Sharing security in an era of international cooperation: unmanned aerial vehicles and the United States’ Air Force

The United States’ Air Force (USAF) has developed and used unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology to monitor and assassinate dangerous terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. Currently, there are few countries that possess armed UAV and since the US created much of this technology, the USAF is usually part of the training that automatically accompanies the purchase of its UAVs. The research question this article attempts to answer is, “What is the extent of the United States’ Air Force assistance in the training and proliferation of UAV technology to foreign militaries?”     

Perspectives for the development of key industrial capabilities for Canada’s defence sector

With the Canada First Defence Strategy, Canada has put forth a major opportunity to reconcile national security imperatives and industrial policy. The Jenkins Report (2013) set out to examine ways to use that procurement effort to foster key industrial capabilities (KICs) that would put the Canadian defence industry at an advantage both nationally and internationally. The Canadian defence industry should then develop highly focused capabilities with a view to moving up global value chains. As such, KICs that hold the best potential should be selected. They should be sustained through a range of strategies that are however contingent on the elimination of policy gaps. This leads to a balancing act between the need to control intellectual property assets versus accessing them in a world where national boundaries are eroded. Canada’s industry should target opportunities outside North America while continuing to focus on better integration with the North American industry.     

Evasion policies for a vessel being chased by pirate skiffs

Piracy attack is a serious safety problem for maritime transport worldwide. Whilst various strategic actions can be taken, such as rerouting vessels and strengthening navy patrols, this still cannot completely eliminate the possibility of a piracy attack. It is therefore important for a commercial vessel to be equipped with operational solutions in case of piracy attacks. In particular, the choice of a direction for rapidly fleeing is a critical decision for the vessel. In this article, we formulate such a problem as a nonlinear optimal control problem. We consider various policies, such as maintaining a straight direction or making turns, develop algorithms to optimize the policies, and derive conditions under which these policies are effective and safe. Our work can be used as a real‐time decision making tool that enables a vessel master to evaluate different scenarios and quickly make decisions.     

时变最优条件数的目标要素解算方法

纯方位目标跟踪是一个典型的非线性问题,伪线性跟踪估计器是理论和工程上解决该问题的一类重要方法。针对纯方位观测模型伪线性化后,系统存在弱可观测性问题,提出了一种时变最优条件数的目标要素解算新方法,理论上给出了一个改善系统可观测性的最优乘数因子。在系统条件数和参数估计的收敛概率两个方面,数值仿真和实验数据验证都表明新方法要优于经典纯方位伪线性化方法。     

Resource allocation in an asymmetric technology race with temporary advantages

We consider two opponents that compete in developing asymmetric technologies where each party's technology is aimed at damaging (or neutralizing) the other's technology. The situation we consider is different than the classical problem of commercial R&D races in two ways: First, while in commercial R&D races the competitors compete over the control of market share, in our case the competition is about the effectiveness of technologies with respect to certain capabilities. Second, in contrast with the “winner‐takes‐all” assumption that characterizes much of the literature on this field in the commercial world, we assume that the party that wins the race gains a temporary advantage that expires when the other party develops a superior technology. We formulate a variety of models that apply to a one‐sided situation, where one of the two parties has to determine how much to invest in developing a technology to counter another technology employed by the other party. The decision problems are expressed as (convex) nonlinear optimization problems. We present an application that provides some operational insights regarding optimal resource allocation. We also consider a two‐sided situation and develop a Nash equilibrium solution that sets investment values, so that both parties have no incentive to change their investments. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 59: 128–145, 2012     

考虑需求相关的可修复系统备件配置模型

对于一个拥有多台相同设备的可修复系统来说,一种备件的需求以及其对应的备件保障方案将影响着系统的可工作设备数量,从而影响着设备其他备件的需求,故假设备件需求相互独立且与系统自身备件保障方案无关而开展备件配置研究是不合理的.在考虑备件需求相关以及备件的保障方案对备件需求的影响的前提下,利用马尔可夫理论描述了备件需求规律,针对不串件拼修和串件拼修两种情况分别给出了可用度的计算方法,并在此基础上以备件配置费用作为优化目标,以可用度作为约束构建备件优化配置模型,给出了边际分析求解模型的方法.通过案例分析,验证了模型的正确性.     

船舶动力机械混合隔振系统的优化设计

综合分析了混合隔振的原理,揭示了混合隔振的实质就是被动隔振系统和主动隔振系统的多目标联合优化问题.针对船舶中常用的双层隔振系统,进行了混合隔振优化设计和数值仿真.仿真结果表明,混合隔振技术在船舶动力机械隔振方面有着广阔的应用前景.     

无人机姿态控制系统的优化设计与仿真

应用线性二次型性能指标的最优控制理论,对无人机姿态控制系统进行了优化设计,通过仿真实现了系统的最优调节。在设计和仿真过程中,借助于MATLAB最优控制工具箱及有关命令,使设计变得简单、效率得到提高。     

一纲多本:存在的问题对策与建议

"一纲多本"教科书政策是当代社会多元文化的价值诉求,同时也是我国基础教育改革的应然选择。然而,"一纲多本"政策在实施过程中却引发了学生学习负担加重;学生学习结果呈现"两极化"趋势;教科书质量不理想;教师专业能力发展出现困惑等四方面的现实问题。文章在分析"一纲多本"引发问题原因的基础上,从课程标准、教科书质量、学生和教师等几个方面对其未来的发展前景进行了展望。     

主动隔振系统的最优控制时滞

针对主动隔振系统带有时滞的鲁棒渐进稳定问题,研究了时滞的存在对最优控制算法控制效果的影响,运用MATLAB中LMI工具,采用变步长试凑的方法,解出了最优控制系统反馈控制鲁棒渐进稳定的最大允许时滞上界。最后,通过数值仿真,验证了理论的正确性。仿真结果表明:随着控制时滞的增大,主动隔振效果逐渐变差,一旦反馈控制力时滞超过最大允许时滞上界,系统便将发散。同时,增大反馈控制力和减小加权矩阵控制目标的相应权值,可以提高最大允许时滞上界。