.
The agricultural coverage path planning problem focuses on optimizing coverage paths for agricultural operations. Despite its importance, existing agricultural coverage path planning solutions are highly application-specific, limiting their generalizability and reproducibility. Fields2Cover offers a modular open source software library for coverage path planning, yet it lacks built-in means to benchmark its algorithms and to configure the workflow to specific tasks. It also fails on non-convex fields and operations that require reload trips. This paper introduces Fields2Benchmark, an open-source, modular benchmark designed to standardize the evaluation of agricultural coverage path planning algorithms. Fields2Benchmark includes a dataset with 350 real-world fields, featuring non-convex fields and in-field obstacles. The benchmark decomposes the problem into five units, i.e., field decomposition, headland generation, swath generation, route planning, and path planning— allowing researchers to evaluate and compare algorithms modularly. Each module supports interchangeable algorithms and objective functions, enabling customization for diverse use cases. Fields2Benchmark extends the existing Fields2Cover library by allowing task-specific choices, adding a module that splits a field into simpler parts, introducing new algorithms to shorten routes and handle refill needs, and adding tools to compare algorithms in isolation. Outputs are recorded as structured numerical data and visual representations to facilitate detailed analysis. The capabilities of the benchmark were validated on three use cases concerning field arrangement and route and path planning with and without capacity constraints. Results demonstrate its ability to handle complex field geometries, compare algorithms effectively, and evaluate computational performance. Fields2Benchmark is computationally efficient, with planning times suitable for real-time applications. It is supported by publicly available datasets and code. By standardizing agricultural coverage path planning evaluation, Fields2Benchmark aims to improve the reproducibility in this field, accelerating the research in agricultural robotics and field operations. For industrial robots, this benchmark cuts deployment costs, and shortens time to market, by simplifying the development process.
We propose the D epth- V isual- I nertial (DVI) mapping system: a robust multi-sensor fusion framework for dense 3D mapping using time-of-flight cameras equipped with RGB and IMU sensors. Inspired by recent developments in real-time LiDAR-based odometry and mapping, our system uses an error-state iterative Kalman filter for state estimation: it processes the inertial sensor's data for state propagation, followed by a state update first using visual-inertial odometry, then depth-based odometry. This sensor fusion scheme makes our system robust to degenerate scenarios (e.g. lack of visual or geometrical features, fast rotations) and to noisy sensor data, like those that can be obtained with off-the-shelf time-of-flight DVI sensors. For evaluation, we propose the new Bunker DVI Dataset, featuring data from multiple DVI sensors recorded in challenging conditions reflecting search-and-rescue operations. We show the superior robustness and precision of our method against previous work. Following the open science principle, we make both our source code and dataset publicly available.
This article proposes a nonlinear known-interference (KI) cancellation algorithm that allows a receiver to suppress the interference from a high-power cooperative jammer given that the transmitted interference is known in advance to the receiver. The proposed algorithm achieves this by estimating and compensating for the nonlinear power amplifier distortions, wireless channel effects, and frequency offsets that alter the transmitted interference as it propagates to the receiver. Measurements with commercial off-the-shelf radio platforms in both laboratory and outdoor conditions are presented. Their results demonstrate that the proposed method is able to cancel KI with moderate residuals for a wide range of received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio. This facilitates processing a signal of interest that is otherwise masked by the interference signal.
The design of an Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency (ICRF) Travelling Wave Array (TWA) launcher is ongoing for the WEST tokamak. This type of launcher have several interesting properties compared to traditional in-port launchers and are well suited for future fusion power plants. The paper presents the latest results of radio-frequency modelling of the TWA launchers. The RF response in front of a realistic and representative WEST plasma has been calculated for several radial outer gaps. The reflected power of the TWA is lower than-20 dB on a more than 10 MHz frequency band. For the same coupled power to the plasma, the TWA launcher shows a drastic reduction of the near-fields, particularly on the antenna edge limiters. This reduction should reduce the sputtering of high-Z materials induced by RF sheaths.
Public managers, professionals, and external consultants can utilize the authors' newly developed 'organizational change capability' (OCC) scale to assess and enhance change capabilities within their organizations. This comprehensive diagnostic tool systematically evaluates a public sector organization's ability to adapt across 15 distinct components, including employee engagement, strategic planning, cohesive team with common purpose, strategic analysis, learning culture, bureaucratic inertia, managing attitudes towards change, organizational values, project mandate, information management, enduring change, stakeholder management, innovative experimentation, external environmental awareness, and knowledge management. Noteworthy additions such as bureaucratic inertia and stakeholder management that reflect the unique challenges in public sector environments by highlighting common organizational hindrances and the importance of diverse stakeholder interests. This scale not only allows for an overall assessment of an organization's change capability but also pinpoints specific strengths and weaknesses, facilitating targeted improvements and self-evaluation. By leveraging this scale, public sector organizations can significantly improve their efficacy and responsiveness to dynamic external pressures, thus enhancing their overall change success rate. Change is inherent to public sector management, yet many change initiatives in public organizations fail due to a lack of relevant change capabilities within the organization. This article introduces a measurement scale designed specifically to assess the organizational change capability (OCC) of public organizations. Drawing on a literature search, expert review and empirical validation involving responses from 333 professionals across multiple military organizations in Belgium, this study constructs and tests a reliable and valid scale tailored to the unique operational, regulatory, and political landscapes of public organizations. The scale includes 77 items distributed across 15 identified components, highlighting the multidimensional nature of OCCs. Principal component analysis and reliability testing confirm the scale's robust psychometric properties. The OCC scale presented in this article deepens theoretical understanding of how public organizations manage and implement change and provides a foundation for future research in diverse public organizational contexts.
