LATEST TRENDS <strong>on</strong> SYSTEMS (Volume I)Plenary Lecture 3Supercapacitors Applicati<strong>on</strong> in Energy Hybrid Systems for AutomotiveDr. Carmen Mihaela LungociElectrical Engineering and Computers Science FacultyElectrical Engineering DepartmentTransilvania University of Brasov, RomaniaE-mail: lungoci@unitbv.roAbstract: Energy hybrid <strong>systems</strong> are key elements in automotive, that meet the energy demands of tracti<strong>on</strong> engine,provide a c<strong>on</strong>venient life and present a minimum weight and volume. Supercapacitors are devices able to meetspecified demands, especially when they work together with the other energy sources, such as batteries.Present research aims to develop an energy hybrid system for transport, <strong>us</strong>ing batteries and supercapacitors, inorder to optimize it’s energy management. To achieve this goal, several steps are taken in account.Based <strong>on</strong> a synthetic analysis <strong>on</strong> superacapacitors, models are developed and determinati<strong>on</strong>s are carried out, tocharacterize and determine the type of supercapacitors pack to be <strong>us</strong>ed in the proposed applicati<strong>on</strong>s.Two architectures of hybrid energy <strong>systems</strong> are presented and their operating regimes are detailed. Mathematicalmodeling is carried out, models for the comp<strong>on</strong>ents and for the two hybrid <strong>systems</strong> being obtained.The final part is intended to simulati<strong>on</strong> and experimental tests, d<strong>on</strong>e for both tracti<strong>on</strong> applicati<strong>on</strong>s proposed. Throughthe data results, supercapacitors c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> is underlined by a comparative analysis of main parameters provided bysimulati<strong>on</strong>s and experiments too. The energy management is also presented, in a traditi<strong>on</strong>al system with batteriesand in a hybrid system that c<strong>on</strong>tains supercapacitors and batteries.Brief Biography of the Speaker:Carmen Mihaela Lungoci received the B.Sc. in 1990 <strong>on</strong> the Automati<strong>on</strong> for Ind<strong>us</strong>trial C<strong>on</strong>trol from PolitehnicaUniversity, Bucharest and the M.S.E.E. degree in 2004 from Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania andTechnology University of Belfort, France. In 2009 she received the Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering fromTransilvania University of Brasov, Romania. She is lecturer at this university, <strong>on</strong> the Electrical EngineeringDepartment of the Electrical Engineering and Computers Science Faculty. Her current research interests includessupercapacitors, energy management in automotive <strong>systems</strong> and c<strong>on</strong>trol strategies in hybrid <strong>systems</strong>.ISSN: 1792-4235 21 ISBN: 978-960-474-199-1
LATEST TRENDS <strong>on</strong> SYSTEMS (Volume I)Plenary Lecture 4Work Directi<strong>on</strong>s and New Results in Electr<strong>on</strong>ic Travel Aids for Blind and VisuallyImpaired PeopleProfessor Virgil Tip<strong>on</strong>utElectr<strong>on</strong>ic and Telecommunicati<strong>on</strong> FacultyPOLITEHNICA University of TimisoaraRomaniaE-mail: virgil.tip<strong>on</strong>ut@etc.upt.roAbstract: There are approximately 45 milli<strong>on</strong> blind & visually impaired people world-wide according to the WorldHealth Report. Visi<strong>on</strong> loss limits the access of these individuals to the educati<strong>on</strong>al opportunities, social events, publictransportati<strong>on</strong> and leads to a higher rate of unemployment.Many efforts have been invested in the last years, based <strong>on</strong> sensor technology and signal processing, to developelectr<strong>on</strong>ic travel aids (ETA) capable to improve the mobility of blind <strong>us</strong>ers in unknown or dynamically changingenvir<strong>on</strong>ment. In spite of these efforts, the already proposed ETAs do not meet the requirements of the blindcommunity and the traditi<strong>on</strong>al tools (white cane and guiding dogs) are still the <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>us</strong>ed by visually impaired t<strong>on</strong>avigate in their working and living envir<strong>on</strong>ment.In this paper, research efforts to improve the main two comp<strong>on</strong>ents of an ETA tool: the Obstacles Detecti<strong>on</strong> System(ODS) and the Man-machine Interface (MMI) are presented. Now, for the first time, the ODS under development isbioinspired from the visual system of insects, particularly from the Lobula Giant Moti<strong>on</strong> Detector (LGMD) found inloc<strong>us</strong>ts. LGMD is a large neur<strong>on</strong> found in optical lobule of the loc<strong>us</strong>t, which mainly resp<strong>on</strong>ds at the approachingobjects. Starting from the mathematical model of the LGMD, known in the literature, it has been developed an ODSthat can be <strong>us</strong>ed by visually impaired to navigate aut<strong>on</strong>omo<strong>us</strong>ly with obstacles avoidance. The already obtainedresults are very promising, but some improvements are also possible. We are developing now preprocessingalgorithms for the visual informati<strong>on</strong> applied to the input of the LGMD neur<strong>on</strong>, in order to improve the resp<strong>on</strong>se of theODS. In the proposed soluti<strong>on</strong>, the positi<strong>on</strong> of the detected obstacles is correlated with the attitude parameters of thesubject's head. In this way, the visually impaired pers<strong>on</strong> detects obstacles in a similar way as a subject with normalsight is looking for obstacles in fr<strong>on</strong>t of him.The man-machine interface developed in the present research exploits the remarkable abilities of the human hearingsystem in identifying sound source positi<strong>on</strong>s in 3D space. The proposed soluti<strong>on</strong> relies <strong>on</strong> the Aco<strong>us</strong>tic Virtual Reality(AVR) c<strong>on</strong>cept, which can be c<strong>on</strong>sidered as a substitute for the lost sight of blind and visually impaired individuals.According to the AVR c<strong>on</strong>cept, the presence of obstacles in the surrounding envir<strong>on</strong>ment and the path to the targetwill be signalized to the subject by burst of sounds, whose virtual source positi<strong>on</strong> suggests the positi<strong>on</strong> of the realobstacles and the directi<strong>on</strong> of movement, respectively. The practical implementati<strong>on</strong> of this method encounters somedifficulties due to the Head Related Transfer Functi<strong>on</strong>s (HRTF) which should be known for each individual and for alimited number of points in the 3D space. These functi<strong>on</strong>s can be determined <strong>us</strong>ing a quite complex procedure, whichrequires many experimental measurements. The proposed soluti<strong>on</strong> in our research avoids these difficulties bygenerating the HRTF's coefficients <strong>us</strong>ing an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The ANN has been trained <strong>us</strong>ing apublic data base, available for the whole scientific community and which c<strong>on</strong>tains HRTF's coefficients for a limitednumber of individuals and a limited number of points in 3D space for each individual.The ODS and the MMI presented in the above have been implemented <strong>on</strong> a specific hardware build around an ARMbasedmicroc<strong>on</strong>troller system. The obtained results and some c<strong>on</strong>cl<strong>us</strong>i<strong>on</strong>s are also presented.Brief Biography of the Speaker:Prof. Virgil TIPONUT received the M.Sc. in 1968, in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science, and the Ph.D. degreein Electr<strong>on</strong>ic Engineering and Telecommunicati<strong>on</strong>s, in 1981, both at the POLITEHNICA University of Timisoara,Romania. Since graduati<strong>on</strong> he is with POLITEHNICA University of Timisoara and curently he is a professor atElectr<strong>on</strong>ic and Telecommunicati<strong>on</strong> Faculty, resp<strong>on</strong>sable for teaching in embedded <strong>systems</strong>, smart transducers andneural networks.His research interests include bioinspired <strong>systems</strong>, with applicati<strong>on</strong> in mobile and rehabilitati<strong>on</strong> robotics and someclosed related areas: smart transducers, neural networks and fuzzy logic, biomedical engineering, embeddedISSN: 1792-4235 22 ISBN: 978-960-474-199-1