Emulation Methodology of Programmable Logic Controllers for Cybersecurity Applications.
Abstract not provided.
Fasano, Raymond Ernest↗
SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Results for “PROGRAMMER”
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Controlling Liquid Crystal Orientations for Programmable Anisotropic Transformations in Cellular Microstructures
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99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
Wireless optofluidic systems for programmable in vivo pharmacology and optogenetics
Provided are implantable, injectable and/or surface mounted biomedical devices and related methods for interfacing with a target tissue. The devices have a substrate, one or more microfluidic channels embedded in or supported by the substrate and a fluid actuator in operational communication with one or more reservoirs and responsive to a wireless control signal. The components of the device are specially configured and packaged to be ultra-thin and mechanically compliant. In some embodiments, the devices are self-powered and fully implantable. The devices can be shaped to provide injection in a minimally invasive manner, thereby avoiding unnecessary tissue damage and providing a platform for long-term implantation for interfacing with biological tissue.
Rogers, John A.↗
Programmable pseudo-random sequence generator for use with universal lidar and its associated method of operation
A pseudo-random sequence generator for use within a universal lidar system and its corresponding method of operation. The pseudo-random sequence generator uses synchronized shift registers that are in series Binary adders are provided. The signal output of each of the shift registers is tapped and directed to the binary adders. High-speed switches are provided between the shift registers and the binary adders. The switches are programmed to connect only two of the shift registers to the binary adders for each of the pseudo-random patterns being generated. The binary adders generate an output signal that is received by the first shift register. The signal propagates through all the shift registers to the last shift register. The last shift register outputs a pseudo-random sequence.
Datta, Shubhashish↗
Recent Developments in the United Kingdom Geological Disposal Facility Programme - 17558
The United Kingdom Government remains committed to the policy of geological disposal. All major nuclear nations are actively pursuing geological disposal. It is internationally recognised that geological disposal represents the safest and most sustainable option as the end point of the management of high level waste and spent fuel considered as waste. Other countries that have also decided on a policy of geological disposal include Canada, Finland, France, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States of America. The United Kingdom Government continues to favour an approach to siting a Geological Disposal Facility that is based on the willingness of local communities to participate in the siting process. Construction and operation of a Geological Disposal Facility will be a multi-billion pound project that will provide skilled employment for hundreds of people over many decades. It will contribute greatly to the local economy and wider socio-economic framework. There are also likely to be spin-off industry benefits, infrastructure investments, benefits to local education or academic resources, and positive impacts on local service industries that support the facility and its workforce. It is also likely to involve major investments in local transport facilities and other infrastructure, which would remain after the facility had been closed. The United Kingdom Government published a renewed process for siting a Geological Disposal Facility in 2014 - the Implementing Geological Disposal White Paper. This paper discusses the status of activities in the 2014 White Paper that have been accomplished or are underway through to 2016. (authors)
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
Challenges of mine remediation programmes in developing countries - a life cycle perspective - 15371
This paper analyses some challenges of environmental rehabilitation (ER) projects in developing countries that the authors have encountered over the past two decades in many parts of the world, discusses the reasons and proposes ways to mitigate them. In the life cycle of an ER project, some stages that are particularly decisive for the lasting rehabilitation success are considered here: (1) site characterisation/baseline studies, (2) justification and development of remediation objectives, site end states and a remediation strategy, and (3) the after-care phase. This paper argues that the time available in many ER projects in developing countries using international funding is very often insufficient, and discusses the reasons for some of the most important bottlenecks: (1) time realistically required to produce thorough baseline data and obtain historic site information that are indispensable to develop a robust remediation design, (2) lack of an adequate legal and regulatory framework, overlapping and/or conflicting provisions of national standards and discrepancies with international best practice, (3) unmanaged stakeholder expectations regarding the actual health and environmental risks, justification and prioritisation of remedial actions, and the achievable remediation end state. Insufficient resources for after-care, monitoring and, if required, corrective action is another major issue that, in the experience of the authors, jeopardises the sustainability of remediation success. Consequently by applying the lessons learnt from previous ER projects in developing (and developed) countries and taking them on board during the programming phase of new ER projects, international funding agencies could greatly help to avoid these obstacles. (authors)
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
The role of Aspo Hard Rock laboratory for the Swedish nuclear fuel and waste management's research, developing and demonstration programme for a final repository of spent nuclear fuel - 15378
The Aspo Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL), located in the Simpevarp area in the municipality of Oskarshamn in Sweden, Figure 1, constitutes an important part of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management (SKB) work with design and construction of a deep geological repository for final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. One of the fundamental reasons behind SKB's decision to construct an underground laboratory was to create an opportunity for research, development and demonstration in a realistic and undisturbed rock environment down to repository depth. Most of the research has concerned with processes of importance for the long-term safety of a future final repository and the capability to model the processes taking place at repository depth. Demonstration addresses the performance of the engineered barriers and practical means of constructing a repository and emplacing the canisters containing spent fuel. SKB will in the coming years more focus on using the Aspo HRL for demonstrating technology for and function of important parts of the repository system before constructing and operate the spent nuclear fuel repository in Forsmark. Aspo HRL includes both a research village with office space for 100 persons and different laboratories, e.g. Chemistry and Material Science Laboratory and Bentonite Laboratory, and an underground research laboratory to a depth of 460 m. The Aspo HRL is also open for other organisations to be used for their own projects and experiments not only related to nuclear waste management research. (authors)
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
The Bukov underground research facility as part of the Czech Republic's DGR development programme - 15644
The Czech Republic's deep geological repository (DGR) policy sets out a number of important milestones including the selection of candidate sites by 2018 and the selection of a final site by 2025. The final commissioning of the Czech DGR is planned for 2065. In 2010 a screening process was completed employing geological and other criteria that resulted in the identification of 7 potentially suitable sites, all situated in crystalline - granite host rock environments. The next step of the process will result in a reduction both in the number of sites and the surface area of remaining sites based on preliminary safety evaluations and socioeconomic, political and environmental criteria. In order to better understand the behaviour of crystalline host rock environments for DGR safety case purposes, the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA) made decided to enhance the extent of in-situ measurements and research at a depth corresponding to that of the future DGR. In the second half of 2013, RAWRA commenced the construction of the Bukov Underground Research Facility (Bukov URF) in the southern section of the Rozna uranium mine at a depth of 600 m below the earth's surface in a geologically well-mapped area of a Moldanubic crystalline rock formation which is composed principally of migmatised gneisses, migmatites and granulites. The Bukov URF will be, first and foremost, a research facility at which work will be conducted focusing on the taking of geophysical measurements, petrographic, mineralogic, geochemical research and the in-situ determination of the physical - mechanical, geochemical and hydrogeological properties of the host rock massif. The research results will form input data which will be used to both support and improve the safety of the future DGR. (authors)
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
Characterizing the Performance, Power Efficiency, and Programmability of AMD Matrix Cores
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Computer science↗
Beam-Based Programmable Spatial Shaper for Reducing Optics Exchange in the National Ignition Facility
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Lasers↗
A Hybrid Analog-Digital Programmable Pulse Generator for QIST
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47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
Initial report from the ICFA Neutrino Panel
The discovery of neutrino oscillations implies that neutrinos have mass and that the flavour eigenstates mix. Non-zero neutrino masses require new physics beyond the Standard Model. Revealing the physics behind neutrino masses and mixing is among the highest priorities for particle physics in the twenty-first century. Measurements of the parameters that govern neutrino oscillations will have a profound impact on our understanding of particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. Such a breadth of impact justifies a far-reaching experimental programme by which the properties of the neutrino that are presently unknown are determined, the three-neutrino-mixing picture is tested and the properties of the neutrino are measured with a precision sufficient to allow the physics that explains these properties to be understood. Accelerator-based neutrino-oscillation experiments are an essential component of this programme as they are the only way in which oscillations between all known flavours can be studied precisely. The accelerator-based neutrino-oscillation programme is international in both scope and engagement. The approved programme will improve our knowledge of the mixing angles and the mass-squared differences and may be able to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy. In the medium term, the Long-baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) and the Tokai (J-PARC) to Hyper-Kamiokande experiment offer complementary approaches to searching for the violation of the matter-anti-matter symmetry in neutrino oscillations. For these experiments to realise their full potential coordinated programmes of hadro-production and neutrino-nucleus cross-section measurements are essential. A design study of an alternative wide-hand beam facility is underway: the Long-baseline Neutrino Observatory (LBNO) study will report by the end of 2014. New concepts such as the implementation of a neutrino beam on the European Spallation Source (ESSnuSB) and the use of muon decay-at-rest to search for the matter-anti-matter asymmetry (Daedalus) are also being studied. The Neutrino Factory, in which electron- and muon-neutrino beams are produced from the decay of muons confined within a storage ring, has been shown to offer the ultimate sensitivity and precision. The staged implementation of the facility has been studied. The attractive hrst stage, “nuSTORM”, has the potential to make detailed and precise studies of electron- and muon-neutrino-nucleus scattering and to make exquisitely sensitive searches for sterile neutrinos. A small number of measurements do not fit the elegant three-neutrino-mixing model. These measurements can be interpreted as evidence for new “sterile neutrino” states. If confirmed, these measurements will revolutionise the held. An experimental programme is underway to investigate these anomalies. It is important that these anomalies are addressed. Short-baseline contributions to this programme should have clear synergy with the long-baseline programme. This report presents the conclusions drawn by the Panel from three regional “Town Meetings” that took place between November 2013 and February 2014. The Panel recognises that to maximise the discovery potential of the accelerator-based neutrino-oscillation programme it will be essential to exploit the infrastructures that exist at CERN, FNAL and J-PARC and the expertise and resources that reside in laboratories and institutes around the world.
Cao, J.↗
Progress on the decommissioning of Zion nuclear generating station
The decommissioning of the twin 1040 MWe PWRs at Zion, near Chicago USA is a ground breaking programme. The original owner, Exelon Nuclear Corporation, transferred the full responsibility for reactor dismantling and site license termination to a subsidiary of EnergySolutions. The target end state of the Zion site for return to Exelon will be a green field with the exception of the dry fuel storage pad. In return, ZionSolutions has access to the full value of the decommissioning trust fund. There are two potential attractions of this model: lower overall cost and significant schedule acceleration. The Zion programme which commenced in September 2010 is designed to return the cleared site with an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) pad in 2020, 12 years earlier than planned by Exelon. The overall cost, at $500 M per full size power reactor is significantly below the long run trend of $750 M+ per PWR. Implementation of the accelerated programme has been underway for nearly three years and is making good progress. The programme is characterised by numerous projects proceeding in parallel. The critical path is defined by the inspection and removal of fuel from the pond and transfer into dry fuel storage casks on the ISFSI pad and completion of RPV segmentation. Fuel loading is expected to commence in mid- 2013 with completion in late 2014. In parallel, ZionSolutions is proceeding with the segmentation of the Reactor Vessel (RV) and internals in both Units. Removal of large components from Unit 1 is underway. Numerous other projects are underway or have been completed to date. They include access openings into both containments, installation of heavy lift crane capacity, rail upgrades to support waste removal from the site, radiological characterization of facilities and equipment and numerous related tasks. As at February 2013, the programme is just ahead of schedule and within the latest budget. The paper will provide a fuller update. The first two years of the Zion programme offer some interesting learning opportunities. The critical importance of leadership and project control systems will be emphasised in the paper. Strong supplier relationships and good community cooperation are essential. A learning and adaptable team, incentivised to meet schedule and budget, drives affordability of the whole programme. Our key lessons so far concern organisation and people as much as engineering and technology. (authors)
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
Overcoming the barriers to implementation of decommissioning and environmental remediation projects, the CIDER project - 15160
Much remains to be done in terms of addressing the legacies from the early development of nuclear energy, including the dismantling of redundant research and fuel cycle facilities, research reactors, and power plants, and the remediation of sites affected by past uranium mining and processing operations. Long-term solutions still need to be found for management of the resulting waste, including development of disposal facilities that meet public acceptance and safety requirements. Some countries are moving forward with dealing with these legacies, and accordingly have built up appropriate technical resources and expertise, but many national programmes still face very significant challenges. Many are the factors that constrain progress in addressing past legacies. It is recognized the importance of early implementation of decommissioning and environmental remediation (D and ER) programmes in order to safeguard people and the environment from the undesirable effects of ionizing radiation and other hazards associated with these sites. There is also an urgent need to better understand the global status of these activities and to establish mechanisms to analyze and report the barriers impeding the implementation of D and ER programmes, with the aim of outlining actions that may improve the current situation. The IAEA has thus launched the CIDER Project (Constraints to Implementing Decommissioning and Environmental Remediation) with the broad aim of contributing to improve current levels of performance on D and ER programmes through promoting greater cooperation amongst its Member States and relevant international organizations. This paper provides early results from the first phase of the project. During this phase, a survey on the global situation of D and ER was undertaken in order to better understand why these programmes proceed faster in some countries than in others; to identify major constraining factors that affect the implementation of D and ER programmes and how these impediments might be overcome. The paper aims to address policy-level issues, regulatory aspects, technological aspects, and stakeholder involvement in the decision-making process. In the next phase of the project it is intended that specific actions and/or innovative approaches will be proposed at international, regional, or national levels with the goal of facilitating progress in programme implementation. (authors)
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
A novel digital pulse processing architecture for nuclear instrumentation
The field of nuclear instrumentation covers a wide range of applications, including counting, spectrometry, pulse shape discrimination and multi-channel coincidence. These applications are the topic of many researches, new algorithms and implementations are constantly proposed thanks to advances in digital signal processing. However, these improvements are not yet implemented in instrumentation devices. This is especially true for neutron-gamma discrimination applications which traditionally use charge comparison method while literature proposes other algorithms based on frequency domain or wavelet theory which show better performances. Another example is pileups which are generally rejected while pileup correction algorithms also exist. These processes are traditionally performed offline due to two issues. The first is the Poissonian characteristic of the signal, composed of random arrival pulses which requires to current architectures to work in data flow. The second is the real-time requirement, which implies losing pulses when the pulse rate is too high. Despite the possibility of treating the pulses independently from each other, current architectures paralyze the acquisition of the signal during the processing of a pulse. This loss is called dead-time. These two issues have led current architectures to use dedicated solutions based on re-configurable components like Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to overcome the need of performance necessary to deal with dead-time. However, dedicated hardware algorithm implementations on re-configurable technologies are complex and time-consuming. For all these reasons, a programmable Digital pulse Processing (DPP) architecture in a high level language such as Cor C++ which can reduce dead-time would be worthwhile for nuclear instrumentation. This would reduce prototyping and test duration by reducing the level of hardware expertise to implement new algorithms. However, today's programmable solutions do not meet the need of performance to operate online and not allow scaling with the increase in the number of measurement channel. That is why an innovative DPP architecture is proposed in this paper. This architecture is able to overcome dead-time while being programmable and is flexible with the number of measurement channel. Proposed architecture is based on an innovative execution model for pulse processing applications which can be summarized as follow. The signal is not composed of pulses only, consequently, pulses processing does not have to operate on the entire signal. Therefore, the first step of our proposal is pulse extraction by the use of dedicated components named pulse extractors. The triggering step can be achieved after the analog-to-digital conversion without any signal shaping or filtering stages. Pileup detection and accurate pulse time stamping are done at this stage. Any application downstream this step can work on adaptive variable-sized array of samples simplifying pulse processing methods. Then, once the data flow is broken, it is possible to distribute pulses on Functional Units (FUs) which perform processing. As the date of each pulse is known, they can be processed individually out-of-order to provide the results. To manage the pulses distribution, a scheduler and an interconnection network are used. pulses are distributed on the first FU which is not busy without congesting the interconnection network. For this reason, the process duration does not result anymore in dead-time if there are enough FUs. FUs are designed to be standalone and to comprises at least a programmable general purpose processor (ARM, Microblaze) allowing the implementation of complex algorithms without any modification of the hardware. An acquisition chain is composed of a succession of algorithms which lead to organize our FUs as a software macro-pipeline, A simple approach consists in assigning one algorithm per FU. Consequently, the global latency becomes the worst latency of algorithms execution on FU. Moreover, as algorithms are executed locally - i.e. on a FU - this approach limits shared memory requirement. To handle multichannel, we propose FUs sharing, this approach maximize the chance to find a non-busy FU to process an incoming pulse. This is possible since each channel receive random event independently, the pulse extractors associated to them do not necessarily need to access simultaneously to all Computing resources at the same time to distribute their pulses. The major contribution of this paper is the proposition of an execution model and its associated hardware programmable architecture for digital pulse processing that can handle multiple acquisition channels while maintaining the scalability thanks to the use of shared resources. This execution model and associated architecture are validated by simulation of a cycle accurate architecture SystemC model. Proposed architecture shows promising results in terms of scalability while maintaining zero dead-time. This work also permit the sizing of hardware resources requirement required for a predefined set of applications. Future work will focus on the interconnection network and a scheduling policy that can exploit the variable-length of pulses. Then, the hardware implementation of this architecture will be performed and tested for a representative set of application.
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
Designing Crane Controls with Applied Mechanical and Electrical Safety Features
The use of overhead traveling bridge cranes in many varied applications is common practice. In particular, the use of cranes in the nuclear, military, commercial, aerospace, and other industries can involve safety critical situations. Considerations for Human Injury or Casualty, Loss of Assets, Endangering the Environment, or Economic Reduction must be addressed. Traditionally, in order to achieve additional safety in these applications, mechanical systems have been augmented with a variety of devices. These devices assure that a mechanical component failure shall reduce the risk of a catastrophic loss of the correct and/or safe load carrying capability. ASME NOG-1-1998, (Rules for Construction of Overhead and Gantry Cranes, Top Running Bridge, and Multiple Girder), provides design standards for cranes in safety critical areas. Over and above the minimum safety requirements of todays design standards, users struggle with obtaining a higher degree of reliability through more precise functional specifications while attempting to provide "smart" safety systems. Electrical control systems also may be equipped with protective devices similar to the mechanical design features. Demands for improvement of the cranes "control system" is often recognized, but difficult to quantify for this traditionally "mechanically" oriented market. Finite details for each operation must be examined and understood. As an example, load drift (or small motions) at close tolerances can be unacceptable (and considered critical). To meet these high functional demands encoders and other devices are independently added to control systems to provide motion and velocity feedback to the control drive. This paper will examine the implementation of Programmable Electronic Systems (PES). PES is a term this paper will use to describe any control system utilizing any programmable electronic device such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), or an Adjustable Frequency Drive (AID) 'smart' programmable motion controller. Therefore the use of the term Programmable Electronic Systems (PES) is an encompassing description for a large spectrum of programmable electronic control devices.
Lytle, Bradford P.↗
Costs and benefits of a school-based health intervention in Portugal
Abstract School-based programmes for preventing childhood obesity have been shown to be effective in improving eating habits and nutritional status, but few intervention programmes with a controlled design have included an economic evaluation. In this study, we conducted a cost-consequence analysis to evaluate the costs and the health benefits of the ‘Planning Health in School’ programme (PHS-pro) implemented in the Northern region of Portugal to 449 children of 10–14 years old. Previous study has showed that after PHS-pro, several anthropometric measures significantly improved in the intervention group (height, waist circumference and waist-height ratio) compared with the control group, followed by significant improvements on soft drinks, fruit and vegetables daily consumptions. Costs were estimated according the two phases of the programme: designing and preparation of schools, and school setting implementation, and included all the direct costs on human and material resources. PHS-pro total costs were estimated as 7915.53€/year with an intervention cost of 36.14€/year/child attending the programme. This is much lower than the direct costs for treating an obese adult in Portugal, which was calculated as 3849.15€/year. A scale-up costing projection for implementing the PHS-pro to a larger young population was estimated to be even lower: 18.18€/year/child. This cost-consequence analysis provided evidence that the PHS-pro was economically feasible especially if compared with the medical costs for treating adult obesity. The PHS-pro can be a beneficial investment and may give a promising contribution to addressing overweight over childhood and adolescence, which are developmental stages that determine adulthood chronic diseases.
Vieira, Margarida↗