, it can supply high-amplitude oscillating current waveform. The effects of the large module are threefold. First, the large module provides a basic current on which the currents of small modules superimpose to form a nearly constant driving current of armature. Second, the oscillating nature of the current can drastically reduce the muzzle arc current; hence suppression of the muzzle arc can be obtained. Third, the crowbar switch can be removed and therefore the cost of the system can be reduced. The experiments were performed to verify the operation performances of the two kinds of modules, where the modules were discharged simultaneously and/or sequentially. The feasibility of large module on the muzzle arc control is also examined. The results of the experiments show that a total current of 400 kA with a 1.5 ms flat-top time can be obtained and all the modules show good performance during the railgun firing.

Lamb waves have shown promising advantages for damage identification in thin-walled structures. Multiple modes of Lamb wave provide diverse sensitivities to different types of damage. To sufficiently utilize damage-related wave features, damage indices were developed by using hybrid Lamb wave modes from Hilbert-Huang spectra. Damage indices were defined as surface integrals of Hilbert-Huang spectra on featured regions determined by time and frequency windowing. The time windowing was performed according to individual propagation velocity of different Lamb wave mode, while the frequency windowing was performed according to the frequency of excitation. By summing damage indices for all transmitter-receiver pairs, pixels were calculated to reconstruct a damage map to characterize the degree of damage at each location on structure. Both numerical and experimental validations were conducted to identify a nonpenetrating damage. The results demonstrated that the proposed damage indices using hybrid Lamb wave modes are more sensitive and robust than the one using single Lamb wave mode.