Intelligent Instruments

Kevin H. KnuthKevin H. KnuthDepartment of PhysicsDepartment of Physics

University at AlbanyUniversity at Albany

Intelligent InstrumentsIntelligent Instruments

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

From "The Rock" by T.S. Elliot

13 July 2007 Dr. Kevin H. KnuthMAXENT 2007

More and more are our instruments required to perform science operations further from the intervention of humans.

Remote Science

Dust devils whip across Gusev Crater on Mars

Opportunity on Mars


Intelligent Autonomous Instruments

Require:

Stability Control

Instrument Health Monitoring

Automated Calibration

Accurate Onboard Data Analysis

Adequate Data Coverage

Ability to Actively Seek Data


Novel Instrument Design

To accomplish these goals, these novel instruments must

Monitor their own state (health and calibration) Infer their state from self-sensing Be equipped with dense sensor networks Infer calibration parameters

Learn from data Make inferences from data Perform hypothesis testing

Ask new questions Actively seek new data Select optimal experiments


Sound Familiar?

Your frontal lobes carry a model of yourself that is continually updated from data received from a dense sensor network. This implements both ‘Instrument Health Monitoring’ and ‘Calibration’

You learn from new data by updating your model of the world.

You actively seek new data by asking relevant questions.


Body and Brain form a Symbiotic Unit


Instruments and Data Analysis are Disjoint


The Basic Components

Intelligent InstrumentTest Bed


NASA Funded Research

Intelligent Symbiotic Instrument Analysis Systems


The Dispersed Fourier Transform Spectrometer

Courtesy: Dr. Arsen Hajian


The Alignment Schematic

Light (blue) enters the spectrometer through a fiber optic launcher.

A laser beam (red) is injected into the system for metrology. It is filtered out of the results with optical notch filters.

Cameras C1-8 collect data for the auto-alignment system.

Barriers B1-6 can be introduced via auto-alignment system to test various sub-systems.


Auto-Alignment and Stabilization

We can align dFTS from anywhere in the worldAlignment required 5 minutes on 2005-02-23Code in Java (cross-platform)

Modified our full-aperture metrology system to create an active compensation system

• Compute f(t) with respect to f(to) using lock-in-amp (SR830)• Feed error signal back to delay line (Parker)

Refine results with further Bayesian calibration


Problems and Solutions

Problem: Collaborator afraid we would steal the design ofhis instrument.

Solution: Design and Construct our own Instrument

Problem 1: Collaborator concerned about having automated software run his expensive instrument.

Solution: Instrument must be inexpensive in the event of a catastrophe

Problem 2: NASA management confused… “instrument already takes data in an automated fashion”.

Solution 1: New management

Solution 2: Instrument must be OBVIOUSLY Intelligent.

Problem: NASA cuts funding to entire program

Solution: Instrument must be inexpensive Solution: Secure funding from alternate sources


The LEGO Mindstorms NXT System

1 The NXT Brick is the brain of the system.

2 Touch Sensor

3

4

5

6

Microphone

Light Sensor

UltrasonicRangefinder

Servo Motors


Lego teams with HiTecnic

AccelerometerNEW!

Color Sensor

Digital Compass

PrototypeBoard

Sensor and Motor Multiplexers


NXT Communicates with Laptop

SYMBIOTIC!

Hardware

Software


LDRAW (Lego Cad System)


Rendering and Animating Designs

Created by Kevin Knuth 2007 with LDraw and POVRay


Advantages of Lego NXT

1. Cost: One NXT Robotics Kit = $250

2. Design: Robot Bodies are not constrained

3. Construction: Robots can be built in a matter of hours

4. Documentation: LDraw software allows one to thoroughly document therobot’s construction. One can generate Parts Lists, Keep design or send to many others.

5. Brick: The Brick is programmable, but can also be set up to talk to a computer. This enables complex software to effectively run in reasonable times for Real Time adventures.


Characterization with a Light Sensor

GOAL: Characterize the circle: {x, y, r}with as few measurements as possible

CONSTRAINT: Only point measurements are allowed


Sample from the Posterior

After several measurements, the posterior in {x, y, r}-space becomes well-localized.

Here are possible solutions sampled from the posterior using nested sampling


Sample from the Posterior

By querying each sampled circle, we can obtain a set of hypothesized measurements for each possible measurement location.

From this we create an entropy map, which tells us where we can expect to obtain the greatest amount of information.

NXTSteps


Measure Acoustic Radiation Pattern

http://www.kef.com/technology/new_uniq/wave.htmhttp://personal.cityu.edu.hk/~bsapplec/transmis1.htm


Laser Scanner


Which Experiment?

In the future, he won’t need help from humans to determine the best experiment to perform.

He’ll decide for himself.


Acknowledgements:NASA SISM IS Program (Knuth)SIM Preparatory Science Program (NRA 98-OSS-07) (Hajian)

ThanksArsen Hajian USNOJ. Pat Castle EA/NASA AmesNikolay Lvov QSS/NASA AmesJohn Stutz NASA AmesDogan Timucin NASA AmesKevin Wheeler NASA AmesBrian Pohl UNC Chapel HillJ. Thomas Armstrong NRLDavid Mozurkewich NRLRobert B. Hindsley NRLChristopher Tycner Univ. of TorontoRobert Olling USNO

P.S. There is nothing wrong with human intervention


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Intelligent Instruments