@inproceedings{BragardConradDeDoncker2010, author = {Bragard, Michael and Conrad, M. and De Doncker, R. W.}, title = {The integrated emitter turn-off thyristor (IETO) : an innovative thyristor based high power semiconductor device using MOS assisted turn-off}, series = {2010 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE 2010) : Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 12 - 16 September 2010 / [sponsored by the IEEE Power Electronics and Industry Applications Societies]}, booktitle = {2010 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE 2010) : Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 12 - 16 September 2010 / [sponsored by the IEEE Power Electronics and Industry Applications Societies]}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {Piscataway, NJ}, isbn = {978-1-4244-5286-6 (Print)}, doi = {10.1109/ECCE.2010.5618410}, pages = {4551 -- 4557}, year = {2010}, language = {en} } @article{GrajewskiKoesterTurek2010, author = {Grajewski, Matthias and K{\"o}ster, Michael and Turek, Stefam}, title = {Numerical analysis and implementational aspects of a new multilevel grid deformation method}, series = {Applied Numerical Mathematics}, volume = {60}, journal = {Applied Numerical Mathematics}, number = {8}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0168-9274}, doi = {10.1016/j.apnum.2010.03.017}, pages = {767 -- 781}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Recently, we introduced and mathematically analysed a new method for grid deformation (Grajewski et al., 2009) [15] we call basic deformation method (BDM) here. It generalises the method proposed by Liao et al. (Bochev et al., 1996; Cai et al., 2004; Liao and Anderson, 1992) [4], [6], [20]. In this article, we employ the BDM as core of a new multilevel deformation method (MDM) which leads to vast improvements regarding robustness, accuracy and speed. We achieve this by splitting up the deformation process in a sequence of easier subproblems and by exploiting grid hierarchy. Being of optimal asymptotic complexity, we experience speed-ups up to a factor of 15 in our test cases compared to the BDM. This gives our MDM the potential for tackling large grids and time-dependent problems, where possibly the grid must be dynamically deformed once per time step according to the user's needs. Moreover, we elaborate on implementational aspects, in particular efficient grid searching, which is a key ingredient of the BDM.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{PothMonzonTippkoetteretal.2010, author = {Poth, Sebastian and Monzon, Magaly and Tippk{\"o}tter, Nils and Ulber, Roland}, title = {Lignocellulosic biorefinery : process integration of hydrolysis and fermentation}, series = {Proceedings / 11th European Workshop on Lignocellulosics and Pulp : August 16 - 19, 2010, Hamburg, Germany}, booktitle = {Proceedings / 11th European Workshop on Lignocellulosics and Pulp : August 16 - 19, 2010, Hamburg, Germany}, publisher = {vTi}, address = {Hamburg}, pages = {65 -- 68}, year = {2010}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{UibelBlass2010, author = {Uibel, Thomas and Blaß, Hans Joachim}, title = {A new method to determine suitable spacings and distances for self-tapping screws}, series = {Meeting ... / International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction, Working Commission W18 - Timber Structures}, volume = {43}, booktitle = {Meeting ... / International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction, Working Commission W18 - Timber Structures}, publisher = {Lehrstuhl f{\"u}r Ingenieurholzbau und Baukonstruktionen}, address = {Karlsruhe}, issn = {1864-1784}, year = {2010}, abstract = {The determination of spacing, edge and end distance requirements for self-tapping screws requires numerous and comprehensive insertion tests. Yet the results of such tests cannot be transferred to other types of screws or even to screws of different diameter because of differences in shape or geometry. To reduce the effort of insertion tests a new method was developed which allows the estimation of required spacings, distances and timber thickness.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MagnorSoltauBragardetal.2010, author = {Magnor, D. and Soltau, N. and Bragard, Michael and Schmiegel, A. and De Doncker, R. W. and Sauer, D. U.}, title = {Analysis of the model dynamics for the battery and battery converter in a grid-connected 5 kW photovoltaic system}, series = {Proceedings / 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition ; 5th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion ; Feria Valencia, Convention \& Exhibition Centre, Valencia, Spain, conference 6 - 10 September 2010, exhibition 6 - 9 September 2010 ; Joint World Conference of: 25th European Photovoltic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 36th US IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 20th Asia/Pacific PV Science and Engineering Conference}, booktitle = {Proceedings / 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition ; 5th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion ; Feria Valencia, Convention \& Exhibition Centre, Valencia, Spain, conference 6 - 10 September 2010, exhibition 6 - 9 September 2010 ; Joint World Conference of: 25th European Photovoltic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 36th US IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 20th Asia/Pacific PV Science and Engineering Conference}, editor = {de Santi, Giovanni Frederigo}, publisher = {WIP Renewable Energies}, address = {[M{\"u}nchen]}, isbn = {3-936338-26-4 (DVD-ROM)}, year = {2010}, language = {en} } @article{BragardSoltauThomasetal.2010, author = {Bragard, Michael and Soltau, N. and Thomas, S. and De Doncker, R. W.}, title = {The balance of renewable sources and user demands in grids : power electronics for modular battery energy storage systems}, series = {IEEE transactions on power electronics}, volume = {25}, journal = {IEEE transactions on power electronics}, number = {12}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York}, issn = {0885-8993}, doi = {10.1109/TPEL.2010.2085455}, pages = {3049 -- 3056}, year = {2010}, abstract = {The continuously growing amount of renewable sources starts compromising the stability of electrical grids. Contradictory to fossil fuel power plants, energy production of wind and photovoltaic (PV) energy is fluctuating. Although predictions have significantly improved, an outage of multi-MW offshore wind farms poses a challenging problem. One solution could be the integration of storage systems in the grid. After a short overview, this paper focuses on two exemplary battery storage systems, including the required power electronics. The grid integration, as well as the optimal usage of volatile energy reserves, is presented for a 5- kW PV system for home application, as well as for a 100- MW medium-voltage system, intended for wind farm usage. The efficiency and cost of topologies are investigated as a key parameter for large-scale integration of renewable power at medium- and low-voltage.}, language = {en} } @article{EilmannBuchmannSiegwolfetal.2010, author = {Eilmann, Britta and Buchmann, Nina and Siegwolf, Rolf and Saurer, Matthias and Cherubini, Paolo and Rigling, Andreas}, title = {Fast response of Scots pine to improved water availability reflected in tree-ring width and δ13C}, series = {Plant, Cell and Environment}, volume = {33}, journal = {Plant, Cell and Environment}, number = {8}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1365-3040 (Online)}, doi = {10.1111/j.1365-3040.2010.02153.x}, pages = {1351 -- 1360}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Drought-induced forest decline, like the Scots pine mortality in inner-Alpine valleys, will gain in importance as the frequency and severity of drought events are expected to increase. To understand how chronic drought affects tree growth and tree-ring δ13C values, we studied mature Scots pine in an irrigation experiment in an inner-Alpine valley. Tree growth and isotope analyses were carried out at the annual and seasonal scale. At the seasonal scale, maximum δ13C values were measured after the hottest and driest period of the year, and were associated with decreasing growth rates. Inter-annual δ13C values in early- and latewood showed a strong correlation with annual climatic conditions and an immediate decrease as a response to irrigation. This indicates a tight coupling between wood formation and the freshly produced assimilates for trees exposed to chronic drought. This rapid appearance of the isotopic signal is a strong indication for an immediate and direct transfer of newly synthesized assimilates for biomass production. The fast appearance and the distinct isotopic signal suggest a low availability of old stored carbohydrates. If this was a sign for C-storage depletion, an increasing mortality could be expected when stressors increase the need for carbohydrate for defence, repair or regeneration.}, language = {en} } @article{FontivonArxGarciaGonzalezetal.2010, author = {Fonti, Patrick and von Arx, Georg and Garc{\´i}a-Gonz{\´a}lez, Ignacio and Eilmann, Britta and Sass-Klaassen, Ute G. W. and G{\"a}rtner, Holger and Eckstein, Dieter}, title = {Studying global change through investigation of the plastic responses of xylem anatomy in tree rings}, series = {New Phytologist}, volume = {185}, journal = {New Phytologist}, number = {1}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1469-8137 (Online)}, doi = {10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.03030.x}, pages = {42 -- 53}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Variability in xylem anatomy is of interest to plant scientists because of the role water transport plays in plant performance and survival. Insights into plant adjustments to changing environmental conditions have mainly been obtained through structural and functional comparative studies between taxa or within taxa on contrasting sites or along environmental gradients. Yet, a gap exists regarding the study of hydraulic adjustments in response to environmental changes over the lifetimes of plants. In trees, dated tree-ring series are often exploited to reconstruct dynamics in ecological conditions, and recent work in which wood-anatomical variables have been used in dendrochronology has produced promising results. Environmental signals identified in water-conducting cells carry novel information reflecting changes in regional conditions and are mostly related to short, sub-annual intervals. Although the idea of investigating environmental signals through wood anatomical time series goes back to the 1960s, it is only recently that low-cost computerized image-analysis systems have enabled increased scientific output in this field. We believe that the study of tree-ring anatomy is emerging as a promising approach in tree biology and climate change research, particularly if complemented by physiological and ecological studies. This contribution presents the rationale, the potential, and the methodological challenges of this innovative approach.}, language = {en} } @article{SiqueiraMakiPaulovichetal.2010, author = {Siqueira, Jose R. and Maki, Rafael M. and Paulovich, Fernando V. and Werner, Frederik and Poghossian, Arshak and Oliveira, Maria C. F. de and Zucolotto, Valtencir and Oliveira, Osvaldo N. Jr. and Sch{\"o}ning, Michael Josef}, title = {Use of information visualization methods eliminating cross talk in multiple sensing units investigated for a light-addressable potentiometric sensor}, series = {Analytical Chemistry}, volume = {82}, journal = {Analytical Chemistry}, number = {1}, publisher = {ACS Publications}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0003-2700}, doi = {10.1021/ac9024076}, pages = {61 -- 65}, year = {2010}, abstract = {The integration of nanostructured films containing biomolecules and silicon-based technologies is a promising direction for reaching miniaturized biosensors that exhibit high sensitivity and selectivity. A challenge, however, is to avoid cross talk among sensing units in an array with multiple sensors located on a small area. In this letter, we describe an array of 16 sensing units of a light-addressable potentiometric sensor (LAPS), which was made with layer-by-layer (LbL) films of a poly(amidomine) dendrimer (PAMAM) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), coated with a layer of the enzyme penicillinase. A visual inspection of the data from constant-current measurements with liquid samples containing distinct concentrations of penicillin, glucose, or a buffer indicated a possible cross talk between units that contained penicillinase and those that did not. With the use of multidimensional data projection techniques, normally employed in information visualization methods, we managed to distinguish the results from the modified LAPS, even in cases where the units were adjacent to each other. Furthermore, the plots generated with the interactive document map (IDMAP) projection technique enabled the distinction of the different concentrations of penicillin, from 5 mmol L-1 down to 0.5 mmol L-1. Data visualization also confirmed the enhanced performance of the sensing units containing carbon nanotubes, consistent with the analysis of results for LAPS sensors. The use of visual analytics, as with projection methods, may be essential to handle a large amount of data generated in multiple sensor arrays to achieve high performance in miniaturized systems}, language = {en} } @article{GrottkeBraunschweigPhilippenetal.2010, author = {Grottke, O. and Braunschweig, T. and Philippen, B. and Gatzweiler, Karl-Heinz and Gronloh, N. and Staat, Manfred and Rossaint, R. and Tolba, R.}, title = {A new model for blunt liver injuries in the swine}, series = {European Surgical Research}, volume = {44}, journal = {European Surgical Research}, number = {2}, publisher = {Karger}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1421-9921}, doi = {10.1159/000265053}, pages = {65 -- 73}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Background: To elaborate the impact of new haemostatic agents we developed an instrument for the pressure-controlled induction of blunt liver injuries in a porcine animal model. Materials and Methods: A dilutional coagulopathy of 80\% of animal blood volume was induced in 9 anaesthetized pigs. Animals were randomly assigned to be injured with a force of 112 Newton (N) (n = 1), 224 ± 19 N (n = 4) or 355 ± 35 N (n = 4). The impact of injury was measured by blood loss, survival time and coagulation parameters. Liver histology was obtained to evaluate the degree of liver injury. Results: The profound haemodilution resulted in a significant alteration of all coagulation parameters. After inflicting the injury with 355 ± 35 N, both the survival time (30 ± 9 min; p = 0.006) and blood loss (68 ± 16 ml min-1, p = 0.002) were significantly different as compared to injuries with 224 ± 19 N (survival time: 76 ± 20 min, blood loss: 23 ± 4 ml min-1). In contrast, an injury with 112 N led to an insignificant blood loss of only 239 ml. Conclusion: We developed a pressure-controlled clamp that allows for the induction of blunt liver traumas with highly reproducible injuries with a positive correlation with blood loss and survival.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LettiniHavermannGuidettietal.2010, author = {Lettini, Antonio and Havermann, Marc and Guidetti, Marco and Fornaciari, Andrea}, title = {Improved functionalities and energy saving potential on mobile machines combining electronics with flow sharing valve and variable displacement pump}, series = {7th International Fluid Power Conference - Vol. 3 - Aachen Efficiency through Fluid Power Workshop Proceedings}, booktitle = {7th International Fluid Power Conference - Vol. 3 - Aachen Efficiency through Fluid Power Workshop Proceedings}, publisher = {Apprimus Verlag}, address = {Aachen}, isbn = {978-3-940565-92-1}, pages = {103 -- 114}, year = {2010}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{ReckerBosschaertsWagemakersetal.2010, author = {Recker, Elmar and Bosschaerts, Walter and Wagemakers, Rolf and Hendrick, Patrick and Funke, Harald and B{\"o}rner, Sebastian}, title = {Experimental study of a round jet in cross-flow at low momentum ratio}, pages = {13 Seiten}, year = {2010}, abstract = {With the final objective of optimizing the "Micromix" hydrogen combustion principle, a round jet in a laminar cross-flow prior to its combustion is investigated experimentally using Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry. Measurements are performed at a jet to cross-stream momentum ratio of 1 and a Reynolds number, based on the jet diameter and jet velocity, of 1600. The suitability to combine side, top and end views is analyzed statistically. The statistical theory of testing hypotheses, pertaining to the joint distribution of the averaged velocity along intersecting observation planes, is employed. Overall, the averaged velocity fields of the varying observation planes feature homogeneity at a 0.05 significance level. Minor discrepancies are related to the given experimental conditions. By use of image maps, averaged and instantaneous velocity fields, an attempt is made to elucidate the flow physics and a kinematically consistent vortex model is proposed. In the time-averaged flow field, the principal vortical systems were identified and the associated mixing visualized. The jet trajectory and physical dimensions scale with the momentum ratio times the jet diameter. The jet/cross-flow mixture converging upon the span-wise centre-line, the lifting action of the Counter Rotating Vortex Pair and the reversed flow region contribute to the high entrainment and mixedness. It is shown that the jet width is larger on the downstream side as compared to the upstream side of the centre-streamline. The deepest penetration of the particles on the outer boundary occurs in the centre-plane. Meanwhile, with increasing off-centre position, the boundaries all lay further from the centre-line position than does the boundary in the centre-plane, corresponding to a kidney-like shape of the flow cross-section. The generation of the Counter Rotating Vortex Pair and the instability mechanism is documented by instantaneous image maps and vector fields. The necessary circulation for the Counter Rotating Vortex Pair originates from a combined effect of steady in-hole, hanging and wake vortices. The strong cross-flow and jet interaction induces a three-dimensional waving, the stream-wise Counter Rotating Vortex Pair pair, leading to the formation of Ring Like Vortices. A secondary Counter Rotating Vortex Pair forms on top of the primary Counter Rotating Vortex Pair, resulting in mixing by "puffs". Overall, Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry proofed capable of elucidating the Jet in Cross-Flow complex flow field. The gained insight in the mixing process will definitely contribute to the "Micromix" hydrogen combustion optimization.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{FunkeRobinsonHendricketal.2010, author = {Funke, Harald and Robinson, A. E. and Hendrick, P. and Wagemakers, R.}, title = {Design and Testing of a Micromix Combustor With Recuperative Wall Cooling for a Hydrogen Fuelled µ-Scale Gas Turbine}, series = {Conference Proceedings ASME Turbo Expo 2010: Power for Land, Sea, and Air. Volume 5: Industrial and Cogeneration; Microturbines and Small Turbomachinery; Oil and Gas Applications; Wind Turbine Technology}, booktitle = {Conference Proceedings ASME Turbo Expo 2010: Power for Land, Sea, and Air. Volume 5: Industrial and Cogeneration; Microturbines and Small Turbomachinery; Oil and Gas Applications; Wind Turbine Technology}, publisher = {ASME}, address = {New York, NY}, isbn = {978-0-7918-4400-7}, doi = {10.1115/GT2010-23453}, pages = {587 -- 596}, year = {2010}, abstract = {For more than a decade up to now there is an ongoing interest in small gas turbines downsized to micro-scale. With their high energy density they offer a great potential as a substitute for today's unwieldy accumulators, found in a variety of applications like laptops, small tools etc. But micro-scale gas turbines could not only be used for generating electricity, they could also produce thrust for powering small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or similar devices. Beneath all the great design challenges with the rotating parts of the turbomachinery at this small scale, another crucial item is in fact the combustion chamber needed for a safe and reliable operation. With the so called regular micromix burning principle for hydrogen successfully downscaled in an initial combustion chamber prototype of 10 kW energy output, this paper describes a new design attempt aimed at the integration possibilities in a μ-scale gas turbine. For manufacturing the combustion chamber completely out of stainless steel components, a recuperative wall cooling was introduced to keep the temperatures in an acceptable range. Also a new way of an integrated ignition was developed. The detailed description of the prototype's design is followed by an in depth report about the test results. The experimental investigations comprise a set of mass flow variations, coupled with a variation of the equivalence ratio for each mass flow at different inlet temperatures and pressures. With the data obtained by an exhaust gas analysis, a full characterisation concerning combustion efficiency and stability of the prototype chamber is possible. Furthermore the data show a full compliance with the expected operating requirements of the designated μ-scale gas turbine.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{Ferrein2010, author = {Ferrein, Alexander}, title = {golog.lua: Towards a non-prolog implementation of Golog for embedded systems}, series = {Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings, Volume 10081}, booktitle = {Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings, Volume 10081}, doi = {10.4230/DagSemProc.10081.9}, pages = {1 -- 15}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Among many approaches to address the high-level decision making problem for autonomous robots and agents, the robot program¬ming and plan language Golog follows a logic-based deliberative approach, and its successors were successfully deployed in a number of robotics applications over the past ten years. Usually, Golog interpreter are implemented in Prolog, which is not available for our target plat¬form, the bi-ped robot platform Nao. In this paper we sketch our first approach towards a prototype implementation of a Golog interpreter in the scripting language Lua. With the example of the elevator domain we discuss how the basic action theory is specified and how we implemented fluent regression in Lua. One possible advantage of the availability of a Non-Prolog implementation of Golog could be that Golog becomes avail¬able on a larger number of platforms, and also becomes more attractive for roboticists outside the Cognitive Robotics community.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{FunkeBoernerRobinsonetal.2010, author = {Funke, Harald and B{\"o}rner, Sebastian and Robinson, A. and Hendrick, P. and Recker, E.}, title = {Low NOx H2 combustion for industrial gas turbines of various power ranges}, year = {2010}, language = {en} } @misc{BehbahaniMaiWalugaetal.2010, author = {Behbahani, Mehdi and Mai, A. and Waluga, C. and Bergmann, B. and Tran, L. and Vonderstein, K. and Behr, Marek and Mottaghy, K.}, title = {Numerical Modeling of Flow-Related Thrombus Formation under Physiological and Non-Physiological Flow Conditions}, series = {Acta Physiologica}, volume = {198}, journal = {Acta Physiologica}, number = {Supplement 677}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1748-1716}, pages = {185}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Aims: Thrombotic complications due to activation of platelets and plasmatic clotting factors belong still to the most investigated topics in the field of study of patho-physiological mechanisms. Mathematical modeling of thrombotic reactions is established and validated in test cases. Aim of this study is to experimentally evaluate and computationally simulate platelets under the influence of well-defined shear flow conditions. Platelet behaviour and reactions are experimentally reproduced, measured and used for validation of the numerical simulation. Methods: A mathematical model of platelet activation, adhesion and aggregation has been implemented into a finite element CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) code. The approach is based on the advective and diffusive transport equations for resting platelets, activated platelets and platelet released agonists. Adhesion rates for the reactive surfaces depend on the hemocompatibility properties of the surface and the local shear rate. Experiments with citrate-anticoagulated freshly-drawn whole blood are performed in a perfusion flow chamber as well as in a system of rotating cylinders for Couette and Taylor-vortex flow. Different biomaterials are used. The activation, drop of platelet concentration, adhesion and aggregation are quantified using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and flow cytometry. Results: Regions and flow conditions with a high potential for thrombus growth could be identified. The experiments clearly show the influence of the blood contacting material and flow properties. By means of SEM diverse platelet adhesion patterns are observed. Numerical analysis can explain the patterns and the degree of thrombus formation. Conclusion: The numerical method shows good agreement with experimental data indicating a possible prediction of initiation of activation and detection of the local adhesion areas in connection with the role of Von-Willebrand-Factor.}, language = {en} } @misc{BehbahaniNamWalugaetal.2010, author = {Behbahani, Mehdi and Nam, J. and Waluga, C. and Behr, Marek and Pasquali, M. and Mottaghy, K.}, title = {Modeling and Numerical Analysis of Platelet Activation, Adhesion and Aggregation in Artificial Organs}, series = {ASAIO Journal}, volume = {56}, journal = {ASAIO Journal}, number = {2}, publisher = {Lippincott Williams \& Wilkins}, address = {Philadelphia}, issn = {1538-943X}, doi = {10.1097/01.mat.0000369377.65122.a3}, pages = {85}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Purpose of Study: Thrombosis-related complications are among the leading causes for morbidity and mortality in patients who depend on artificial organs. For the prediction of platelet behavior both the flow conditions inside the device and the thrombogenic properties of the blood-contacting surfaces must be considered. Platelet reactions under the influence of well-defined shear rates are experimentally evaluated and numerically simulated. The approach is intended for the analysis of VAD and oxygenator design. Methods Used: A mathematical model of platelet activation, adhesion and aggregation has been implemented into a finite element CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) code. The approach is based on the advective and diffusive transport equations for resting and activated platelets and platelet released agonists. Experiments with citrate-anticoagulated freshly-drawn whole blood are performed in a perfusion flow chamber as well as in a system of rotating cylinders for Couette and Taylor-vortex flow. Different biomaterials are used. The activation, adhesion and aggregation are quantified using scanning electron microscopy and flow cytometry. Summary of Results: Regions and flow conditions with a high potential for thrombus growth could be identified. The experiments clearly show the influence of the blood contacting material and governing shear rates. Numerical analysis can explain observed adhesion patterns and the degree of thrombus formation}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{NiemuellerFerreinBecketal.2010, author = {Niem{\"u}ller, Tim and Ferrein, Alexander and Beck, Daniel and Lakemeyer, Gerhard}, title = {Design principles of the component-based robot software framework Fawkes}, series = {Simulation, Modeling, and Programming for Autonomous Robots}, booktitle = {Simulation, Modeling, and Programming for Autonomous Robots}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-17319-6_29}, pages = {300 -- 311}, year = {2010}, abstract = {The idea of component-based software engineering was proposed more that 40 years ago, yet only few robotics software frameworks follow these ideas. The main problem with robotics software usually is that it runs on a particular platform and transferring source code to another platform is crucial. In this paper, we present our software framework Fawkes which follows the component-based software design paradigm by featuring a clear component concept with well-defined communication interfaces. We deployed Fawkes on several different robot platforms ranging from service robots to biped soccer robots. Following the component concept with clearly defined communication interfaces shows great benefit when porting robot software from one robot to the other. Fawkes comes with a number of useful plugins for tasks like timing, logging, data visualization, software configuration, and even high-level decision making. These make it particularly easy to create and to debug productive code, shortening the typical development cycle for robot software.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{NiemuellerFerreinLakemeyer2010, author = {Niem{\"u}ller, Tim and Ferrein, Alexander and Lakemeyer, Gerhard}, title = {A Lua-based behavior engine for controlling the humanoid robot Nao}, series = {RoboCup 2009: Robot Soccer World Cup XIII}, booktitle = {RoboCup 2009: Robot Soccer World Cup XIII}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-11876-0_21}, pages = {240 -- 251}, year = {2010}, abstract = {The high-level decision making process of an autonomous robot can be seen as an hierarchically organised entity, where strategical decisions are made on the topmost layer, while the bottom layer serves as driver for the hardware. In between is a layer with monitoring and reporting functionality. In this paper we propose a behaviour engine for this middle layer which, based on formalism of hybrid state machines (HSMs), bridges the gap between high-level strategic decision making and low-level actuator control. The behaviour engine has to execute and monitor behaviours and reports status information back to the higher level. To be able to call the behaviours or skills hierarchically, we extend the model of HSMs with dependencies and sub-skills. These Skill-HSMs are implemented in the lightweight but expressive Lua scripting language which is well-suited to implement the behaviour engine on our target platform, the humanoid robot Nao.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{FerreinSteinbauer2010, author = {Ferrein, Alexander and Steinbauer, Gerald}, title = {On the Way to High-Level Programming for Resource-Limited Embedded Systems with Golog}, series = {Simulation, Modeling, and Programming for Autonomous Robots}, booktitle = {Simulation, Modeling, and Programming for Autonomous Robots}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-17319-6_23}, pages = {229 -- 240}, year = {2010}, abstract = {In order to allow an autonomous robot to perform non-trivial tasks like to explore a foreign planet the robot has to have deliberative capabilities like reasoning or planning. Logic-based approaches like the programming and planing language Golog and it successors has been successfully used for such decision-making problems. A drawback of this particular programing language is that their interpreter usually are written in Prolog and run on a Prolog back-end. Such back-ends are usually not available or feasible on resource-limited robot systems. In this paper we present our ideas and first results of a re-implementation of the interpreter based on the Lua scripting language which is available on a wide range of systems including small embedded systems.}, language = {en} }