Schedule

• Symposium Schedule
• Paper Presentation Group Schedule

Speakers should make a note of their session time and room and be prepared to make a 15 minute presentation with 5 minutes allocated for questions (20 minutes total).

This session will be chaired by Opeyemi Ajibola

Zhengyang Feng Department

Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde

High-Efficiency Super-Junction MOSFET based Inverter-Leg Configuration using a Dual-Mode Switching Technique

Power electronics has always been my passion. This technology is the key to managing the flow of electric power in renewable energy applications such as those found in, for example, electric vehicles, solar power, and wind power systems. Advanced power semiconductor switching devices are essential for efficient power conversion. High-efficiency alternatives to traditional silicon devices such as IGBTs include devices using wide bandgap materials such as SiC and GaN, and advanced silicon super-junction (SJ) devices. The latter devices provide a highly attractive option due to their modest cost and robustness. However, some challenges are encountered when applying these devices in voltage source converters, including adverse intrinsic diode and inter-terminal capacitance characteristics. My undergraduate study provided me with a strong background in electrical engineering and led me to pursue a PhD on the topic of studying the application of SJ devices in Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Conversion (PEDEC) group of Strathclyde University in Scotland. My research goal is to address these challenges and exploit their full potential for very high-efficiency power conversion. Work has been done includes a conference paper accepted by 2019 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC).

Augustine Tare Benni

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Chester

Developing a Framework for Social Sustainability in the Oil and Gas Industry in the Niger Delta Region

The oil producing Niger Delta region has been faced with developmental problems. Through the prism of sustainable development, this research explores the social, environmental and economic impact of the oil and gas industry on the region and proposes a framework for social sustainability of the oil and gas industry in the region. While various frameworks exist for the implementation of sustainable development in various forms, a holistic framework for the implementation of social sustainability in the oil and gas industry in the Niger Delta, which takes into account project management and institutional capacity as a critical component of social sustainability implementation is lacking. The proposed framework is a product of an analytical review of the activities and impact of the industry in the region, the sustainable development initiatives of the United Nations and other governmental, non-governmental and corporate organizations.

Frank Ekene Ozioko

School of Mathematical, Physics and Computational Science, University of Reading, UK

Event-Driven Optimal Steady-State Control For An Isolated Intersection

Intersections are major component of roads that causes traffic congestion if not effectively optimized. Proposal for a single three-phase signalised road intersection with dual carriage lanes is considered in this research work. It aims at optimizing the traffic flow within an isolated intersection. Traffic light scheduling is the starting point to traffic light management and this problem can be addressed using the isolated traffic intersection. We considered a road intersection as a switching system and the optimization of the traffic signal was performed with a Discrete even max-plus model. Graph model was used to represent traffic network. With multigraph, the road intersection was converted into a graph and hence a linear programming problem was formulated based on the graph. However, many event driven traffic light system were looked at with a view to developing a robust and optimized traffic schedule with high efficiency. From our model, the linear programming problem which was formulated was linearly increasing from the optimization criterion. Simulation was performed in MATLAB to solve the linear programming problem generated from traffic problem.

Lee Beever

Department of Computer Science, University of Chester

Evaluating LevelEd AR: An ARKit Enabled Indoor Modelling Application for Serious Games Level Design

With the rise in popularity of serious games there is an increasing demand for virtual environments based on real-world locations. Emergency evacuation or fire safety training are prime examples of serious games that would benefit from accurate location depiction together with any application involving personal space. However, creating digital indoor models of real-world spaces is a difficult task and the results obtained by applying current techniques are often not suitable for use in real-time virtual environments. To address this problem, we have developed an application called LevelEd AR that makes indoor modelling accessible by utilizing consumer grade technology in the form of Apple’s ARKit and a smartphone. We compared our system to that of a tape measure and a system based on an infra-red depth sensor and application. We evaluated the accuracy and efficiency of each system over four different measuring tasks of increasing complexity. Our results suggest that our application is more accurate than the depth sensor system and as accurate and more time efficient as the tape measure over several tasks.

This session will be chaired by Dr Keyur Joshi

Kingsley Madubuike

School of Engineering, Technology and Maritime Operations, Liverpool John Moores University

Fault detection for wind turbine systems

Wind turbine systems have attracted more attention from energy suppliers around the world; this is due to increased government investments and promotion to go green. Wind turbines are complex and are installed in remote places which make them prone to possible faults in the components. A system failure could be prevented and performance of the system in faulty conditions can be increased by early fault detection and controller reconfiguration. This paper proposed a robust fault detection approach using an unknown input observer method. This developed observer is sensitive to actuator faults in the benchmark model while it is robust to the system disturbance. A benchmark model consisting of a pitch system, a drive train, generator and converter and the state space model is proposed. The benchmark model includes an actuator fault which is fault on the pitch system. The benchmark model is characterized by a three-bladed pitch-controlled variable-speed wind turbine with a nominal power of 4.8 MW. The fault detection method developed in this paper is applied to the benchmark model of the wind turbine system with actuator fault and disturbances simulated. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method is effective with residual signal sensitive to the fault while robust to disturbances.

Ruqayah Al-ani

Department of Computer Science, Liverpool John Moores

IECDSA: An Improved Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Digital signatures can provide authentication and non-repudiation for broadcasting messages in Vehicular Ad- hoc Networks (VANETs). Current standardization in VANETs recommends the use of a secure Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) for exchanging messages. However, one major drawback of the ECDSA is the high computational cost in the signature verification process. In order to reduce the time complexity of the existing ECDSA algorithm, this study aims at designing an Improved Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (IECDSA) for VANETs to meet the necessity of verifying hundreds of messages per second. This Algorithm employs the biological-password-based authentication scheme to support the security level.

Mark Holland

Department of Computer Science, University of Chester

Interactive Blood Simulation in Real-Time

One of the challenges in coronary artery disease management is dealing with complex scenarios, the decision whether or how to intervene based on limited information from different sources. There are several variables that can affect how the heart responds to treatment, including but not limited to: the extent of the damage and scarring, the efficiency of blood flow remodelling of the heart, and any associated valve disease. Moreover, the effect of an intervention may lead to further unforeseen complications (e.g. another stenosis may be “hidden” further along the vessel). Currently there is no tool for predicting such scenarios.

Thomas Day

Department of Computer Science, University of Chester

Virtual and Mixed Reality Support for Activities of Daily Living

Rehabilitation and training are important processes that enable people who have suffered from trauma to regain their own independence and their ability to complete activities of daily living. Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality have been applied to the domains of rehab and training, however the previous research has primarily used non-immersive techniques. Immersive VR Head-Mounted Displays were first developed in 1965 but were expensive and bulky. The release of low-cost VR and MR HMDs allowed immersive HMDs to be accessible to the public, prompting research into their application into rehabilitation and training. Three projects were undertaken; the first was a VR wheelchair training application that used low-cost VR HMDs and a game controller to allow users to practice manouevring a powered wheelchair. This feasability of this application was tested, with the results showing that the VR training did help the users to improve their abilities. The second was a MR version of the wheelchair training application, the results from the feasability study did indicate improvement for the MR and VR groups, but no significant results were found. The final projects was a VR Cognitive rehabilitation application for Stroke patients over 65. The acceptability of this study was tested, and results indicated that the patietns and staff would likely accept the method as part of their normal rehab. These projects indicate that VR and MR can be adapted to aid in the rehabilitation and training of patients coping with different aspects of daily life.