Jorge A. Gómez

A Study of the Relationship between Weather Variables and Electric Power Demand inside a Smart Grid/Smart World Framework

One of the main challenges of todays society is the need to fulfill at the same time the two sides of the dichotomy between the growing energy demand and the need to look after the environment. Smart Grids are one of the answers: intelligent energy grids which retrieve data about the environment through extensive sensor networks and react accordingly to optimize resource consumption. In order to do this, the Smart Grids need to understand the existing relationship between energy demand and a set of relevant climatic variables. All smart “systems” (buildings, cities, homes, consumers, etc.) have the potential to employ their intelligence for self-adaptation to climate conditions. After introducing the Smart World, a global framework for the collaboration of these smart systems, this paper presents the relationship found at experimental level between a range of relevant weather variables and electric power demand patterns, presenting a case study using an agent-based system, and emphasizing the need to consider this relationship in certain Smart World (and specifically Smart Grid and microgrid) applications.

High-quality optical vortex-beam generation by using a multilevel vortex-producing lens

In the present work, we propose a method to generate high-quality optical vortices with a reduced number of phase levels by using multilevel vortex-producing lenses (VPLs). The VPL is implemented in a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator with limited capacity to project phase levels. The proposed method significantly improves the quality of the optical vortex obtained by employing spiral phase plates with the same number of phase levels. Simulations and experimental results confirming the effectiveness of the method are presented.

Generation of optical vortices by using binary vortex producing lenses

Experimental high-quality optical vortices of different topological charges are generated by using a vortex producing lens with two phase levels. In our setup, the lens is displayed on a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator that only attains phase modulation of around 1.2π. This achievement opens the real possibility of creating high-quality optical vortices with devices of very low phase modulation capacity. The experimental setup is fully described, and the considerations to set the optimal parameters to obtain high-quality optical vortices are discussed and experimentally established. The phase and intensity of the optical vortices are recovered. The phase is obtained through a phase-shifting method that is directly programmed onto the modulator avoiding any class of mechanical displacement.

Numerical modeling of fiber specklegram sensors by using finite element method (FEM)

Although experimental advances in the implementation and characterization of fiber speckle sensor have been reported, a suitable model to interpret the speckle-pattern variation under perturbation is desirable but very challenging to be developed due to the various factors influencing the speckle pattern. In this work, a new methodology based on the finite element method (FEM) for modeling and optimizing fiber specklegram sensors (FSSs) is proposed. The numerical method allows computational visualization and quantification, in near field, of changes of a step multi-mode fiber (SMMF) specklegram, due to the application of a uniformly distributed force line (UDFL). In turn, the local modifications of the fiber speckle produce changes in the optical power captured by a step single-mode fiber (SSMF) located just at the output end of the SMMF, causing a filtering effect that explains the operation of the FSSs. For each external force, the stress distribution and the propagations modes supported by the SMMF are calculated numerically by means of FEM. Then, those modes are vectorially superposed to reconstruct each perturbed fiber specklegram. Finally, the performance of the sensing mechanism is evaluated for different radius of the filtering SSMF and force-gauges, what evidences design criteria for these kinds of measuring systems. Results are in agreement with those theoretical and experimental ones previously reported.

Fiber specklegram sensors (FSS) for measuring high frequency mechanical perturbations

In this work, a technique for measuring high frequency micro-vibrations by using non holographic fiber specklegram sensor is experimentally demonstrated. In our setup, a laser source emitting at 632nm is coupled to a structure of Singlemode-Multimode-Singlemode fibers which produce a filtering effect that is used as optical transducer. Mechanical perturbations of controlled amplitude and frequency are applied to the Multimode fiber, which is fastened at the ends to induce vibrations. Perturbations higher than 3 KHz and below one micron are perfectly recovered by the system, which additionally, exhibits a linear response. Due to the low cost and the simplicity of the technique, it becomes an interesting method for the implementation of fiber sensors in a wide range of engineering applications.

Formal demonstration of the independence on the optical activity of the maximum gain position in a two-wave coupling experiment

The paper presents the way that colour can serve solving the problem of calibration points indexing in a camera geometrical calibration process. We propose a technique in which indexes of calibration points in a black-and-white chessboard are represented as sets of colour regions in the neighbourhood of calibration points. We provide some general rules for designing a colour calibration chessboard and provide a method of calibration image analysis. We show that this approach leads to obtaining better results than in the case of widely used methods employing information about already indexed points to compute indexes. We also report constraints concerning the technique. Nowadays we are witnessing an increasing need for camera geometrical calibration systems. They are vital for such applications as 3D modelling, 3D reconstruction, assembly control systems, etc. Wherever possible, calibration objects placed in the scene are used in a camera geometrical calibration process. This approach significantly increases accuracy of calibration results and makes the calibration data extraction process easier and universal. There are many geometrical camera calibration techniques for a known calibration scene [1]. A great number of them use as an input calibration points which are localised and indexed in the scene. In this paper we propose the technique of calibration points indexing which uses a colour chessboard. The presented technique was developed by solving problems we encountered during experiments with our earlier methods of camera calibration scene analysis [2]-[3]. In particular, the proposed technique increases the number of indexed points points in case of local lack of calibration points detection. At the beginning of the paper we present a way of designing a chessboard pattern. Then we describe a calibration point indexing method, and finally we show experimental results. A black-and-white chessboard is widely used in order to obtain sub-pixel accuracy of calibration points localisation [1]. Calibration points are defined as corners of chessboard squares. Assuming the availability of rough localisation of these points, the points can be indexed. Noting that differences in distances between neighbouring points in calibration scene images differ slightly, one of the local searching methods can be employed (e.g. [2]). Methods of this type search for a calibration point to be indexed, using a window of a certain size. The position of the window is determined by a vector representing the distance between two previously indexed points in the same row or column. However, experiments show that this approach has its disadvantages, as described below. * E-mail: A.Nowakowski@ire.pw.edu.pl Firstly, there is a danger of omitting some points during indexing in case of local lack of calibration points detection in a neighbourhood (e.g. caused by the presence of non-homogeneous light in the calibration scene). A particularly unfavourable situation is when the local lack of detection effects in the appearance of separated regions of detected calibration points. It is worth saying that such situations are likely to happen for calibration points situated near image borders. Such points are very important for the analysis of optical nonlinearities, and a lack of them can significantly influence the accuracy of distortion modelling. Secondly, such methods may give wrong results in the case of optical distortion with strong nonlinearities when getting information about the neighbouring index is not an easy task. Beside this, the methods are very sensitive to a single false localisation of a calibration point. Such a single false localisation can even result in false indexing of a big set of calibration points. To avoid the above-mentioned problems, we propose using a black-and-white chessboard which contains the coded index of a calibration point in the form of colour squares situated in the nearest neighbourhood of each point. The index of a certain calibration point is determined by colours of four nearest neighbouring squares (Fig.1). An order of squares in such foursome is important. Because the size of a colour square is determined only by the possibility of correct colour detection, the size of a colour square can be smaller than the size of a black or white square. The larger size of a black or white square is determined by the requirements of the exact localisation step which follows the indexing of calibration points [3]. In this step, edge information is extracted from a blackand-white chessboard. This edge information needs larger Artur Nowakowski, Wladyslaw Skarbek Institute of Radioelectronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 15/19, 00-665 Warszawa, A.Nowakowski@ire.pw.edu.pl Received February 10, 2009; accepted March 27, 2009; published March 31, 2009 http://www.photonics.pl/PLP