Sharif Digital Repository

Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices have a strict necessity for power consumption to achieve the expected battery life. Therefore, measuring and optimizing the energy consumption of IoT nodes are essential. IoT nodes feature extreme current consumption range over 100 dB between their operating modes. The main focus of this article is to design and implement a low-power and low-cost current measurement circuit, which can be integrated into IoT nodes. A new pass element is introduced for measuring the current consumption. This element is placed in the current path to measure current over a high dynamic range with a constant voltage drop. The introduced pass element consists of a capacitor and... 

Internet of Things (IoT) devices have strict necessity for power consumption in order to achieve expected battery life. IoT nodes feature extreme power consumption range over 100 dB, between their operating modes. The main focus of this paper is to design and implement a high precision, high dynamic range, low power, and flexible power measurement system, which can be applied to different applications. The proposed system consists of a voltage regulating control loop, zero offset amplifiers, high precision analog to digital converters, and reference voltage. The proper operation of the proposed circuit are verified numerically with simulations and experimental measurements. The implemented... 

The power consumption of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices is a major concern as it directly affects battery life. Therefore, measuring and monitoring the energy usage of IoT devices is vital. However, measuring the current consumption measurement of IoT devices is challenging as it must cover a wide range with low power consumption. In this paper, an improved design for the current measurement circuit is presented. The pass element which is placed in the current path to measure the current based on the charge and discharge of the capacitor is optimized to have reduced voltage drop, lower power consumption, decreased costs, and improved integration with IoT devices. The proposed circuit is... 

The optimum design of reinforced concrete cantilever retaining walls subjected to seismic loads is an extremely important challenge in structural and geotechnical engineering, especially in seismic zones. This study proposes an adaptive sperm swarm optimization algorithm (ASSO) for economic design of retaining structure under static and seismic loading. The proposed ASSO algorithm utilizes a time-varying velocity damping factor to provide a fine balance between the explorative and exploitative behavior of the original method. In addition, the new method considers a reasonable velocity limitation to avoid the divergence of the sperm movement. The proposed algorithm is benchmarked with a set... 

This paper is concerned with global analysis of a delay SVEIR epidemiological model in a population of varying size. By using Lyapunov stability method and LaSalle's invariance principle for delay systems, we prove that when there is no endemic equilibrium, the disease free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable, otherwise the endemic equilibrium is globally stable  

A novel method is proposed in the scope of image segmentation that solves this problem by breaking it into two main blocks. The first block's functionality is a method to anticipate the color basis of each segment in segmented images. One of the challenges of image segmentation is the inappropriate distribution of colors in the RGB color space. To determine the color of each segment, after mapping the input image onto the HSI color space, the image colors are classified into some clusters by exploiting the K-Means. Then, the list of cluster centers is winnowed down to a short list of colors based on a set of criteria. The second block of the proposed method defines how each pixel of the... 

Stabilization of slopes is considered as the aim of the several geotechnical applications such as embankment, tunnel, highway, building and railway and dam. Therefore, evaluation and precise prediction of the factor of safety (FoS) of slopes can be useful in designing these important structures. This research is carried out to evaluate the ability of Monte Carlo (MC) technique for the forecasting the FoS of many homogenous slopes in the static condition. Moreover, the sensitivity of the FoS on the effective parameters was identified. To do this, the most important factors on FoS, such as angle of internal friction (Formula presented.), slope angle (Formula presented.) and cohesion (Formula... 

Stabilization of slopes is considered as the aim of the several geotechnical applications such as embankment, tunnel, highway, building and railway and dam. Therefore, evaluation and precise prediction of the factor of safety (FoS) of slopes can be useful in designing these important structures. This research is carried out to evaluate the ability of Monte Carlo (MC) technique for the forecasting the FoS of many homogenous slopes in the static condition. Moreover, the sensitivity of the FoS on the effective parameters was identified. To do this, the most important factors on FoS, such as angle of internal friction (∅) , slope angle (α) and cohesion (C) were investigated and used as the... 

Inspired by the effects of a switching surface on the stability of passive dynamic walking (Safa and Naraghi in Robotica 33(01):195–207, 2015; Safa et al. in Nonlinear Dyn. 81(4):2127–2140, 2015), this paper suggests a new control strategy for stabilization of dynamic bipedal locomotion. It verifies that the stability improvement of a dynamic walking system is feasible while preserving the speed, step-length, period, natural dynamics, and the energy effectiveness of the gait. The proposed control policy goes behind the three primary principles: (i) The system’s switching surface has to be replaced by a new one if an external disturbance is induced. (ii) The new switching surface has to be... 

Inspired by the effects of a switching surface on the stability of passive dynamic walking (Safa and Naraghi in Robotica 33(01):195–207, 2015; Safa et al. in Nonlinear Dyn. 81(4):2127–2140, 2015), this paper suggests a new control strategy for stabilization of dynamic bipedal locomotion. It verifies that the stability improvement of a dynamic walking system is feasible while preserving the speed, step-length, period, natural dynamics, and the energy effectiveness of the gait. The proposed control policy goes behind the three primary principles: (i) The system’s switching surface has to be replaced by a new one if an external disturbance is induced. (ii) The new switching surface has to be... 

Magnetic field generated by neuronal activity could alter magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signals but detection of such signal is under debate. Previous researches proposed that magnitude signal change is below current detectable level, but phase signal change (PSC) may be measurable with current MRI systems. Optimal imaging parameters like echo time, voxel size and external field direction, could increase the probability of detection of this small signal change. We simulate a voxel of cortical column to determine effect of such parameters on PSC signal. We extended a laminar network model for somatosensory cortex to find neuronal current in each segment of pyramidal neurons (PN). 60,000... 

Magnetic field generated by active neurons has recently been considered to determine location of neuronal activity directly with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but controversial results have been reported about detection of such small magnetic fields. In this study, multiple neuronal morphologies of rat tissue were modeled to investigate better estimation of MRI signal change produced by neuronal magnetic field (NMF). Ten pyramidal neurons from layer II to VI of rat somatosensory area with realistic morphology, biophysics, and neuronal density were modeled to simulate NMF of neuronal tissue, from which effects of NMF on MRI signals were obtained. Neuronal current MRI signals, which... 

By employing a few simple models of passive dynamic walking mechanism, we have shown the possibility of extending the boundaries of the maximum stable speed of these autonomous robots merely by changing their terrain. The replaced terrain consists of a series of parallel local slopes and is recognized as a general form of a ramp-stair surface. Although here, the mechanism of stabilization of the unstable locomotion patterns is not clearly known, the technique is quite simple and works effectively. The merit to the method over other strategies, could be described in two separate aspects: First, it is still completely passive; so we do not need any external energy to control the robot. Second,... 

Surface settlement is considered as an adverse effect induced by tunneling in the civil projects. This paper proposes the use of the imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) for predicting the maximum surface settlement (MMS) resulting from the tunneling. For this work, three forms of equations, i.e., linear, quadratic and power are developed and their weights are then optimized/updated with the ICA. The requirement datasets were collected from the line No. 2 of Karaj urban railway, in Iran. In the ICA models, vertical to horizontal stress ratio, cohesion and Young’s modulus, as the effective parameters on the MSS, are adopted as the inputs. The statistical performance parameters such as root... 

Surface settlement is considered as an adverse effect induced by tunneling in the civil projects. This paper proposes the use of the imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) for predicting the maximum surface settlement (MMS) resulting from the tunneling. For this work, three forms of equations, i.e., linear, quadratic and power are developed and their weights are then optimized/updated with the ICA. The requirement datasets were collected from the line No. 2 of Karaj urban railway, in Iran. In the ICA models, vertical to horizontal stress ratio, cohesion and Young’s modulus, as the effective parameters on the MSS, are adopted as the inputs. The statistical performance parameters such as root... 

With the increasing penetration of renewable energies as distributed generation (DG) in power systems, technical problems arise in both distribution and transmission system level. Voltage rise is the main barrier for connection of DGs in rural areas, while excessive reactive power demand from transmission system is the major concern for Transmission System Operators (TSO). Here, a centralized control scheme based on the Smart Grid is proposed to reduce the impact on the transmission system voltages and improve its stability, while mitigating the voltage rise issue in the distribution network. Reactive power output of DGs, substation capacitors and tap setting of transmission transformer are... 

The introduction of demand response concept, in addition to increment of penetration of distributed generation (DG) based on renewable energies, make opportunities for the novel control schemes to be integrated in power system on a smart grid framework. Voltage control methods in power systems needs proper coordination among reactive power resources and conventional volt/var control equipments. In this work, potential reactive power resources are investigated and then, reactive power output of renewable DG units and controllable loads along with operation of conventional voltage controllers are optimized using a centralized control scheme. Considering the variability of demand and... 

This project is a new pressure model for propagating pressure inside one or several tissues at the time of treatment with high intensity focus ultrasound (HIFU). Pressure's changes are converted to heat's changes in tissue and this is done oscillatory. When the treatment is done in deeper tissues, obtained heat can affect surficial tissues. This pressure effect also can enter surficial tissues. Amount of pressure and heat possible injury can be controlled and reduced through this mechanical modelling. In this model we have used three layers and pressure also is obtained within these three layers and is investigated averagely. Obtained tissue in this mood is kidney tissue and it is tried to... 

This paper presents an investigation of the dynamics of two coupled non-identical FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons with delayed synaptic connection. We consider coupling strength and time delay as bifurcation parameters, and try to classify all possible dynamics which is fairly rich. The neural system exhibits a unique rest point or three ones for the different values of coupling strength by employing the pitchfork bifurcation of non-trivial rest point. The asymptotic stability and possible Hopf bifurcations of the trivial rest point are studied by analyzing the corresponding characteristic equation. Homoclinic, fold, and pitchfork bifurcations of limit cycles are found. The delay-dependent stability... 

Magnetic components such as inductors have supreme importance in switch-mode power supplies (SMPS). The design of the SMPS circuit is typically based on the information obtained from simulations and available datasheets. However, the behavior of the implemented circuit can deviate from expectation due to its time-varying characteristics, operation point, and various environmental factors. Therefore, advanced methods are required to measure the behavior of inductors in-circuit. To address this challenge, an in-circuit measurement solution based on the energy transfer characteristic of the inductance is presented. It is a cost-effective and easy-to-implement solution that can be integrated...