collecting safety data message sets from in-service commercial vehicles and performing wireless roadside inspections using three different communication methods. This report summarizes the design, conduct and results of the Tennessee CMRS WRI Pilot Test. The purpose of this Pilot test was to demonstrate the implementation of commercial mobile radio services to electronically request and collect safety data message sets from a limited number of commercial vehicles operating in Tennessee. The results of this test have been used in conjunction with the results of the complimentary pilot tests to support an overall assessment of the feasibility and benefits of WRI in enhancing motor carrier safety (reduction in accidents) due to increased compliance (change in motor carrier and driver behavior) caused by conducting frequent safety inspections electronically, at highway speeds, without delay or need to divert into a weigh station

Abstract : An advanced energy management and control system in an existing building in the Construction and Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) for Army at Urbana-Champaign (IL) was demonstrated. The medium-size office building underwent a retrofit of the HVAC system and controls employing a technology called optimal Model Predictive Control (MPC) which offers significant potential for saving energy by providing a means to dynamically optimize various sub-systems to take advantage of building utilization and weather patterns, and utility rate structures. A multi-variable optimization problem to minimize energy consumption and cost while guaranteeing zonal comfort over a 3 hour predictive horizon was formulated and solved periodically on line. The algorithms were integrated with the building automation system and evaluated experimentally at the demonstration site. A 45-50% reduction in HVAC system energy use was demonstrated while improving occupant comfort. A 10-15% installation cost reduction was accomplished due to the use of a robust wireless sensor network versus a fully wired network.

Future industrial use of wireless instrumentation will undoubtedly increase dramatically in the coming years. Deployment of such instrumentation in an industrial setting - with its security and robustness criteria that are much more stringent than residential performance criteria - hinges on user acceptance of verified performance as well as meeting cost requirements. Today, circa 2011, these industrial users are faced with many choices when specifying a wireless sensor network, including radio performance, battery life, interoperability concerns, and standards compliance. With industrial users standing on the precipice to order and deploy (literally) millions of wireless instruments, it is imperative that accurate information for applying the technology to real-world applications be available to the end-user.

Introduction Energy asset owners are facing a monumental challenge as they address compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Standards (CIP-002 through CIP-009). The increased use of wireless technologies and their introduction into control center networks and field devices compound this challenge, as ambiguity exists regarding the applicability of the CIP requirements to wireless networking technologies.

The need for advanced wireless technology has been identified in the National Research Council publication (1) ''Manufacturing Process Controls for the Industries of the Future as a Critical Technology for the Future''. The deployment challenges to be overcome in order for wireless to be a viable option include: (1) eliminating interference (assuring reliable communications); (2) easing the deployment of intelligent, wireless sensors; (3) developing reliable networks (robust architectures); (4) developing remote power (long-lasting and reliable); and (5) developing standardized communication protocols. This project demonstrated the feasibility of robust wireless sensor networks that could meet these requirements for the harsh environments common to the DOE/OIT Industries of the Future. It resulted in a wireless test bed that was demonstrated in a paper mill and a steel plant. The test bed illustrated key protocols and components that would be required in a real-life, wireless network. The technologies for low power connectivity developed and demonstrated at the plant eased fears that the radios would interfere with existing control equipment. The same direct sequence, spread spectrum (DSSS) technology that helped assure the reliability of the connection also demonstrated that wireless communication was feasible in these plants without boosting the transmitted power to dangerous levels. Our experience and research have indicated that two key parameters are of ultimate importance: (1) reliability and (2) inter-system compatibility. Reliability is the key to immediate acceptance among industrial users. The importance cannot be overstated, because users will not tolerate an unreliable information network. A longer term issue that is at least as important as the reliability of a single system is the inter-system compatibility between these wireless sensor networks and other wireless systems that are part of our industries. In the long run, the ability of wireless sensor networks to operate cooperatively in an environment that includes wireless LANs, wireless headsets, RF heating, wireless crane controls and many other users of the electromagnetic spectrum will probably be the most important issue we can address. A network of units (Figure 1) has been developed that demonstrates the feasibility of direct-sequence spread spectrum wireless sensor networking for industrial environments. The hardware consists of a group of reprogrammable transceivers that can act as sensor nodes or network nodes or both. These units and the team that built them are the heart of a test bed development system that has been used successfully in demonstrations at various industrial sites. As previously reported, these units have been successfully tested at a paper mill. More recently, these units were utilized in a permanent installation at a steel mill. Both of these applications demonstrated the ease with which a new network could be installed, and the reality that DSSS units can operate successfully in plants where narrow band transmitters had previously caused interference with plant operations.

An economic model is a tool for determining the justifiable cost of new sensors and subsystems with respect to value and operation. This process balances the R and D costs against the expense of maintaining current operations and allows for a method to calculate economic indices of performance that can be used as control points in deciding whether to continue development or suspend actions. The model can also be used as an integral part of an overall control loop utilizing real-time process data from the sensor groups to make production decisions (stop production and repair machine, continue and warn of anticipated problems, queue for repairs, etc.). This model has been successfully used and deployed in the CAFE Project. The economic model was one of seven (see Fig. 1) elements critical in developing an investment strategy. It has been successfully used in guiding the R and D activities on the CAFE Project, suspending activities on three new sensor technologies, and continuing development o f two others. The model has also been used to justify the development of a new prognostic approach for diagnosing machine health using COTS equipment and a new algorithmic approach. maintaining current operations and allows for a method to calculate economic indices of performance that can be used as control points in deciding whether to continue development or suspend actions. The model can also be used as an integral part of an overall control loop utilizing real-time process data from the sensor groups to make production decisions (stop production and repair machine, continue and warn of anticipated problems, queue for repairs, etc.).

A description is given of a human-robot symbiont that is under development. The authors present an overview of the symbiotic system, motivating the architecture that has been developed. The architecture is a hierarchical structure that consists of several expert systems which reside above a robot control interface. This interface allows the manipulator to be operated in both a teleoperated and autonomous mode. All these processes coexist with the lower level of the hierarchy, which is a numerically intensive control algorithm. The architecture is implemented on five processors in a coarsely parallel system.< >

Wireless technologies have matured to the point of standardization and wide acceptance in industry and at home. In fact, the increased use of wireless in the past few years has been explosive. With such wide acceptance outside of nuclear power plants, one must expect that these technologies in time will impact the environment of all industrial plants, including nuclear power plants. However, the convenience of this technology comes with a cost; specifically, electromagnetic interference upsets and surreptitious "attacks" from over-the-air are issues that must be dealt with properly for use of wireless technologies to be effective. To complicate matters, the definition of wireless is not straightforward to the user community. The term "wireless" includes devices such as cell phones, radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags, and wireless local area network (WLAN) devices. This report provides a survey and analysis of available wireless technologies, primarily focusing on WLANs, and it includes issues of deploying them in a nuclear power plant. The analysis will include the current maturity level of wireless technologies and a discussion of the general intercompatibility of the various technologies. This will encompass protocols, bandwidths, and drivers, as well as potential for harm. Interference with other electronic systems and potential security breaches will be addressed specifically. This paper will help future instrumentation and controls designers select compatible wireless systems for nuclear plants. It will also result in recommendations for administrative controls that plant operators may need to put in place should wireless systems be deployed.

The industrial wireless technology marketplace is exploding. Almost everyone who sells any type of sensor is now marketing a wireless variety. What does all this mean and where is it all headed? Clearly wireless technology is the biggest thing to hit the industrial automation marketplace since the microprocessor. Combining wireless with the new "agent" technology offers the potential of a completely new type of "distributed intelligence" and significantly more impact than either one alone. My discussions will center around what's going on industry, what's coming from the suppliers, and what impacts these emerging technologies might have on small lot intelligent manufacturing. Wireless solutions are not new. Communications technologies tend to vacillate between wired and wireless solutions over time. Some of the earliest communications strategies in North America were indeed wireless: smoke signals and drumbeats just to name two. Cable TV supplanted over-the-air signals during the 1960s and quickly became the medium of choice for everyone, even those who had easy access to the radio frequency signals. We're now seeing a return to over-the-air signals with the advent of direct broadcast satellite TV and other cable-less implementations. These trends are usually driven by customer demands which include quality of service, flexibility, cost, or ease of access. These same demands are evident in the sensor community and are causing key decision-makers to rethink wired architectures for some applications. Trends, as described below, seem to be moving us toward wireless solutions for more and more of the applications familiar to practitioners in the measurement business. The important question is when should an individual make the commitment to begin the transition in his application area? Most observers agree that important technology trends have fairly clear waves of implementation: starting with the early adopters and concluding with the skeptics2. The interesting question is what does this mean to