Multiplexed solutions to integrate the onboard electronics in the city-bus vehicles
The electrical circuits and installations in buses and coaches are essential for their good working. Drive, braking, suspension, opening door, security and communication systems depend on the electrical system of the vehicle. The disproportionate length of cable (about 4 Km of cables and 100 Kg of weight in a conventional installation), with more of 2,000 connections per vehicle, generates great difficult and the point-to-point links are not an effective solution. The industrial communication networks or fieldbuses are a multiplexed solution for onboard electronics in the public transport buses and coaches. The authors are working in the design and implementation of new modules based on FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) to integrate body and chassis functions in the multiplexed solutions from manufacturers.
A Reconfigurable Communication Processor Compatible with Different Industrial Fieldbuses
Fieldbuses constitute the lower level of communication networks in a flexible manufacturing system. Nowadays there are a lot of proprietary protocols, thus the interconnection of equipment from different manufacturers has become very problematic. Changing equipment supposes the change of the fieldbus too with the consequent economic losses. This paper proposes the implementation of a communication processor based on a reconfigurable device that makes different fieldbuses compatible. In this way, using the appropriate level and impedance matching circuit, the same hardware can be connected to different fieldbuses. In order to verify this proposal a communication processor based on an FPGA supporting two very important fieldbus standards in the area of industrial control such as WorldFIP and Profibus, has been developed. Design constraints and performance of the implemented processor are analyzed in this paper.
Impact of Nuclear Data Uncertainties on Transmutation of Actinides in Accelerator-Driven Assemblies
Abstract The potential impact of nuclear data uncertainties on a large number of performance parameters of reactor cores dedicated to the transmutation of radioactive wastes is discussed. An uncertainty analysis has been performed based on sensitivity theory, which underlines the cross sections, the energy range, and the isotopes that are responsible for the most significant uncertainties. To provide guidelines on priorities for new evaluations or validation experiments, required accuracies on specific nuclear data have been derived, accounting for target accuracies on major design parameters. The required accuracies (mostly in the energy region below 20 MeV), in particular for minor actinide data, are of the same order of magnitude of the achieved accuracies on major actinides. Specific requirements also concern the improvement of minor actinide data related to decay heat and effective delayed-neutron fraction assessment.