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Publicações

Publicações por Hélio Mendonça

2025

Integrated RFID System for Intralogistics Operations with Industrial Mobile Robots

Autores
Pacheco, FD; Rebelo, PM; Sousa, RB; Silva, MF; Mendonça, HS;

Publicação
2025 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AUTONOMOUS ROBOT SYSTEMS AND COMPETITIONS, ICARSC

Abstract
Radio-Frequency IDentification (RFID) technologies automate the identification of objects and persons, having several applications in retail, manufacturing, and intralogistics sectors. Several works explore the application of RFID systems in robotics and intralogistics, focusing on locating robots, tags, and inventory management. This paper addresses the challenge of intralogistics cargo trolleys communicating their characteristics to an autonomous mobile robot through an RFID system. The robot must know the trolley's relative pose to avoid collisions with the surroundings. As a result, the passive tag on the cargo communicates information to the robot, including the base footprint of the trolley. The proposed RFID system includes the development of a controller board to interact with the frontend integrated circuit of an external antenna onboard the industrial mobile robot. Experimental results assess the system's readability distance in two distinct environments and with two different antenna modules. All the code and documentation are available in a public repository.

2024

Integrating Internationalization and Online Collaborative Strategies in Digital Electronics Education: Exploring IaH, COIL, PBL, and RRL Approaches for Enhanced Learning

Autores
Cristian Zambelli; Michele Favalli; Piero Olivo; Ignacio Bravo; Alfredo Gardel; José Carlos Alves; Hélio Mendonça; Etienne Lemaire; Remi Busseuil; carlos cruz;

Publicação

Abstract

This document is intended to present a benchmark of multiple good practices in the context of internationalization studies, particularly focused on digital electronics and programmable devices, yet is not limited to them. This paper will start with a comprehensive paper desk analysis together with an in-depth research process that should lead to the selection of innovative tools applied to digital systems. International initiatives are oriented towards increasing the quality of higher education by motivating teachers of STEM disciplines to use a multidisciplinary approach and teach with the massive support of technologies like Classroom, MS-Teams, Blackboard, etc. The central goal is to suggest and recommend a model for integrating intermediate and advanced digital electronics subjects (e.g., FPGA, microcontrollers, etc.) and ICT in international teaching approaches such as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), Project-based Learning (PBL) and Real Remote Labs (RRL). This is the approach sought by the European Project DECEL.

2024

A MQTT-based infrastructure to support Cooperative Online Learning Activities

Autores
Mendonça, HS; Zambelli, C; Alves, JC;

Publicação
2024 39TH CONFERENCE ON DESIGN OF CIRCUITS AND INTEGRATED SYSTEMS, DCIS

Abstract
Teaching the processes of designing digital electronic systems is becoming an increasingly challenging task. Design methodologies and tools have evolved to cope with the ever-growing complexity and density, raising the abstraction level of the source design far away from the logic circuit. However, it is of paramount importance that fresh students start by understanding the fundamental concepts of Boolean algebra, design, and optimization of combinational and sequential gatelevel circuits, before moving to higher abstract concepts and tools. For this, hands-on practice with simple real digital circuits is essential to understanding the essentials of the operation of digital circuits and how digital data is propagated and transformed from block to block. In this paper we present a distributed infrastructure based on the network protocol MQTT to support the deployment of distributed digital systems built with parts located in different physical locations. Thus, promoting the implementation of collaborative online learning/teaching activities will be one of our main goals. Experimental results show latencies between remote sites in the range of a few tens of milliseconds, which is acceptable for running simple digital systems at low speeds, which is necessary for being perceived and understanded by people.

2024

Collaborative learning using open-source FPGA-based under water ultrasonic system

Autores
Lemaire, E; Busseuil, R; Chemla, J; Certon, D; Zambelli, C; Cruz de la Torre, C; Gardel Vicente, A; Bravo, I; Mendonça, H; Alves, JC;

Publicação

Abstract
The Digital electronics collaborative enhanced learning (DECEL) project has recently developed an international collaborative education course. Its main objective is to enhance the digital electronics skills of international students by working on a complex, multidisciplinary applied problem using a mixed digital architecture. We have developed a logic level synthesis and dedicated software layers on the Red Pitaya FPGA platform. The diversity of digital concepts to be implemented, from hardware description language (HDL) to high-level languages such as Python or Matlab, forced the students to work together and rapidly improve their skills. Their motivation was fueled by the curiosity of controlling an ultrasound probe to obtain ultrasound signatures. This particular physics, little known to the students, was an additional source of curiosity. The goal of forming an image in a liquid medium was an additional motivating factor for them. The students reported that they learned a lot from the experiment. Thus, the technical parts and pedagogical results are documented in this work for reproducibility.

2024

Image and Command Transmission Over the 5G Network for Teleoperation of Mobile Robots

Autores
Levin, TB; Oliveira, JM; Sousa, RB; Silva, MF; Parreira, BS; Sobreira, HM; Mendonça, HS;

Publicação
2024 7TH IBERIAN ROBOTICS CONFERENCE, ROBOT 2024

Abstract
Human oversight can benefit scenarios with complex tasks, such as pallet docking and loading and unloading containers, beyond the current capabilities of autonomous systems without any failures. Furthermore, teleoperation systems allow remote control of mobile ground robots, especially with the surge of 5G technology that promises reliable and low latency communication. Current works research on exploring the latest features from the 5G standard, including ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (uRLLC) and network slicing. However, these features may not be available depending on the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and communication devices. Thus, this work proposes a network architecture for the teleoperation of ground mobile robots in industrial environments using commercially available devices over the 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) standard. Experimental results include an evaluation of the network and End-to-End (E2E) latency of the proposed system. The results show that the proposed architecture enables teleoperation, achieving an average E2E latency of 347.19 ms.

2024

Vision-Based Smart Sprayer for Precision Farming

Autores
Deguchi, T; Baltazar, AR; dos Santos, FN; Mendonça, H;

Publicação
ROBOT 2023: SIXTH IBERIAN ROBOTICS CONFERENCE, VOL 2

Abstract
Since the advent of agriculture, humans have considered phytopharmaceutical products to control pests and reduce losses in farming. Sometimes some of these products, such pesticides, can potentially harm the soil life. In the literature there is evidence that AI and image processing can have a positive contribution to reduce phytopharmaceutical losses, when used in variable rate sprayers. However, it is possible to improve the existing sprayer system's precision, accuracy, and mechanical aspects. This work proposes spraying solution called GraDeS solution (Grape Detection Sprayer). GraDeS solution is a sprayer with two degrees of freedom, controlled by a AI-based algorithm to precisely treat grape bunches diseases. The experiments with the designed sprayer showed two key points. First, the deep learning algorithm recognized and tracked grape bunches. Even with structure movement and bunch covering, the algorithm employs several strategies to keep track of the discovered objects. Second, the robotic sprayer can improve precision in specified areas, such as exclusively spraying grape bunches. Because of the structure's reduced size, the system can be used in medium and small robots.

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