2013 Working Papers

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https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/10050

Now showing 1 - 5 of 13

Tracking battery state-of-charge in a continuous use off-grid electricity system
(Working Paper, University of Waikato, Department of Computer Science, 2013-10) Apperley, Mark; Alahmari, Mohammed Mushabab
The growing importance of batteries in the delivery of primary energy, for example in electric vehicles and isolated off-grid electricity systems, has added weight to the demand for simple and reliable measures of a battery’s remaining stored energy at any time. Many approaches to estimating this battery state-of-charge exist, ranging from those based on a full appreciation of the chemistry and physics of the storage and delivery mechanisms used, and requiring extensive data on which to base an estimate, to the naïve and simple, based only, for example, on the terminal voltage of the battery. None, however, is perfect, and able to deliver a simple percentage-full figure, as in a fuel gauge. The shortcomings are due to a range of complicating factors, including the impact of rate of charge, rate of discharge, battery aging, and temperature, to name just some of these. This paper presents a simple yet effective method for tracking state-of-charge in an off-grid electricity system, where batteries are in continuous use, preventing static parameter measurements, and where charge/discharge cycles do not necessarily follow an orderly sequence or pattern. A reliable indication of state-of-charge is, however, highly desirable, but need be only of fuel gauge precision, say to the nearest 12-20%. The algorithm described utilises knowledge of the past, and constantly adapts parameters such as charge efficiency and total charge capacity based on this knowledge, and on the occurrence of specific identifiable events such as zero or full charge.
Catching and displaying memory cues for a mobile augmented memory system
(Working Paper, University of Waikato, Department of Computer Science, 2013-12) Bellamy, Jake; Hinze, Annika
This report goes over and details the progress of the 2013 COMP477 project “Augmenting Memory: The Digital Parrot on Mobile Devices” undertaken by Jake Bellamy and supervised by Annika Hinze at the University of Waikato. The report begins with an overview on the problem with remembering events in people’s lives and details the background information on the Digital Parrot system. It also describes the previous project that preceded this one, which began to conceptualize the Digital Parrot on mobile devices. It analyses problems with the current design of the system and addresses them. The report then goes on to conduct an in depth user study with the functioning version of the software. The user study finds design flaws and incorrect functionality in the application that would not have otherwise been apparent. Finally, the report concludes with a proposed user interface concept that addresses all of the issues found in the user study and describes how the system would work. It describes the initial implementation that has begun in building this system.
Text categorization and similarity analysis: similarity measure, architecture and design
(Working Paper, University of Waikato, Department of Computer Science, 2013-12) Fowke, Michael; Hinze, Annika; Heese, Ralf
This research looks at the most appropriate similarity measure to use for a document classification problem. The goal is to find a method that is accurate in finding both semantically and version related documents. A necessary requirement is that the method is efficient in its speed and disk usage. Simhash is found to be the measure best suited to the application and it can be combined with other software to increase the accuracy. Pingar have provided an API that will extract the entities from a document and create a taxonomy displaying the relationships and this extra information can be used to accurately classify input documents. Two algorithms are designed incorporating the Pingar API and then finally an efficient comparison algorithm is introduced to cut down the comparisons required.
Text categorization and similarity analysis: similarity measure, literature review
(Working Paper, University of Waikato, Department of Computer Science, 2013-12) Fowke, Michael; Hinze, Annika; Heese, Ralf
Document classification and provenance has become an important area of computer science as the amount of digital information is growing significantly. Organisations are storing documents on computers rather than in paper form. Software is now required that will show the similarities between documents (i.e. document classification) and to point out duplicates and possibly the history of each document (i.e. provenance). Poor organisation is common and leads to situations like above. There exists a number of software solutions in this area designed to make document organisation as simple as possible. I'm doing my project with Pingar who are a company based in Auckland who aim to help organise the growing amount of unstructured digital data. This reports analyses the existing literature in this area with the aim to determine what already exists and how my project will be different from existing solutions.
Social interactions using an electronic rabbit
(Working Paper, University of Waikato, Department of Computer Science, 2013-12) Zaicu, Alexandru Calin; Hinze, Annika
In this project we use an electronic rabbit called Karotz, created by French company Violet. The rabbits have the ability to connect autonomously to a WI-FI network. IN this project we use Karotz to record an audio log that will contain sounds of the environment. We also programmed a way for the rabbit to send audio to its other Karotz friend. We explored if Karotz can be used to help people stay in contact with each other and to feel less homesick.

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