TY - CHAP A1 - Thoma, Andreas A1 - Stiemer, Luc A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Fisher, Alex A1 - Gardi, Alessandro G. T1 - Potential of hybrid neural network local path planner for small UAV in urban environments T2 - AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum N2 - This work proposes a hybrid algorithm combining an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with a conventional local path planner to navigate UAVs efficiently in various unknown urban environments. The proposed method of a Hybrid Artificial Neural Network Avoidance System is called HANNAS. The ANN analyses a video stream and classifies the current environment. This information about the current Environment is used to set several control parameters of a conventional local path planner, the 3DVFH*. The local path planner then plans the path toward a specific goal point based on distance data from a depth camera. We trained and tested a state-of-the-art image segmentation algorithm, PP-LiteSeg. The proposed HANNAS method reaches a failure probability of 17%, which is less than half the failure probability of the baseline and around half the failure probability of an improved, bio-inspired version of the 3DVFH*. The proposed HANNAS method does not show any disadvantages regarding flight time or flight distance. Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-2359 N1 - AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum, 23-27 January 2023, National Harbor, MD & Online PB - AIAA ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stiemer, Luc Nicolas A1 - Thoma, Andreas A1 - Braun, Carsten T1 - MBT3D: Deep learning based multi-object tracker for bumblebee 3D flight path estimation JF - PLoS ONE N2 - This work presents the Multi-Bees-Tracker (MBT3D) algorithm, a Python framework implementing a deep association tracker for Tracking-By-Detection, to address the challenging task of tracking flight paths of bumblebees in a social group. While tracking algorithms for bumblebees exist, they often come with intensive restrictions, such as the need for sufficient lighting, high contrast between the animal and background, absence of occlusion, significant user input, etc. Tracking flight paths of bumblebees in a social group is challenging. They suddenly adjust movements and change their appearance during different wing beat states while exhibiting significant similarities in their individual appearance. The MBT3D tracker, developed in this research, is an adaptation of an existing ant tracking algorithm for bumblebee tracking. It incorporates an offline trained appearance descriptor along with a Kalman Filter for appearance and motion matching. Different detector architectures for upstream detections (You Only Look Once (YOLOv5), Faster Region Proposal Convolutional Neural Network (Faster R-CNN), and RetinaNet) are investigated in a comparative study to optimize performance. The detection models were trained on a dataset containing 11359 labeled bumblebee images. YOLOv5 reaches an Average Precision of AP = 53, 8%, Faster R-CNN achieves AP = 45, 3% and RetinaNet AP = 38, 4% on the bumblebee validation dataset, which consists of 1323 labeled bumblebee images. The tracker’s appearance model is trained on 144 samples. The tracker (with Faster R-CNN detections) reaches a Multiple Object Tracking Accuracy MOTA = 93, 5% and a Multiple Object Tracking Precision MOTP = 75, 6% on a validation dataset containing 2000 images, competing with state-of-the-art computer vision methods. The framework allows reliable tracking of different bumblebees in the same video stream with rarely occurring identity switches (IDS). MBT3D has much lower IDS than other commonly used algorithms, with one of the lowest false positive rates, competing with state-of-the-art animal tracking algorithms. The developed framework reconstructs the 3-dimensional (3D) flight paths of the bumblebees by triangulation. It also handles and compares two alternative stereo camera pairs if desired. Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291415 SN - 1932-6203 N1 - Corresponding author: Luc Nicolas Stiemer VL - 18 IS - 9 PB - PLOS CY - San Fancisco ER - TY - GEN A1 - Steuer-Dankert, Linda A1 - Berg-Postweiler, Julia A1 - Leicht-Scholten, Carmen T1 - One does not fit all: applying anti-bias trainings in academia T2 - Twenty-third international conference on diversity in organizations, communities & nations June 22 - 23, 2023 Toronto Metropolitan University, Rogers Communication Centre Toronto, Canada N2 - Anti-bias trainings are increasingly demanded and practiced in academia and industry to increase employees’ sensitivity to discrimination, racism, and diversity. Under the heading of “Diversity Management”, anti-bias trainings are mainly offered as one-off workshops intending to raise awareness of unconscious biases, create a diversity-affirming corporate culture, awake awareness of the potential of diversity, and ultimately enable the reflection of diversity in development processes. However, coming from childhood education, research and scientific articles on the sustainable effectiveness of anti-bias in adulthood, especially in academia, are very scarce. In order to fill this research gap, the paper explores how sustainable the effects of individual anti-bias trainings on the behavior of participants are. In order to investigate this, participant observation in a qualitative pre-post setting was conducted, analyzing anti-bias trainings in an academic context. Two observers actively participated in the training sessions and documented the activities and reflection processes of the participants. Overall, the results question the effectiveness of single anti-bias trainings and show that a target-group adaptive approach is mandatory due to the background of the approach in early childhood education. Therefore, it can be concluded that anti-bias work needs to be adapted to the target group’s needs and reality of life. Furthermore, the study reveals that single anti-bias trainings must be embedded in a holistic diversity management approach to stimulate sustainable reflection processes among the target group. This paper is one of the first to scientifically evaluate anti-bias training effectiveness, especially in engineering sciences and the university context. KW - Academia KW - Engineering Habitus KW - Organizational Culture KW - Diversity Management KW - Anti-Bias Y1 - 2023 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Steuer-Dankert, Linda T1 - Training future skills - sustainability, interculturality & innovation in a digital design thinking format T2 - Proceedings of the 19th International CDIO Conference N2 - The complex questions of today for a world of tomorrow are characterized by their global impact. Solutions must therefore not only be sustainable in the sense of the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental, and social) but must also function globally. This goes hand in hand with the need for intercultural acceptance of developed services and products. To achieve this, engineers, as the problem solvers of the future, must be able to work in intercultural teams on appropriate solutions, and be sensitive to intercultural perspectives. To equip the engineers of the future with the so-called future skills, teaching concepts are needed in which students can acquire these methods and competencies in application-oriented formats. The presented course "Applying Design Thinking - Sustainability, Innovation and Interculturality" was developed to teach future skills from the competency areas Digital Key Competencies, Classical Competencies and Transformative Competencies. The CDIO Standard 3.0, in particular the standards 5, 6, 7 and 8, was used as a guideline. The course aims to prepare engineering students from different disciplines and cultures for their future work in an international environment by combining a digital teaching format with an interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and intercultural setting for solving sustainability challenges. The innovative moment lies in the digital application of design thinking and the inclusion of intercultural as well as trans- and interdisciplinary perspectives in innovation development processes. In this paper, the concept of the course will be presented in detail and the particularities of a digital implementation of design thinking will be addressed. Subsequently, the potentials and challenges will be reflected and practical advice for integrating design thinking in engineering education will be given. KW - Design Thinking KW - Sustainability KW - Future Skills KW - Interculturality KW - Interdisciplinarity Y1 - 2023 N1 - Proceedings of the 19th International CDIO Conference, hosted by NTNU, Trondheim, Norway, June 26-29, 2023 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Steuer-Dankert, Linda T1 - A crazy little thing called sustainability T2 - 51st Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) N2 - Achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 requires global collaboration between different stakeholders. Industry, and in particular engineers who shape industrial developments, have a special role to play as they are confronted with the responsibility to holistically reflect sustainability in industrial processes. This means that, in addition to the technical specifications, engineers must also question the effects of their own actions on an ecological, economic and social level in order to ensure sustainable action and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. However, this requires competencies that enable engineers to apply all three pillars of sustainability to their own field of activity and to understand the global impact of industrial processes. In this context, it is relevant to understand how industry already reflects sustainability and to identify competences needed for sustainable development. KW - Transformative Competencies KW - Future Skills KW - Transdisciplinarity KW - Interdisciplinarity KW - Sustainability Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.21427/9CQR-VC94 N1 - 51st Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education, Technological University Dublin 10th-14th September, 2023 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schwager, Christian A1 - Angele, Florian A1 - Schwarzbözl, Peter A1 - Teixeira Boura, Cristiano José A1 - Herrmann, Ulf T1 - Model predictive assistance for operational decision making in molten salt receiver systems T2 - SolarPACES: Solar Power & Chemical Energy Systems N2 - Despite the challenges of pioneering molten salt towers (MST), it remains the leading technology in central receiver power plants today, thanks to cost effective storage integration and high cost reduction potential. The limited controllability in volatile solar conditions can cause significant losses, which are difficult to estimate without comprehensive modeling [1]. This paper presents a Methodology to generate predictions of the dynamic behavior of the receiver system as part of an operating assistance system (OAS). Based on this, it delivers proposals if and when to drain and refill the receiver during a cloudy period in order maximize the net yield and quantifies the amount of net electricity gained by this. After prior analysis with a detailed dynamic two-phase model of the entire receiver system, two different reduced modeling approaches where developed and implemented in the OAS. A tailored decision algorithm utilizes both models to deliver the desired predictions efficiently and with appropriate accuracy. KW - Power plants KW - Associated liquids KW - Decision theory KW - Electrochemistry Y1 - 2023 SN - 978-0-7354-4623-6 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0151514 SN - 1551-7616 (online) SN - 0094-243X (print) N1 - 27th International Conference on Concentrating Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems 27 September–1 October 2021 Online IS - 2815 / 1 PB - AIP conference proceedings / American Institute of Physics CY - Melville, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schulze, Sven A1 - Feyerl, Günter A1 - Pischinger, Stefan T1 - Advanced ECMS for hybrid electric heavy-duty trucks with predictive battery discharge and adaptive operating strategy under real driving conditions JF - Energies N2 - To fulfil the CO2 emission reduction targets of the European Union (EU), heavy-duty (HD) trucks need to operate 15% more efficiently by 2025 and 30% by 2030. Their electrification is necessary as conventional HD trucks are already optimized for the long-haul application. The resulting hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) truck gains most of the fuel saving potential by the recuperation of potential energy and its consecutive utilization. The key to utilizing the full potential of HEV-HD trucks is to maximize the amount of recuperated energy and ensure its intelligent usage while keeping the operating point of the internal combustion engine as efficient as possible. To achieve this goal, an intelligent energy management strategy (EMS) based on ECMS is developed for a parallel HEV-HD truck which uses predictive discharge of the battery and adaptive operating strategy regarding the height profile and the vehicle mass. The presented EMS can reproduce the global optimal operating strategy over long phases and lead to a fuel saving potential of up to 2% compared with a heuristic strategy. Furthermore, the fuel saving potential is correlated with the investigated boundary conditions to deepen the understanding of the impact of intelligent EMS for HEV-HD trucks. KW - Energy management strategies KW - ECMS KW - CO2 emission reduction targets KW - Driving cycle recognition KW - Predictive battery discharge Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en16135171 SN - 1996-1073 N1 - The article belongs to the Special Issue "Energy Management Strategies of Electrified Vehicles toward the Real-World Driving". VL - 16 IS - 13 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schulte-Tigges, Joschua A1 - Matheis, Dominik A1 - Reke, Michael A1 - Walter, Thomas A1 - Kaszner, Daniel ED - Krömker, Heidi T1 - Demonstrating a V2X enabled system for transition of control and minimum risk manoeuvre when leaving the operational design domain T2 - HCII 2023: HCI in Mobility, Transport, and Automotive Systems N2 - Modern implementations of driver assistance systems are evolving from a pure driver assistance to a independently acting automation system. Still these systems are not covering the full vehicle usage range, also called operational design domain, which require the human driver as fall-back mechanism. Transition of control and potential minimum risk manoeuvres are currently research topics and will bridge the gap until full autonomous vehicles are available. The authors showed in a demonstration that the transition of control mechanisms can be further improved by usage of communication technology. Receiving the incident type and position information by usage of standardised vehicle to everything (V2X) messages can improve the driver safety and comfort level. The connected and automated vehicle’s software framework can take this information to plan areas where the driver should take back control by initiating a transition of control which can be followed by a minimum risk manoeuvre in case of an unresponsive driver. This transition of control has been implemented in a test vehicle and was presented to the public during the IEEE IV2022 (IEEE Intelligent Vehicle Symposium) in Aachen, Germany. KW - V2X KW - Transiton of Control KW - Minimum Risk Manoeuvre KW - Operational Design Domain KW - Connected Automated Vehicle Y1 - 2023 SN - 978-3-031-35677-3 (Print) SN - 978-3-031-35678-0 (Online) U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35678-0_12 N1 - 5th International Conference, MobiTAS 2023, Held as Part of the 25th HCI International Conference, HCII 2023, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 23–28, 2023. SP - 200 EP - 210 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schulte, Jonas A1 - Schwager, Christian A1 - Noureldin, Kareem A1 - May, Martin A1 - Teixeira Boura, Cristiano José A1 - Herrmann, Ulf T1 - Gradient controlled startup procedure of a molten-salt power-to-heat energy storage plant based on dynamic process simulation T2 - SolarPACES: Solar Power & Chemical Energy Systems N2 - The integration of high temperature thermal energy storages into existing conventional power plants can help to reduce the CO2 emissions of those plants and lead to lower capital expenditures for building energy storage systems, due to the use of synergy effects [1]. One possibility to implement that, is a molten salt storage system with a powerful power-to-heat unit. This paper presents two possible control concepts for the startup of the charging system of such a facility. The procedures are implemented in a detailed dynamic process model. The performance and safety regarding the film temperatures at heat transmitting surfaces are investigated in the process simulations. To improve the accuracy in predicting the film temperatures, CFD simulations of the electrical heater are carried out and the results are merged with the dynamic model. The results show that both investigated control concepts are safe regarding the temperature limits. The gradient controlled startup performed better than the temperature-controlled startup. Nevertheless, there are several uncertainties that need to be investigated further. KW - Power plants KW - Energy storage KW - Associated liquids Y1 - 2023 SN - 978-0-7354-4623-6 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0148741 SN - 1551-7616 (online) SN - 0094-243X (print) N1 - 27th International Conference on Concentrating Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems 27 September–1 October 2021 Online IS - 2815 / 1 PB - AIP conference proceedings / American Institute of Physics CY - Melville, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Savitskaya, Irina A1 - Zhantlessova, Sirina A1 - Kistaubayeva, Aida A1 - Ignatova, Ludmila A1 - Shokatayeva, Dina A1 - Sinyavsky, Yuriy A1 - Kushugulova, Almagul A1 - Digel, Ilya T1 - Prebiotic cellulose–pullulan matrix as a “vehicle” for probiotic biofilm delivery to the host large intestine JF - Polymers N2 - This study describes the development of a new combined polysaccharide-matrix-based technology for the immobilization of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) bacteria in biofilm form. The new composition allows for delivering the bacteria to the digestive tract in a manner that improves their robustness compared with planktonic cells and released biofilm cells. Granules consisting of a polysaccharide matrix with probiotic biofilms (PMPB) with high cell density (>9 log CFU/g) were obtained by immobilization in the optimized nutrient medium. Successful probiotic loading was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The developed prebiotic polysaccharide matrix significantly enhanced LGG viability under acidic (pH 2.0) and bile salt (0.3%) stress conditions. Enzymatic extract of feces, mimicking colon fluid in terms of cellulase activity, was used to evaluate the intestinal release of probiotics. PMPB granules showed the ability to gradually release a large number of viable LGG cells in the model colon fluid. In vivo, the oral administration of PMPB granules in rats resulted in the successful release of probiotics in the colon environment. The biofilm-forming incubation method of immobilization on a complex polysaccharide matrix tested in this study has shown high efficacy and promising potential for the development of innovative biotechnologies. KW - immobilization KW - prebiotic KW - bacterial cellulose KW - biofilms KW - Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym16010030 N1 - This article belongs to the Section "Polymer Composites and Nanocomposites" IS - 16(1) PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER -