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Sensors and Fault-Tolerant Systems for Automated Guided Vehicles

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Vehicular Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2022) | Viewed by 4185

Special Issue Editor

Ravensburg-Weingarten University, Württemberg, Germany
Interests: sensors; autonomous vehicles; vehicle interior; vehicle ergonomics; vehicle seating systems; vehicle design processes; fault-tolerant control and design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are one of the cornerstones in the automation of industrial processes, and their main fields of application concern scenarios with prominent material flows. AGVs are already used in assembly lines, warehouses, and production plants, while their use in other areas such as in hospitals or on construction sites is currently under development. AGVs exhibit several advantages compared to other kinds of logistics systems because they are more flexible, substitutable, and intelligent than other systems, occupy a smaller floor space, and require relatively small amounts of time and cost for their initial installation. Unfortunately, the immense potential of AGVs in terms of efficiency and flexibility has not yet been exploited because AGVs are frequently only used for relatively simple assignments such as the loading and unloading of goods in which only fixed guiding technologies are applied, for instance, magnetic or optical guidance. One main obstacle for further advancement are unsatisfactory means of sensing the environment of AGVs in connection with sensing the exact position, orientation, and pose of the respective AGV. Research in this direction is highly desirable. With this in mind, this Special Issue invites researchers to share their latest results which may contribute to developing improved sensing capabilities of AGVs. A connected main obstacle for further advancement is the complexity of the systems, their exponentially growing functionality, and the overwhelming data abundance, which lead to multiple possibilities for sensor, actuator, and process faults. As a consequence, an increase in fault-tolerance is mandatory, and intensified scientific discourse concerning approaches for fault-tolerant systems consequently represents a cornerstone for the successful development of future AGVs.

Prof. Dr. Ralf Stetter
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • optical sensors
  • radar sensors
  • ultrasonic sensors
  • environment monitoring
  • sensor fusion
  • fault-tolerant control
  • fault-tolerant design
  • sensor fusion
  • filters

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2744 KiB  
Article
Multi-Parameter Predictive Model of Mobile Robot’s Battery Discharge for Intelligent Mission Planning in Multi-Robot Systems
by Bartosz Poskart, Grzegorz Iskierka, Kamil Krot, Robert Burduk, Paweł Gwizdal and Arkadiusz Gola
Sensors 2022, 22(24), 9861; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22249861 - 15 Dec 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1444
Abstract
The commercially available battery management and mission scheduling systems for fleets of autonomous mobile robots use different algorithms to calculate the current state of charge of the robot’s battery. This information alone cannot be used to predict whether it will be possible for [...] Read more.
The commercially available battery management and mission scheduling systems for fleets of autonomous mobile robots use different algorithms to calculate the current state of charge of the robot’s battery. This information alone cannot be used to predict whether it will be possible for a single robot in the fleet to execute all of the scheduled missions. This paper provides insight into how to develop a universal battery discharge model based on key mission parameters, which allows for predicting the battery usage over the course of the scheduled missions and can, in turn, be used to determine which missions to delegate to other robots in the fleet, or if more robots are needed in the fleet to accomplish the production plan. The resulting model is, therefore, necessary for mission scheduling in a flexible production system, including autonomous mobile robot transportation networks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and Fault-Tolerant Systems for Automated Guided Vehicles)
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17 pages, 30663 KiB  
Article
Algorithms and Methods for the Fault-Tolerant Design of an Automated Guided Vehicle
by Ralf Stetter
Sensors 2022, 22(12), 4648; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22124648 - 20 Jun 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1768
Abstract
Researchers around the globe have contributed for many years to the research field of fault-tolerant control; the importance of this field is ever increasing as a consequence of the rising complexity of technical systems, the enlarging importance of electronics and software as well [...] Read more.
Researchers around the globe have contributed for many years to the research field of fault-tolerant control; the importance of this field is ever increasing as a consequence of the rising complexity of technical systems, the enlarging importance of electronics and software as well as the widening share of interconnected and cloud solutions. This field was supplemented in recent years by fault-tolerant design. Two main goals of fault-tolerant design can be distinguished. The first main goal is the improvement of the controllability and diagnosability of technical systems through intelligent design. The second goal is the enhancement of the fault-tolerance of technical systems by means of inherently fault-tolerant design characteristics. Inherently fault-tolerant design characteristics are, for instance, redundancy or over-actuation. This paper describes algorithms, methods and tools of fault-tolerant design and an application of the concept to an automated guided vehicle (AGV). This application took place on different levels ranging from conscious requirements management to redundant elements, which were consciously chosen, on the most concrete level of a technical system, i.e., the product geometry. The main scientific contribution of the paper is a methodical framework for fault-tolerant design, as well as certain algorithms and methods within this framework. The underlying motivation is to support engineers in design and control trough product development process transparency and appropriate algorithms and methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and Fault-Tolerant Systems for Automated Guided Vehicles)
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