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This study presents a novel approach to the design of cost-effective autonomous rovers using a heterogeneous computing architecture. The research focuses on the development and evaluation of an autonomous rover system, priced under $2 700 (USD), that can operate independently in various environments. The system’s performance was assessed in real-world conditions, demonstrating an average speed of 0.5 m/s, an energy consumption of 0.2 kWh, and a decision-making error rate below 5%. The results suggest that the use of heterogeneous computing architectures can lead to the development of affordable and efficient autonomous navigation systems. The paper concludes by discussing potential future research directions and the broader implications of these findings for the field of autonomous systems.

Numerous terrestrial robotic platforms use computational power for path planning. These platforms typically use a vision system to identify obstacles and perform path planning. In cases where the vision systems are unable to function due to larger obstacles in the area, the paths are chosen as random functions of the given terrain to explore the environment and often results in missteps and moving away from the target location. In this research, we present a multi-robot system comprised of a terrestrial robot with a tethered aerial drone. By making use of the additive overhead view, the target location can be identified, and the exploration and path planning algorithms biased, subsequently reducing the computational cost, and creating a more efficient path planning approach. Focus has been placed on the control architecture of the system.

Gait generation for a legged robot in real-time is no simple task. Typically, powerful processors are required to perform real-time trajectory optimisation techniques to generate the trajectories , or the platform requires full state feedback and controllers to track a pre-generated trajectory. Here we present a novel method for generating gaits in real-time by varying three parameters (RideHeight, StepLength, and StepHeight). Various successful walking experiments were performed with the developed quadrupedal platform, demonstrating that this method worked with minimal state feedback (only leg angles) and limited processing power (Teensy 4.0 microcontroller was used). The resulting gait was generated in real-time and maintained stability in open loop. The platform was capable of traversing obstacles (50mm x 50mm) and ascending or descending slopes (15°).

As the market place becomes increasingly competitive and there is a need to be able to differentiate oneself as a high performer. Andrew Vaughan the CEO of Redevco stated ‘Greening our portfolio over the next two years is not only environmentally the right thing to do, it also makes sound business sense.’Buildings built and/or managed to sustainability standards, such as BREEAM have been shown to minimise risk and generate maximum profit via: • High and continuous rental income; • Low operating & maintenance cost; • Low depreciation. UK valuers do not think we are paying a premium for green buildings but having to give a discount because the building is not performing well. This gives a convincing business case for new build where the certification process leads to a high-performance building. However, what about the existing building stock? Is the operational environmental performance of an asset reflected by its investment performance? This paper describes a new research project which aims to test the Hypothesis – Better operational performance in-use leads to improved investment performance of commercial offices. Improved operational performance goes “hand-in-hand” with environmental performance; where the performance can be illustrated by certification and labelling schemes.

Fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) systems have recently become popular in repairing concrete or masonry structures because of their inherent advantages. In spite of these benefits, FRPs have drawbacks having low fire resistance, poor environmental sustainability and incompatibilty with the substrate concrete. The effort to address these issues has led to the development of an emerging strain hardening cementitious (SHC) material using an inorganic polymer known as hybrid fibre-reinforced geopolymer (HFRG) composites. Compared with cement-based SHC composites, HFRG has better bond performance to concrete substrates, higher fire resistance, greater corrosion durability and helps to reduce CO2 emissions. This paper reviews the recent development of HFRG composites as an emerging repair material. Literature reveals that flowability of a fresh HFRG mixture decreases with increasing fibre content though still workable up to 2% fibre volume. Fibre synergy could result in 10–181% higher flexural toughness of geopolymer composites than when just using mono fibres. The application of HFRG composites to RC beams increased displacement ductility by to 263%. To date, there has been no reported field application of HFRG as a repair material though mono-fibre FRG has been field-applied as a strengthening material in large-diameter sewer RC pipes, RC culverts, RC sewerage manholes and dam surface improvement.

This short introduction reflects upon the significance of the conference to the research topic and scholarly community. After briefly providing an overview of the collaborative framework within which the event took place, it provides a few figures on the participation to the call for papers and the conference itself, as well as a few explanatory words concerning the different themed sessions and sections of the proceedings. Doing so allows the authors to highlight the relevance of the event to both research on the topic and to the concerned disciplines, but also the under-represented topics and disciplines, as a constructive contribution to the future research agenda.

Seismic data-sets are extremely large and are broken into data files, ranging in size from 100s of GiBs to 10s of TiBs and larger. The parallel I/O for these files is complex due to the amount of data along with varied and multiple access patterns within individual files. Properties of legacy file formats, such as the de-facto standard SEG-Y, also contribute to the decrease in developer productivity while working with these files. SEG-Y files embed their own internal layout which could lead to conflict with traditional, file-system-level layout optimization schemes. Additionally, as seismic files continue to increase in size, memory bottlenecks will be exacerbated, resulting in the need for smart I/O optimization not only to increase the efficiency of read/writes, but to manage memory usage as well. The ExSeisDat (Extreme-Scale Seismic Data) set of libraries addresses these problems through the development and implementation of easy to use, object oriented libraries that are portable and open source with bindings available in multiple languages. The lower level parallel I/O library, ExSeisPIOL (Extreme-Scale Seismic Parallel I/O Library), targets SEG-Y and other proprietary formats, simplifying I/O by internally interfacing MPI-I/O and other I/O interfaces. The I/O is explicitly handled; end users only need to define the memory limits, decomposition of I/O across processes, and data access patterns when reading and writing data. ExSeisPIOL bridges the layout gap between the SEG-Y file structure and file system organization. The higher level parallel seismic workflow library, ExSeisFlow (Extreme-Scale Seismic workFlow), leverages ExSeisPIOL, further simplifying I/O by implicitly handling all I/O parameters, thus allowing geophysicists to focus on domain-specific development. Operations in ExSeisFlow focus on prestack processing and can be performed on single traces, individual gathers, and across entire surveys, including out of core sorting, binning, filtering, and transforming. To optimize memory management, the workflow only reads in data pertinent to the operations being performed instead of an entire file. A smart caching system manages the read data, discarding it when no longer needed in the workflow. As the libraries are optimized to handle spatial and temporal locality, they are a natural fit to burst buffer technologies, particularly DDN’s Infinite Memory Engine (IME) system. With appropriate access semantics or through the direct exploitation of the low-level interfaces, the ExSeisDat stack on IME delivers a significant improvement to I/O performance over standalone parallel file systems like Lustre.

According to PNG Power Limited (PPL), Papua New Guinea’s peak power demand is expected to increase from 210 MW in 2012 to 347 MW in 2026. Under the current state of the power sector in Papua New Guinea (PNG), it is critical to implement measures to cope with the increasing power demand to promote investment, economic growth, and ultimately to achieve poverty reduction through economic growth. One of the solutions identified to improve the reliability of PNG power systems and thus to meet the demand is to interconnect the major grids in the country so that the loads could be shared among them. This project embarks in designing a 345-kV electric power transmission line to interlink the Ramu and Rouna power grids of Papua New Guinea. The design is done by analysing all the necessary aspects of the transmission lines with in-depth calculations performed using MATHCAD software. This design is the basis for extra-high voltage (EHV) transmission network in anticipation for the power generation and demand growth in PNG.

An electric storm is a source of electrostatic charge that can induce high current and electric potential on a surface of an aircraft through direct effects. It can also be a source of radiated electromagnetic pulses on an aircraft in flight through indirect effects. Both direct and indirect effects can have adverse effects on flight safety. Thus, it is vital to gain good understanding of the pre-lightning strike and the electrical characteristics of a thunderstorm in order to quantify lightning threats to aircraft. Since lightning parameters are not easily measurable, predictive modeling can be applied to model the pre-lightning strike and aircraft electrostatics. In this paper, we applied the 3D dipole model in predicting the electrostatics build up along an aircraft extremities as it approaches an ambient electric field of a charged cloud. The results give a quantitative evaluation of the threats during pre-lightning strikes and electrostatics buildup on the aircraft. This is vital in designing and coordinating shielding measures to mitigate the threats and to harden the protection systems for aircraft.

Bluefin tuna are highly migratory pelagic fish. Pacific bluefin tuna are spawned in waters off Japan and some juveniles migrate across the Pacific to waters off California. Bluefin that had recently migrated and caught in waters off San Diego, California in August 2011 were found to have 134Cs and 137Cs in their muscle tissue, at concentrations that could only have come from the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan. Bluefin tuna caught 3 years earlier off San Diego and yellowfin tuna that are resident to the eastern Pacific had no 134Cs and only background levels of 137Cs. The radioactivity in tuna attributable to these Cs isotopes was only 2.8% of that from the naturally occurring 40K, suggesting that consumption of these fish poses little risk to public health. The presence of these isotopes in animal tissues can be used to discern migratory routes and timing for those animals that use the western Pacific.

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