Academic literature on the topic 'Mekatronik och systems engineering'

A new synthetic route to prepare II–VI nanoscale materials, such as CdS nanorods and ZnSe nanoparticles is demonstrated and the advantage of using nonionic triblock copolymer systems,i.e., H (– OCH 2 CH 2)x[– OCH ( CH 3)– CH 2]y(– OCH 2 CH 2)y– OH , or ( EO )x( PO )y( EO )x as structure-directing agents in the synthesis of low dimension nanomaterials is introduced. The effect of (EO)/(PO) ratio in controlling the diameter and the morphology of the final product is addressed. The employ of F127 [( EO )106( PO )70( EO )106] as a surfactant-template to study the temperature-dependent size-selection of ZnSe nanoparticles is also presented. We observe that the larger ZnSe nanoparticles are arrested first by the hydrophilic fractions of triblock copolymers F127, while the smaller particles still remain their thermal motion in the aqueous phase.

Augmented Reality—The Liminal Zone Within the larger context of the post-desktop technological philosophy and practice, an increasing number of efforts are directed towards finding solutions for integrating as close as possible virtual information into specific real environments; a short list of such endeavors include Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS-driven navigation, mobile phones, GIS (Geographic Information System), and various technological systems associated with what is loosely called locative, ubiquitous and pervasive computing. Augmented Reality (AR) is directly related to these technologies, although its visualization capabilities and the experience it provides assure it a particular place within this general trend. Indeed, AR stands out for its unique capacity (or ambition) to offer a seamless combination—or what I call here an effect of convergence—of the real scene perceived by the user with virtual information overlaid on that scene interactively and in real time. The augmented scene is perceived by the viewer through the use of different displays, the most common being the AR glasses (head-mounted display), video projections or monitors, and hand-held mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, increasingly popular nowadays. One typical example of AR application is Layar, a browser that layers information of public interest—delivered through an open-source content management system—over the actual image of a real space, streamed live on the mobile phone display. An increasing number of artists employ this type of mobile AR apps to create artworks that consist in perceptually combining material reality and virtual data: as the user points the smartphone or tablet to a specific place, virtual 3D-modelled graphics or videos appear in real time, seamlessly inserted in the image of that location, according to the user’s position and orientation. In the engineering and IT design fields, one of the first researchers to articulate a coherent conceptualization of AR and to underlie its specific capabilities is Ronald Azuma. He writes that, unlike Virtual Reality (VR) which completely immerses the user inside a synthetic environment, AR supplements reality, therefore enhancing “a user’s perception of and interaction with the real world” (355-385). Another important contributor to the foundation of AR as a concept and as a research field is industrial engineer Paul Milgram. He proposes a comprehensive and frequently cited definition of “Mixed Reality” (MR) via a schema that includes the entire spectrum of situations that span the “continuum” between actual reality and virtual reality, with “augmented reality” and “augmented virtuality” between the two poles (283). Important to remark with regard to terminology (MR or AR) is that especially in the non-scientific literature, authors do not always explain a preference for either MR or AR. This suggests that the two terms are understood as synonymous, but it also provides evidence for my argument that, outside of the technical literature, AR is considered a concept rather than a technology. Here, I use the term AR instead of MR considering that the phrase AR (and the integrated idea of augmentation) is better suited to capturing the convergence effect. As I will demonstrate in the following lines, the process of augmentation (i.e. the convergence effect) is the result of an enhancement of the possibilities to perceive and understand the world—through adding data that augment the perception of reality—and not simply the product of a mix. Nevertheless, there is surely something “mixed” about this experience, at least for the fact that it combines reality and virtuality. The experiential result of combining reality and virtuality in the AR process is what media theorist Lev Manovich calls an “augmented space,” a perceptual liminal zone which he defines as “the physical space overlaid with dynamically changing information, multimedia in form and localized for each user” (219). The author derives the term “augmented space” from the term AR (already established in the scientific literature), but he sees AR, and implicitly augmented space, not as a strictly defined technology, but as a model of visuality concerned with the intertwining of the real and virtual: “it is crucial to see this as a conceptual rather than just a technological issue – and therefore as something that in part has already been an element of other architectural and artistic paradigms” (225-6). Surely, it is hard to believe that AR has appeared in a void or that its emergence is strictly related to certain advances in technological research. AR—as an artistic manifestation—is informed by other attempts (not necessarily digital) to merge real and fictional in a unitary perceptual entity, particularly by installation art and Virtual Reality (VR) environments. With installation art, AR shares the same spatial strategy and scenographic approach—they both construct “fictional” areas within material reality, that is, a sort of mise-en-scène that are aesthetically and socially produced and centered on the active viewer. From the media installationist practice of the previous decades, AR inherited the way of establishing a closer spatio-temporal interaction between the setting, the body and the electronic image (see for example Bruce Nauman’s Live-Taped Video Corridor [1970], Peter Campus’s Interface [1972], Dan Graham’s Present Continuous Pasts(s) [1974], Jeffrey Shaw’s Viewpoint [1975], or Jim Campbell’s Hallucination [1988]). On the other hand, VR plays an important role in the genealogy of AR for sharing the same preoccupation for illusionist imagery and—at least in some AR projects—for providing immersive interactions in “expanded image spaces experienced polysensorily and interactively” (Grau 9). VR artworks such as Paul Sermon, Telematic Dreaming (1992), Char Davies’ Osmose (1995), Michael Naimark’s Be Now Here (1995-97), Maurice Benayoun’s World Skin: A Photo Safari in the Land of War (1997), Luc Courchesne’s Where Are You? (2007-10), are significant examples for the way in which the viewer can be immersed in “expanded image-spaces.” Offering no view of the exterior world, the works try instead to reduce as much as possible the critical distance the viewer might have to the image he/she experiences. Indeed, AR emerged in great part from the artistic and scientific research efforts dedicated to VR, but also from the technological and artistic investigations of the possibilities of blending reality and virtuality, conducted in the previous decades. For example, in the 1960s, computer scientist Ivan Sutherland played a crucial role in the history of AR contributing to the development of display solutions and tracking systems that permit a better immersion within the digital image. Another important figure in the history of AR is computer artist Myron Krueger whose experiments with “responsive environments” are fundamental as they proposed a closer interaction between participant’s body and the digital object. More recently, architect and theorist Marcos Novak contributed to the development of the idea of AR by introducing the concept of “eversion”, “the counter-vector of the virtual leaking out into the actual”. Today, AR technological research and the applications made available by various developers and artists are focused more and more on mobility and ubiquitous access to information instead of immersivity and illusionist effects. A few examples of mobile AR include applications such as Layar, Wikitude—“world browsers” that overlay site-specific information in real-time on a real view (video stream) of a place, Streetmuseum (launched in 2010) and Historypin (launched in 2011)—applications that insert archive images into the street-view of a specific location where the old images were taken, or Google Glass (launched in 2012)—a device that provides the wearer access to Google’s key Cloud features, in situ and in real time. Recognizing the importance of various technological developments and of the artistic manifestations such as installation art and VR as predecessors of AR, we should emphasize that AR moves forward from these artistic and technological models. AR extends the installationist precedent by proposing a consistent and seamless integration of informational elements with the very physical space of the spectator, and at the same time rejects the idea of segregating the viewer into a complete artificial environment like in VR systems by opening the perceptual field to the surrounding environment. Instead of leaving the viewer in a sort of epistemological “lust” within the closed limits of the immersive virtual systems, AR sees virtuality rather as a “component of experiencing the real” (Farman 22). Thus, the questions that arise—and which this essay aims to answer—are: Do we have a specific spatial dimension in AR? If yes, can we distinguish it as a different—if not new—spatial and aesthetic paradigm? Is AR’s intricate topology able to be the place not only of convergence, but also of possible tensions between its real and virtual components, between the ideal of obtaining a perceptual continuity and the inherent (technical) limitations that undermine that ideal? Converging Spaces in the Artistic Mode: Between Continuum and Discontinuum As key examples of the way in which AR creates a specific spatial experience—in which convergence appears as a fluctuation between continuity and discontinuity—I mention three of the most accomplished works in the field that, significantly, expose also the essential role played by the interface in providing this experience: Living-Room 2 (2007) by Jan Torpus, Under Scan (2005-2008) by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Hans RichtAR (2013) by John Craig Freeman and Will Pappenheimer. The works illustrate the three main categories of interfaces used for AR experience: head-attached, spatial displays, and hand-held (Bimber 2005). These types of interface—together with all the array of adjacent devices, software and tracking systems—play a central role in determining the forms and outcomes of the user’s experience and consequently inform in a certain measure the aesthetic and socio-cultural interpretative discourse surrounding AR. Indeed, it is not the same to have an immersive but solitary experience, or a mobile and public experience of an AR artwork or application. The first example is Living-Room 2 an immersive AR installation realized by a collective coordinated by Jan Torpus in 2007 at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts FHNW, Basel, Switzerland. The work consists of a built “living-room” with pieces of furniture and domestic objects that are perceptually augmented by means of a “see-through” Head Mounted Display. The viewer perceives at the same time the real room and a series of virtual graphics superimposed on it such as illusionist natural vistas that “erase” the walls, or strange creatures that “invade” the living-room. The user can select different augmenting “scenarios” by interacting with both the physical interfaces (the real furniture and objects) and the graphical interfaces (provided as virtual images in the visual field of the viewer, and activated via a handheld device). For example, in one of the scenarios proposed, the user is prompted to design his/her own extended living room, by augmenting the content and the context of the given real space with different “spatial dramaturgies” or “AR décors.” Another scenario offers the possibility of creating an “Ecosystem”—a real-digital world perceived through the HMD in which strange creatures virtually occupy the living-room intertwining with the physical configuration of the set design and with the user’s viewing direction, body movement, and gestures. Particular attention is paid to the participant’s position in the room: a tracking device measures the coordinates of the participant’s location and direction of view and effectuates occlusions of real space and then congruent superimpositions of 3D images upon it. Figure 1: Jan Torpus, Living-Room 2 (Ecosystems), Augmented Reality installation (2007). Courtesy of the artist. Figure 2: Jan Torpus, Living-Room 2 (AR decors), Augmented Reality installation (2007). Courtesy of the artist.In this sense, the title of the work acquires a double meaning: “living” is both descriptive and metaphoric. As Torpus explains, Living-Room is an ambiguous phrase: it can be both a living-room and a room that actually lives, an observation that suggests the idea of a continuum and of immersion in an environment where there are no apparent ruptures between reality and virtuality. Of course, immersion is in these circumstances not about the creation of a purely artificial secluded space of experience like that of the VR environments, but rather about a dialogical exercise that unifies two different phenomenal levels, real and virtual, within a (dis)continuous environment (with the prefix “dis” as a necessary provision). Media theorist Ron Burnett’s observations about the instability of the dividing line between different levels of experience—more exactly, of the real-virtual continuum—in what he calls immersive “image-worlds” have a particular relevance in this context: Viewing or being immersed in images extend the control humans have over mediated spaces and is part of a perceptual and psychological continuum of struggle for meaning within image-worlds. Thinking in terms of continuums lessens the distinctions between subjects and objects and makes it possible to examine modes of influence among a variety of connected experiences. (113) It is precisely this preoccupation to lessen any (or most) distinctions between subjects and objects, and between real and virtual spaces, that lays at the core of every artistic experiment under the AR rubric. The fact that this distinction is never entirely erased—as Living-Room 2 proves—is part of the very condition of AR. The ambition to create a continuum is after all not about producing perfectly homogenous spaces, but, as Ron Burnett points out (113), “about modalities of interaction and dialogue” between real worlds and virtual images. Another way to frame the same problematic of creating a provisional spatial continuum between reality and virtuality, but this time in a non-immersive fashion (i.e. with projective interface means), occurs in Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Under Scan (2005-2008). The work, part of the larger series Relational Architecture, is an interactive video installation conceived for outdoor and indoor environments and presented in various public spaces. It is a complex system comprised of a powerful light source, video projectors, computers, and a tracking device. The powerful light casts shadows of passers-by within the dark environment of the work’s setting. A tracking device indicates where viewers are positioned and permits the system to project different video sequences onto their shadows. Shot in advance by local videographers and producers, the filmed sequences show full images of ordinary people moving freely, but also watching the camera. As they appear within pedestrians’ shadows, the figurants interact with the viewers, moving and establishing eye contact. Figure 3: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Under Scan (Relational Architecture 11), 2005. Shown here: Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom, 2008. Photo by: Antimodular Research. Courtesy of the artist. Figure 4: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Under Scan (Relational Architecture 11), 2005. Shown here: Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom, 2008. Photo by: Antimodular Research. Courtesy of the artist. One of the most interesting attributes of this work with respect to the question of AR’s (im)possible perceptual spatial continuity is its ability to create an experientially stimulating and conceptually sophisticated play between illusion and subversion of illusion. In Under Scan, the integration of video projections into the real environment via the active body of the viewer is aimed at tempering as much as possible any disparities or dialectical tensions—that is, any successive or alternative reading—between real and virtual. Although non-immersive, the work fuses the two levels by provoking an intimate but mute dialogue between the real, present body of the viewer and the virtual, absent body of the figurant via the ambiguous entity of the shadow. The latter is an illusion (it marks the presence of a body) that is transcended by another illusion (video projection). Moreover, being “under scan,” the viewer inhabits both the “here” of the immediate space and the “there” of virtual information: “the body” is equally a presence in flesh and bones and an occurrence in bits and bytes. But, however convincing this reality-virtuality pseudo-continuum would be, the spatial and temporal fragmentations inevitably persist: there is always a certain break at the phenomenological level between the experience of real space, the bodily absence/presence in the shadow, and the displacements and delays of the video image projection. Figure 5: John Craig Freeman and Will Pappenheimer, Hans RichtAR, augmented reality installation included in the exhibition “Hans Richter: Encounters”, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013. Courtesy of the artists. Figure 6: John Craig Freeman and Will Pappenheimer, Hans RichtAR, augmented reality installation included in the exhibition “Hans Richter: Encounters”, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013. Courtesy of the artists. The third example of an AR artwork that engages the problem of real-virtual spatial convergence as a play between perceptual continuity and discontinuity, this time with the use of hand-held mobile interface is Hans RichtAR by John Craig Freeman and Will Pappenheimer. The work is an AR installation included in the exhibition “Hans Richter: Encounters” at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in 2013. The project recreates the spirit of the 1929 exhibition held in Stuttgart entitled Film und Foto (“FiFo”) for which avant-garde artist Hans Richter served as film curator. Featured in the augmented reality is a re-imaging of the FiFo Russian Room designed by El Lissitzky where a selection of Russian photographs, film stills and actual film footage was presented. The users access the work through tablets made available at the exhibition entrance. Pointing the tablet at the exhibition and moving around the room, the viewer discovers that a new, complex installation is superimposed on the screen over the existing installation and gallery space at LACMA. The work effectively recreates and interprets the original design of the Russian Room, with its scaffoldings and surfaces at various heights while virtually juxtaposing photography and moving images, to which the authors have added some creative elements of their own. Manipulating and converging real space and the virtual forms in an illusionist way, AR is able—as one of the artists maintains—to destabilize the way we construct representation. Indeed, the work makes a statement about visuality that complicates the relationship between the visible object and its representation and interpretation in the virtual realm. One that actually shows the fragility of establishing an illusionist continuum, of a perfect convergence between reality and represented virtuality, whatever the means employed. AR: A Different Spatial Practice Regardless the degree of “perfection” the convergence process would entail, what we can safely assume—following the examples above—is that the complex nature of AR operations permits a closer integration of virtual images within real space, one that, I argue, constitutes a new spatial paradigm. This is the perceptual outcome of the convergence effect, that is, the process and the product of consolidating different—and differently situated—elements in real and virtual worlds into a single space-image. Of course, illusion plays a crucial role as it makes permeable the perceptual limit between the represented objects and the material spaces we inhabit. Making the interface transparent—in both proper and figurative senses—and integrating it into the surrounding space, AR “erases” the medium with the effect of suspending—at least for a limited time—the perceptual (but not ontological!) differences between what is real and what is represented. These aspects are what distinguish AR from other technological and artistic endeavors that aim at creating more inclusive spaces of interaction. However, unlike the CAVE experience (a display solution frequently used in VR applications) that isolates the viewer within the image-space, in AR virtual information is coextensive with reality. As the example of the Living-Room 2 shows, regardless the degree of immersivity, in AR there is no such thing as dismissing the real in favor of an ideal view of a perfect and completely controllable artificial environment like in VR. The “redemptive” vision of a total virtual environment is replaced in AR with the open solution of sharing physical and digital realities in the same sensorial and spatial configuration. In AR the real is not denounced but reflected; it is not excluded, but integrated. Yet, AR distinguishes itself also from other projects that presuppose a real-world environment overlaid with data, such as urban surfaces covered with screens, Wi-Fi enabled areas, or video installations that are not site-specific and viewer inclusive. Although closely related to these types of projects, AR remains different, its spatiality is not simply a “space of interaction” that connects, but instead it integrates real and virtual elements. Unlike other non-AR media installations, AR does not only place the real and virtual spaces in an adjacent position (or replace one with another), but makes them perceptually convergent in an—ideally—seamless way (and here Hans RichtAR is a relevant example). Moreover, as Lev Manovich notes, “electronically augmented space is unique – since the information is personalized for every user, it can change dynamically over time, and it is delivered through an interactive multimedia interface” (225-6). Nevertheless, as our examples show, any AR experience is negotiated in the user-machine encounter with various degrees of success and sustainability. Indeed, the realization of the convergence effect is sometimes problematic since AR is never perfectly continuous, spatially or temporally. The convergence effect is the momentary appearance of continuity that will never take full effect for the viewer, given the internal (perhaps inherent?) tensions between the ideal of seamlessness and the mostly technical inconsistencies in the visual construction of the pieces (such as real-time inadequacy or real-virtual registration errors). We should note that many criticisms of the AR visualization systems (being them practical applications or artworks) are directed to this particular aspect related to the imperfect alignment between reality and digital information in the augmented space-image. However, not only AR applications can function when having an estimated (and acceptable) registration error, but, I would state, such visual imperfections testify a distinctive aesthetic aspect of AR. The alleged flaws can be assumed—especially in the artistic AR projects—as the “trace,” as the “tool’s stroke” that can reflect the unique play between illusion and its subversion, between transparency of the medium and its reflexive strategy. In fact this is what defines AR as a different perceptual paradigm: the creation of a convergent space—which will remain inevitably imperfect—between material reality and virtual information.References Azuma, Ronald T. “A Survey on Augmented Reality.” Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 6.4 (Aug. 1997): 355-385. < http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/knowledge_base/ARfinal.pdf >. Benayoun, Maurice. World Skin: A Photo Safari in the Land of War. 1997. Immersive installation: CAVE, Computer, video projectors, 1 to 5 real photo cameras, 2 to 6 magnetic or infrared trackers, shutter glasses, audio-system, Internet connection, color printer. Maurice Benayoun, Works. < http://www.benayoun.com/projet.php?id=16 >. Bimber, Oliver, and Ramesh Raskar. Spatial Augmented Reality. Merging Real and Virtual Worlds. Wellesley, Massachusetts: AK Peters, 2005. 71-92. Burnett, Ron. How Images Think. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004. Campbell, Jim. Hallucination. 1988-1990. Black and white video camera, 50 inch rear projection video monitor, laser disc players, custom electronics. Collection of Don Fisher, San Francisco. Campus, Peter. Interface. 1972. Closed-circuit video installation, black and white camera, video projector, light projector, glass sheet, empty, dark room. Centre Georges Pompidou Collection, Paris, France. Courchesne, Luc. Where Are You? 2005. Immersive installation: Panoscope 360°. a single channel immersive display, a large inverted dome, a hemispheric lens and projector, a computer and a surround sound system. Collection of the artist. < http://courchel.net/# >. Davies, Char. Osmose. 1995. Computer, sound synthesizers and processors, stereoscopic head-mounted display with 3D localized sound, breathing/balance interface vest, motion capture devices, video projectors, and silhouette screen. Char Davies, Immersence, Osmose. < http://www.immersence.com >. Farman, Jason. Mobile Interface Theory: Embodied Space and Locative Media. New York: Routledge, 2012. Graham, Dan. Present Continuous Past(s). 1974. Closed-circuit video installation, black and white camera, one black and white monitor, two mirrors, microprocessor. Centre Georges Pompidou Collection, Paris, France. Grau, Oliver. Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion. Translated by Gloria Custance. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: MIT Press, 2003. Hansen, Mark B.N. New Philosophy for New Media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004. Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001-2012. < http://www.etymonline.com >. Manovich, Lev. “The Poetics of Augmented Space.” Visual Communication 5.2 (2006): 219-240. Milgram, Paul, Haruo Takemura, Akira Utsumi, Fumio Kishino. “Augmented Reality: A Class of Displays on the Reality-Virtuality Continuum.” SPIE [The International Society for Optical Engineering] Proceedings 2351: Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies (1994): 282-292. Naimark, Michael, Be Now Here. 1995-97. Stereoscopic interactive panorama: 3-D glasses, two 35mm motion-picture cameras, rotating tripod, input pedestal, stereoscopic projection screen, four-channel audio, 16-foot (4.87 m) rotating floor. Originally produced at Interval Research Corporation with additional support from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Paris, France. < http://www.naimark.net/projects/benowhere.html >. Nauman, Bruce. Live-Taped Video Corridor. 1970. Wallboard, video camera, two video monitors, videotape player, and videotape, dimensions variable. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Novak, Marcos. Interview with Leo Gullbring, Calimero journalistic och fotografi, 2001. < http://www.calimero.se/novak2.htm >. Sermon, Paul. Telematic Dreaming. 1992. ISDN telematic installation, two video projectors, two video cameras, two beds set. The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford England. Shaw, Jeffrey, and Theo Botschuijver. Viewpoint. 1975. Photo installation. Shown at 9th Biennale de Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, France.

This report includes research into how to automate a small scale system for hydroponics. Hydroponics is a growing technique which features a soil-less environment were the plants roots are exposed to a nutrient-enriched water solution. The research focused mainly on how to regulate the pH and the level of nutrient in the water solvent and finding a system to automate that process. In the research fully grown basil plants were used as test specimens, with the plants roots submerged in a water solvent. The water solvent had sensors that were connected to a micro controller making it possible to monitor the presence of nutrients and pH in the solvent. If the micro controller deemed that the pH and/or the nutrient level was too high or too low, the micro controller would adjust the solvent by activating pumps adding pH down buffer solution and/or nutrient solution to the solvent. The research proved that a way to automate a small scale hydroponics system is by building a computerized system consisting of: • Micro controller. • pH sensor. •EC sensor (to measure nutrient level in solvent). • Temperature sensor. • Fluid pumps connected to pH- and nutrient reservoirs
I denna rapport följer en forskning om hur ett system för hydroponics kan automatiseras. Hydroponics är en odlingsteknik som utesluter nyttjandet av jord. Istället får plantorna näring och vatten via en näringsrik vattenlösning som dess rötter är i kontakt med. Forskningen fokuserade huvudsakligen på hur man reglerar pH och nivån av näringsämnen i en vattenlösning och skapa ett system för att automatisera denna processen. I undersökningen användes fullvuxna basilikaväxter som prover med plantornas rötter nedsänkta i en vattenlösning. Vattenlösningen hade sensorer som var anslutna till en mikrostyrenhet som gjorde det möjligt att övervaka nivån av näringsämnen och pH i vattenlösningen.  Om mikrokontrollen ansåg att pH- och/eller nivån av näringsämnen var felaktig så skulle mikrostyrenheten justera vattenlösningen. Detta skedde genom att mikrostyrenheten aktiverade vätskepumpar som tilsatte pH-buffer och/eller näringslösning. Forskningen visade att ett sätt att automatisera ett hydroponicsystem är att bygga ett datoriserat system som består utav: mikrostyrenhet. pH mätare. EC mätare (används för att mäta näringsnivån i vattenlösningen). Temperaturmätare. Vätskepumpar anslutna till behållare inehållandes pH- och näringslösning.

Under de senaste åren har produkterna blivit mer invecklade beträffande anslutningen, prestanda och funktionalitet. Därför är syftet av denna studie att undersöka hur komplexa system utvecklas och leds genom att genomföra fallstudie på olika svenska företag som utvecklar mekatroniska och cyber-fysiska system. Resultatet av denna studie har lett till identifieringen av många utmaningar som de undersökta företagen har och som i sin tur har lett till framställningen av ett analytiskt ramverk som diskuterar hur och vad man bör göra för att utveckla komplexa produkter på ett effektivt sätt, så att onödig komplexitet i produktutvecklingen kan reduceras.
In recent years, products have become more complex in terms of connectivity, performance and functionality. Therefore, this study aims at studying how complex products are developed and managed through conducting multiple case studies at different Swedish companies that develop mechatronic or cyberphysical systems. The results of this study is the identification of many challenges that the investigated companies have, which have led to a presentation of an analytical framework that discusses how complex product development projects can and should be managed in order to be efficient, in order to reduce unnecessary complexity in the way companies develop these complex products.

A significant security risk of modern vehicles is their vulnerability to relay attacks, due to challenge-response methods, such as those employed in Passive Keyless Entry (PKE) used by most commercial cars, being inherently exposed. This class of attacks are where communication between a vehicle and its key is relayed by an attacker over long range - thereby bypassing any encryption and unlocking the vehicle without requiring direct access to the key. While a multitude of defenses have been proposed in recent years, many lack either robustness or practicality. Any viable system will likely have to rely on an environmental parameter which is not easily manipulated. Moreover, the system has to be: cost effective; easily implementable; and take user comfort, such as the key’s battery life, into account. This thesis implements and evaluates a PKE system resistant to relay attacks, analyses a multitude of proposed strategies in literature for feasibility, as well as suggests a novel method: Approach Curve Matching. It is concluded that the most promising strategies are: Immobility Detection, Distance Bounding Protocols, and Approach Curve Matching - the first of which is chosen to be implemented in the prototype PKE system. The project develops a PKE system and implements the communication protocol using Bluetooth, as opposed to the conventional RFID. Immobility Detection, using an accelerometer, is then implemented. The final system is then tested and evaluated. It is concluded that while Immobility Detection is not comprehensively effective, it is easily implementable, cost-effective, and can greatly increase the security of PKE systems. Finally, it is proposed that Immobility Detection should be employed promptly by manufacturers while investigating potentially more effective, albeit uncertain, strategies.
En betydande säkerhetsbrist av moderna fordon är deras sårbarhet mot så kallade ’relay attacker’. Dessa typer av attacker, där signaler mellan bilen och nyckeln vidarebefordras, kringgår all kryptering och låser upp bilen utan att ha direkt tillgång till nyckeln. En stor del av kommersiella fordon tillämpar ’Passive Keyless Entry’ (PKE) som bygger på ’challenge-response’ metoder som visats vara särskilt utsatta för dessa attacker. En mängd olika skyddssystem har föreslagits på senare år, men många saknar erforderlig robusthet eller genomförbarhet. Ett lämpligt system bör uppfylla en rad olika kriterier. Strategin måste grundas på en omgivningsparameter som är både oföränderlig och tillräckligt rymdberoende att två nära positoner kan skiljas åt. Dessutom ska systemet vara kostnadseffektivt, implementerbart, och ta hänsyn till användarkomfort såsom batteritid. Projektets huvudsyfte är konstruktionen och analysen av ett ’relay attack’ resistent PKE system. I detta projekt ingår också en analys av ett antal föreslagna försvar och ett förslag om en ny metod: ’Approach Curve Matching’. Slutsatsen dras att de mest lovande taktikerna är: analys av Jaccard indexet av Wi-Fi hotspots, ’Distance Bounding Protocols’, ’Approach Curve Matching’ och ’Immobility Detection’ som också implementeras i prototyp PKE systemet. Projektet utvecklar först ett PKE system med två Raspberry Pis som agerar som bilens och nyckelns mikrodatorer och implementerar kommunikationsprotokollet med hjälp av Bluetooth. ’Immobility Detection’ är sedan implementerad genom en inbyggd accelerometer i nyckeln. Slutligen testas och utvärderas systemet. Det konkluderas att trots att ’Immobility Detection’s effektivitet inte är helt omfattande är den lätt att implementera, kostnadseffektiv, och kan bidra till en betydlig ökning av säkerheten hos PKE system. Vidare observerade projektet att Bluetooths ’Received Signal Strength Indicator’ (RSSI) mätningar är utsatta för avsevärd ostadighet och är allmänt omgivningsberoende. Därför anses Bluetooth RSSI inte lämplig för PKE tillämpningar även om andra metoder för avståndsmätning med Bluetooth kan ha högre prestanda. Det föreslås att ’Immobility Detection’ tillämpas av tillverkare omgående medans andra potentiellt mer effektiva strategier utreds.

The purpose of this project was to develop an automatic irrigation system for plants. It is beneficial to have plants indoors. In addition to their air-purifying qualities, they have been proven to increase the productivity of employees at workplaces, as well as decrease the amount of sick leave. Three research question were investigated: how much energy the system requires and if it is possible to replace the energy source with an alternative energy source, how well the system stabilises and how a wireless regulation can be implemented. The final design consisted of a mictrocontroller which controlled the system, a water pump, a moisture level sensor and a plant on which everything was tested. The system was left during a four week period to see how well it managed. The project resulted in a system that managed to keep the plant alive. The energy demand of the system could be covered by solar cells instead of batteries.
Syftet med detta projekt var att utveckla ett automatiskt bevattningssystem för växter. Det är fördelaktigt att ha växter inomhus. Bland annat har det bevisats att växter i kontorslandskap ökar produktiviteten hos de personer som arbetar där, samt att antalet uttagna sjukdagar minskar. Fortsättningsvis var det tre stycken forskningsfrågor som undersöktes, hur mycket energi kräver systemet och är det möjligt att ersätta energikällan med en alternativ energikälla, hur väl stabiliserar sig systemet samt hur kan en trådlös reglering implementeras.  Den slutliga designen bestod av en mikrokontroller som styrde systemet, en vattenpump, en fuktighetssensor och en planta på vilken testerna utfördes. Systemet lämnades i fyra veckor för att se hur väl det klarade sin uppgift. Resultatet blev att växten överlevde vilket innebär att systemet fungerade. Möjligheten att byta ut batterierna mor solceller studerades och slutsatsen är att detta byte är möjligt.

This report is going to investigate the possibility to save energy by converting a valve opening mechanism in a waste disposal system from a pneumatic system to an electric system. To power the system, which mainly consists of an electric actuator and a valve control module, a solar panel system was designed. The valve system was controlled by the lightweight messaging protocol MQTT. To be able to choose an electric actuator the needed force was measured and data regarding maximal stroke was taken from the data sheet of the existing setup. For developing an optimal solar panel system a program was written in Google Spreadsheet. The program takes input regarding power, cycles, solar panel system specifications and environmental factors. The output from the program is energy consumption for the system, specification for solar charger, solar panel setup and charge data. The result was that the solar panel system needed to consists of four 12 V VRLA batteries with a capacity of 90 Ah each and four solar panels with a rated power of 300 W each. The solar charger must be able to handle 900 W and provide an output current of 25,5 A to fulfil the demands. The new electric actuator will consume four times less energy than the old pneumatic actuator. Most of the energy savings are consequences of reduced energy consumption at idle of the system. A demonstarator was built to test the system.
Den här rapporten kommer att undersöka möjligheten att spara energi genom att konvertera ett ventilöppningsmekanism i ett avfallshanteringssystem från ett pneumatiskt system till ett elektriskt system. För att driva systemet, som främst består av en elektrisk aktuator och en ventil styrenhet, ska ett solcellssystem designas. Ventilsystemet ska styras med hjälp lättviktsmeddelandeprotokollet MQTT. För att kunna välja en aktuator mättes den behövda kraften och data angående maximal slaglängd togs från databladet på den nuvarande konstruktionen. För att utveckla ett optimalt solcellssystem skrevs ett program i Google Kalkylark. Programmet använder energi, cykler, solcellssystem och miljöfaktorer som indata. Som utdata ges energiförbrukning hos systemet, specifikation för solcellsregulator, solpaneler och laddningsdata. Resultatet var att det solcellssystem som behövs bestå av fyra 12 V VRLA batterier med en kapacitet på 90 Ah var och fyra solpaneler med en nominell effekt på 300 W vardera. Solcellssregulatorn behöver kunna hantera 900 W och generera en ström på 25,5 A. Den nya elektriska aktuatorn kommer förbruka fyra gånger så lite energi jämfört med den gamla pneumatiska aktuatorn. Den största delen av energibesparingarna är en konsekvens av minskad energiförbrukning av systemet i vila. En prototyp byggdes för att testa systemet.

The aim of this project is to examine the feasibility and reliability of the use of a low cost computer vision system to track and intercept a thrown object. A stereo vision system tracks the object using color recognition and then guides a mobile wheeled robot towards an interception point in order to capture it. Two different trajectory prediction models are compared. One model fits a second degree polynomial to the collected positional measurements of the object and the other uses the Forward Euler Method to construct the objects flight path. To accurately guide the robot, the angular position of the robot must also be measured. Two different methods of measuring the angular position are presented and their respective reliability are measured. A calibrated magnetometer is used as one method while pure computer vision is implemented as the alternative method. A functional object tracking and interception system that was able to intercept the thrown object was constructed using both the polynomial fitting trajectory prediction model as well as the one based on the Forward Euler Method. The magnetometer and pure computer vision are both viable methods of determining the angular position of the robot with an error of less than 1.5°.
I detta projekt behandlas konstruktionen av och pålitligheten i en bollfånganderobot och dess bakomliggande lågbudgetkamerasystem. För att fungera i tre dimensioner används en stereokameramodul som spårar bollen med hjälp av färgigenkänning och beräknar bollbanan samt förutspår nedslaget för att ge god tid till roboten att genskjuta bollen. Två olika bollbanemodeller testas, där den ena tar hänsyn till luftmotståndet och nedslaget beräknas numeriskt och den andra anpassar en andragradspolynom till de observerade datapunkterna. För att styra roboten till den tänkta uppfångningspunkten behövs både robotens position, vilket bestäms med kameramodulen, och robotens riktning.Riktningen bestäms medbåde en magnetometer och med kameramodulen, för att undersöka vilken metod som passar bäst. Den förslagna konstruktionen för roboten och kamerasystemet kan spåra och fånga objekt med bådadera de testade modellerna för att beräkna bollbana, dock så är tillförlitligheten i den numeriska metoden betydligt känsligare för dåliga mätvärden. Det är även möjligt att använda sig av både magnetometern eller endast kameramodulen för att bestämma robotens riktning då båda ger ett fel under 1.5°.

Control theory and its applications are crucial when operating within the area of dynamic systems. Compensating for disturbances and external actions imposed on a given system being inherently unstable or semi-stable. Through the physical construction of a apparatus as a demonstrator of the theory further comparing the factual physical and computer simulated results derived from Newtonian mechanics. To enable comparison, designing a satisfactory controller capable of fulfilling the requirements set for the system is necessary. With regards to apparatus and control, the introduction of a proportional-integralderivative controller for a system balancing a ball on a platform. Further allowing for analysis to determine the limitations when stabilizing a naturally unstable or semi-stable system. Also, examine how these dier from the theoretical expectations. The control applied throughout the thesis is of the type linear, exclusively being able to operate properly within the linear spectrum of control. Using standard components and a microcontroller, a apparatus is constructed to maintain a ball on a platform. This is executed through programming with Arduino libraries and open source code. Hence, for research purposes, to see if the apparatus can operate satisfactory within the linear domain of control. With the aforementioned stated, this thesis will first cover the theoretical model of the ball on platform scenario through computer aided programs. Then compare the theoretical results with the results acquired from a physical construction. Further examine why dierences occur considering control theory and system implementation.
Reglertekniken och dess applikationer är centrala för att kontrollera dynamiska system och möjliggör för kompensering av störningar i system som är naturligt instabila eller semistabila. Genom konstruktion av en apparat som demonstrerar reglerteknisk teori kan vidare jämförelser mellan resultat från apparaten och datorsimuleringar, erhållna från Newtonsk mekanik, tillhandahållas. Syftet är vidare att utveckla en regulator som uppfyller de krav som sätts upp för systemet. Med hänsyn till apparaten och regulatorn, introduceras en proportionell-integrerande-deriverande regulator för en bollbalanserande plattform. På så sätt kan begränsningarna vid stabilisering av ett naturligt instabilt eller semistabilt system bestämmas. Vidare studeras hur dessa skiljer sig från de teoretiska förväntningarna. Endast linjär kontroll kommer att användas i detta projekt, därav en apparat som enbart är välfungerande inom ett linjärt domän. Genom användning av standardkomponenter och en mikrokontroll konstrueras en apparat för att bibehålla en boll på en plattform. Detta möjliggörs genom programmering med Arduinos bibliotek och öppen källkod. Således är, ur forskningssynpunkt, anordningens förmåga att fungera väl inom den linjära domänen av intresse. Utifrån detta kommer examensarbetet först att redogöra för den teoretiska modellen av en boll balanserande på en plattform genom användandet av datorprogram. För att sedan jämföra de teoretiska resultaten med de resultat som erhålls från den fysiska bollbalanserande konstruktionen. Vidare undersöks varför skillnader uppstår med hänsyn till reglerteknik och systemimplementering

Idag finns det många böcker och utrustningar för att bidra till en säker färd i vildmark, men marknaden inom området har en stor potential för utveckling. Projektet har tagit fram två prototyper för att mäta vattenintaget vid en färd i vildmark med varningssignaler som visar när vattentillståndet är kritiskt och för att påminna användare att dricka vatten. Prototyperna har jämfört och slutsatser har dragit för vilken prototyp som är mest optimal för ändamålet.
Today there are many books and equipment that contribute to a safe journey in the wildness. But the market still has a great potential for development. In this project two prototypes has been developed to control the users hydration level when hiking in wildness. The measurement system shows a warning signal when the water level is too low. The two prototypes have been compared and a conclusion has been drawn for which prototype is themost optimal for the projects purposes.

Studies have shown that music has plenty of positive effects on performances in working environments. The purpose of this project was to reap those benefits by developing a prototype that could automatically adjust the volume of a speaker. The prototype was also able to measure the total sound level in the surrounding environment. It would then regulate the speaker’s sound level in accordance with the measured sound and a desired volume set by the user. The main focus was to measure, filter and calibrate sound and to develop a regulatory system that could control the volume of the sound system. The final prototype had a user interface with an LCDdisplay and buttons. It had the ability to successfully measure the sound and its amplitude. Calibration of the sound sensor was done using two reference microphones. Measurements at eight different sound levels were taken. A model to convert the digital signal into decibels was then calculated through linear regression with a standard error of 2.9 dB. With this model the prototype could automatically adjust the volume of a Marshall Kilburn speaker to the desired level of 90 dB in approximately 40 seconds. It was found that the largest limiting factor was the sensor’s ability to pick up different sound sources at longer distances from the sensor. Further work may include optimizing the microphone and making an integrated product that can be applied to any sound system.
Studier har visat att musik har mycket positiv påverkan på effektivitet i arbetsmiljöer. Syftet med detta projekt var att lyfta fram dessa fördelar genom att utveckla en prototyp med förmågan att automatiskt reglera volymen av en högtalare. Tanken var att prototypen skulle kunna reglera högtalarens volym i enlighet med den uppmätta ljudvolymen och en önskad volym angiven av användaren. Huvudfokus var att mäta, filtrera och kalibrera ljud samt att utveckla en regulator med möjlighet att kontrollera volymen av ljudsystemet. Slutprototypen hade ett användargränssnitt med en LCDskärm och knappar. Den hade möjlighet att framgångsrikt mäta ljudet och dess amplitud. Kalibrering av ljudsensorn genomfördes med hjälp av två referensmikrofoner och uppmätning med dessa gjordes vid åtta olika ljudnivåer. En modell för konvertering av digitala signalen till decibel beräknades genom linjär regression med ett standardfel på 2,9 dB. Utifrån denna modell kunde prototypen automatiskt justera volymen på en högtalare av typen Marshall Kilburn. Detta gjordes på 40 sekunder då önskade volymen sattes till 90 dB. Den största begränsningen var ljudsensorns förmåga att uppmäta ljud från ljudkällor som var placerade på längre avstånd från sensorn. Vidareutveckling sker lämpligtvis genom optimering av mikrofonen samt skapa en integrerad produkt som kan tillämpas på godtyckligt ljudsystem.

The goal of this thesis was to create a sensors glove with force feedback feeling when operating a humanoid robot hand. The development covered multiple areas such as mechanics, electronics and programming. The final product gave the user control over three fingers of a humanoid robotic hand. In the case where the robotic hand comes in contact with an object the user's finger movement is limited according to the pressure the robotic hands fingers exposes the object to.
Rapporten beskriver arbetet för framtagandet och skapandet av en sensorhandske med inbyggd force feedback funktion som därmed ska möjliggöra styrning över en mekanisk gripare med hög finmotorik. Detta för att kunna få en mer realistisk manövrering över griparen. Projektet är uppdelat i två system. Ett system för sensorhand som med en Arduino Uno Rev 3 styr servomotorer som används för att återskapa force feedbacken. Utöver det sker även mätning och analys av användarens fingerposition genom potentiometrar. Det andra systemet är för en humanoid robothand som även den använder sig av en Arduino Uno Rev 3 för att manövrera de servomotorer som handen använder för att flytta fingrarna. Mätning och analys av trycksensorer på robothandens fingertoppar genomförs för att möjliggör återskapandet av force feedback till användaren efter det tryck robothanden utsätter ett objekt för. De två systemen använder sig av ett I2C protokoll i form av multimaster and slave struktur för att kommunicera mellan det två mikrokontrollerna samt deras respektive servomotordrivarkretsar (Adafruit- PCA9685). För att undvika krockar i kommunikationen då mer än en master använder I2C linorna skapades en ovanpåliggande struktur för att upprätta regler för hur kommunikationen ska genomföras. All datahantering och kommunikation programmeras i C++. Programmeringskoden är skapad så att utbytet av robothanden och dess servodrivarkrets är möjligt. Sensorhandsken kan därmed implementeras till vad användaren väljer att använda den till, så länge kommunikationen sker med samma regler och struktur som upprättats. Utöver elektronik och programmering har även mycket mekanik tillämpats då olika delar av elektroniken ska byggas in och kunna fungera korrekt med rörliga mekaniska delar. Detta har bland annat använts i skapandet för fingerpositionsmätningen där trimpotentiometrar har byggts in och rörliga delar kan ändra på det resistiva motståndet i komponenten. Trots projektets begränsning till tre fingrar tyder projektet på att det framtagna konceptet av en sensorhandske med force feedback är fullt möjligt och genomförbart.