In this talk, a current vehicular trend is discussed.   Then the talk describes spatio temporal coordination-based media access control (STMAC) protocol for efficiently sharing driving safety information in urban vehicular networks. 

 STMAC exploits a unique spatio-temporal feature characterized from a geometric relation among vehicles to form a line-of-collision graph, which shows the relationship among vehicles that may collide with each other. Based on this graph, we propose a contention-free channel access scheme to exchange safety messages simultaneously by employing directional antenna and transmission power control.

Behind scene, much of the world is revolving around the 

blockchain technology whether it is a global instant payment system, central bank digital currency, or multi-billion dollar exchange/coin fraud. This talk will attempt to give an insight into such developments, hoping to be beneficial to the interested audience. This talk will cover the following.

• Blockchain 101

• Concept of cryptocurrencies

• How robust or weak they are

• How come so many issues such as fraud coins, pump-and-dump exits, exchange failures

• Other applications of the blockchain technology

• Our future world with blockchain

This presentation provides a brief overview of gas turbine fuel delivery system and an example of an unintended Helmholtz resonator in its sub-component.  The presentation also illustrates unforeseen consequences and suggests a simple analytical tool to aid engineers mitigate potential risks in future designs.  

Future robots are expected to work together with humans through physical contact and create a significant impact in multiple domains, such as in healthcare, entertainment, or the manufacturing industry. To realize safe, effective, and intuitive physical human-robot interaction (pHRI), it is crucial to first understand the unique dynamics and intent communication strategies of physical interaction in humans. In this talk, I will present the early findings of human motor control strategies during pHRI that is made possible by our unique overground interactive robot. The prevalence and significance of small interaction forces (around 1 N) during physical interactions in humans, and how it leads to an interesting hypothesis on motor communication during pHRI, are discussed. I will then present an evidence of arm impedance modulation for effective motor communication through small interaction forces. Learning from the physical interaction strategies of humans, we hope to develop assistive robots that can naturally and effectively interact with people with reduced mobility.

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of metallic alloys is a transformative additive manufacturing technology for production of engineering components with nearly unlimited geometrical complexity and customization. This technology also brings an opportunity to develop new and modified alloys that take advantage of thermo-kinetic environment of LPBF, which warrants fundamental understanding of phase transformations and microstructural development. CALPHAD-based strategies in alloy design/modification coupled with experimental facility that includes gas atomization, laser powder bed fusion and a suite of microstructural and mechanical characterization are introduced, followed by selected results from Mg- Al-, Ti-, Fe-, Ni-, and multi-principal element / high entropy alloys. Detailed observations on keyhole porosity, lack-of-fusion flaws, rapid solidification microstructure and cracking are documented with respect to the alloy composition, solidification paths, and LPBF parameters. Computational correlation between alloy composition through its thermophysical properties and LPBF parameters via neural network machine learning is being explored to optimize the additive manufacturing of a wide range of metallic alloys.

Software-defined vehicle (SDV) is a concept used to describe the ongoing transformation from hardware-centric development to software-driven development in the modern mobility industry. As a result, new features and functions are enabled and improved through software updates. In this presentation, a few notable examples and current challenges of SDVs will be introduced and discussed.