X-by-wire technology is revolutionizing the automotive industry, enabling the implementation of superior advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to augment the driving experience. For ...cost-effective X-by-wire ADAS module development, testing can be conducted on scaled vehicles. While drive-by-wire and steer-by-wire are simple to implement on scaled vehicles, there have been no applications of scaled brake-by-wire systems. This letter presents the design, control, and validation of a cable-driven brake-by-wire system. Implementing a series elastic actuator and modelling the brake-by-wire system with high fidelity eliminates any sensor requirements within the brake caliper, allowing brake-by-wire capability to be added without increasing the vehicle's unsprung mass. The designed system was constructed and tested to validate the proposed system model and controller, setting the groundwork for future development of brake-by-wire ADAS systems on scaled vehicles.
Mooring systems are a critical component of all floating wave energy converter (WEC) systems, yet the impact of amooring system on the WEC dynamics is often neglected during the initial assessment of ...candidate designs. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the inclusion of mooring dynamics in the early stages of the WEC design process influences decisions regarding hydrodynamic features and control strategies. The study was executed within a mechanical circuit framework to represent the WEC response in the frequency domain. Thevenin’s theorem was applied within this framework to transform a multi-body WEC into a single-body canonical form. This work specifically focused on self-reacting point absorbers and examined how four realistic mooring designs impact WEC intrinsic mechanical impedance across a range of common wave frequencies. We show how the mooring can easily be included in this framework, and a simple approach to identifying the mooring model parameters is described. It was observed that if mooring dynamics are considered within the WEC control design process, a 40% reduction in the required range of the controller physical variable can be achieved while yielding up to 16% more useful power. These results suggest that considering the mooring system early can enhance WEC design.
Achieving energy maximizing control of a Wave Energy Converter (WEC) not only needs a comprehensive dynamic model of the system—including nonlinear hydrodynamic effects and nonlinear characteristics ...of Power Take-Off (PTO)—but to treat the entire system using an integrated approach, i.e., as a cyber–physical system considering the WEC dynamics, control strategy, and communication interface. The resulting energy-maximizing optimization formulation leads to a non-quadratic and nonstandard cost function. This article compares the (1) Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller (NMPC) and (2) Reinforcement Learning (RL) techniques as applied to a class of multiple-degrees-of-freedom nonlinear WEC–PTO systems subjected to linear as well as nonlinear hydrodynamic conditions in simulation, using the WEC-Sim™ toolbox. The results show that with an optimal choice of RL agent and hyperparameters, as well as suitable training conditions, the RL algorithm is more robust under more stringent operating requirements, for which the NMPC algorithm fails to converge. Further, RL agents are computationally efficient on real-time target machines with a significantly reduced Task Execution Time (TET).
An experimental and numerical comparison of the performance of two self-reacting point absorber wave energy converter designs is undertaken for heave motions in irregular waves. The experiments ...consist of a series of 1:25 scale model tests that feature re-configurable WEC body shapes, a feedback controlled power take-off, and a heave motion constraint apparatus. While both designs have the same float, the first design features a streamlined reacting body and the second design features a damper plate reacting body. A time domain numerical model, validated by the experimental results, is used to extend the comparisons of the designs in terms of power matrices, capture width matrices, and mean annual power production. Results indicate that the wave energy converter design with damper plate produces 41% higher mean annual energy production than the wave energy converter design with streamlined reacting body at a representative location near the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
•Two self reacting point absorber WEC designs are compared in irregular waves.•1:25 scale physical models of the WECs with feedback controlled PTOs are used.•Hydrodynamic and friction coefficients are identified from heave decay results•A time domain model is validated by experimental power and dynamic motion results•The WEC with damper plate produces 41% more power on average compared to the WEC with a streamlined reacting body.
As the definition of the engineering profession continues to witness a disruptive transformation in the labour market, engineering schools are beginning to recognize the need to facilitate a new ...approach to education. Such a disruption has lead to the explosion of entrepreneurship education within the boarders of engineering schools in attempt to generate the talent and skills of the future engineer.
There is however a gap – engineering schools were never designed to deliver entrepreneurship education. Success in this endeavour relies on a new approach to teaching; one that is founded in a group-based, experiential learning environment. At the University of New Brunswick, entrepreneurship education is a core element offered to all our engineering students.
The following article proposes the CRAM – a two day hackathon designed to introduce students to a cohesion of contemporary entrepreneurship practices to accelerate group formation and acquire entrepreneurship skill sets using an inductive teaching approach. The delivery of the CRAM is discussed in detail, along with feedback from the student participants.
Pointers have long been the Achilles heel of mechanical engineering students attempting to master dynamic memory allocation in mechatronic applications. They are abstract and intangible, both ...opposing characteristics of a discipline based on the concrete (and often hands on) physical world. With this said, pointers are considered an important threshold concept opening the door to the implementation of complex microcontroller applications in our digitally connected world.One of the primary challenges in learning the application of pointers is that the programming syntax and the abstract memory management concepts are often taught simultaneously. The natural progression of learning is to first comprehend the concepts followed by the syntax. Further newer learning theories suggest a conceptual understanding can only result through abstraction of experiences using metaphorical linkages.The following research body is focused on proposing a new strategy for teaching this complex concept using low cost physical props as a palpable interactive visual medium to provide the requisite experiences for concept abstraction. The learning aids are designed to enforce a strict process flow mimicking the invisible actions occurring internal to the microprocessor. Data is collected via questionnaires administered pre and post lecture delivery. Analysis of the results suggest moderate to high improvement in student comprehension of computer memory allocation concepts
The spread of COVID-19 has significantly disrupted the educational landscape since March 2020.Instructors at higher education institutions had to quickly transition to an online environment for ...remote delivery of their academic programs. Even though academic programs are relatively easy to adapt for remote delivery as compared to other industries, educators were still tasked with redesigning their courses to guarantee the quality of education delivered to their students. This challenge is particularly true with engineering entrepreneurship educators since their course structures heavily focus on developing intangibles such as an entrepreneurial mindset and team collaboration through immersion into hands-on learning experiences. To create this experiential learning environment, engineering entrepreneurship educators have, in general, relied uponface-to-face interactions with students. Little has been published in the existing literature to report the challenges, strategies, and innovations that can help transition effectively and deliver such academic programs remotely. In this paper, the authors from four major Canadian higher education institutions report our experience from ‘trial-byfire’ mode to redesign and deliver various courses for remote learning. This paper is by no means presenting validated “best practices” but aims to trigger discussions surrounding tools available to educators considering such a transition. We hope that this paper will provide insights and strategies for our colleagues to employ in their future course design and delivery. We also hope to invite a conversation to learn more about our colleagues’ experiences and explore opportunities to identify and validate approaches for effectively teaching engineering entrepreneurship in a remote learning environment.
More is being asked of graduate teachingassistants (GTAs) as engineering education places anincreased emphasis on teamwork and design. GTAsdirectly influence undergraduate learning. How theyapproach ...their role can determine if that influence ispositive or negative. Exerting a positive influencerequires GTAs to encourage positive group dynamics,foster self-directed learning, and support individual andteam innovation. In other words, the role of a GTA iscloser to that of a coach than to a teacher or a mentor.Unfortunately, most GTAs lack experience and skill incoaching and facilitation. To help shift our GTAs’perspectives and help them to think, act, and viewthemselves as coaches, we have developed a coachingand facilitation training workshop. We have now offeredthis workshop for a second year. The second offeringincludes a number of important updates which weredriven by three motivations: 1) improved educationaleffectiveness, 2) sustainability, and 3) dissemination.Important changes include a new activity to introduce theuse of open-ended questioning and a workbook whichsupports the workshop activities and acts as a referencesource which participants can consult after the workshop.We have also created a facilitators’ guide so that theworkshop may be delivered by facilitators other than theauthors. All workshop materials have been released undera Creative Commons license to facilitate dissemination.
TRAINING TEACHING ASSISTANTS AS COACHES Dimopoulos, Alexandros; Bubbar, Kush; Gaetz, Roslyn ...
Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA),
02/2018
Journal Article
Abstract – The role of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) is becoming more demanding as engineering education places an increased emphasis on teamwork and design. For undergraduate students to ...excel, GTAs must help them form well-functioning teams and encourage them to operate as self-directed learners. In other words, GTAs should operate more as coaches rather than teachers. Many GTAs, unfortunately, lack the basic competencies of to perform as a coach. In this work, we present a 3-hour workshop designed to address this skills gap. The role of a coach and basic theoretical concepts, as well as a simple tool to elicit self-reflection in students are presented through a series of experiential exercises and discussions. The exercises also give participants an opportunity to practice these newly acquired skills while developing confidence in identifying scenarios where the tool may be applied. This workshop has been executed once with a group of 10 graduate engineering students at the University of Victoria. Survey results have been encouraging, we believe that the participants successfully acquired basic coaching competencies and applied them to their interactions with undergraduate students.
As engineering education strives to progress towards a student-centric learning model, a competency gap with future educators becomes more apparent. In particular, the expectation of graduate student ...teaching assistants (GTAs) in attaining teaching competency to support this dynamic learning environment, often without sufficient training, is unrealistic.In the following paper, we present an implementation of the flexible Teaching Assistant Consultant (TAC) program, which serves to support the development of novice GTA competencies using a discipline-specific model with emphasis on assisting the unique challenges of international teaching assistants.We introduce the specific role of the TAC in terms of core principles and deliverables, and the strategic structure of the campus wide program at the University of Victoria. We conclude by detailing the specific implementation of the program in engineering by illustrating the role and deliverables of the engineering TAC.
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