Rudolf Krecht

57221998708

Publications - 9

Teaching Aspects of ROS 2 and Autonomous Vehicles †

Ernö Horváth Miklos Unger Rudolf Krecht Gergo Igneczi Norbert Marko

Publication Name: Engineering Proceedings

Publication Date: 2024-01-01

Volume: 79

Issue: 1

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The advancement of autonomous vehicles (AVs) has brought forth a substantial need for effective education in robotic operating systems, particularly ROS 2, which serves as the backbone for many autonomous vehicle (AV) applications. This paper explores the academic approach and instructional methodologies tailored for teaching ROS 2 in the context of autonomous vehicle technology. It highlights the critical components and architecture of ROS 2, emphasizing its modularity, real-time communication capabilities, and robust ecosystem which make it ideal for AV development. Through a detailed curriculum outline, we describe hands-on learning activities, simulation-based exercises, and project-driven modules that facilitate deep understanding and practical skills acquisition. The effectiveness of these teaching methods is evaluated through a mixed-methods study involving student feedback, performance assessments, and project outcomes. Results indicate significant improvements in student comprehension and proficiency in both ROS 2 and autonomous vehicle systems. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by providing a comprehensive framework for educators to effectively teach ROS 2, thereby fostering the next generation of engineers proficient in developing and deploying autonomous vehicle technologies.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/engproc2024079049

Assessment of SLAM Methods Applied in Monochromatic Environments †

Á Ballagi Rudolf Krecht

Publication Name: Engineering Proceedings

Publication Date: 2024-01-01

Volume: 79

Issue: 1

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

One of the most significant challenges in sustainable autonomous mobile robot and vehicle development is the perception of stochastic environments. Various environmental perception methods have been proposed to address these challenges; however, these methods often lack general applicability. Many of these methods rely on environmental feature extraction, which can fail in specific scenarios, such as monochromatic environments. This article aims to evaluate existing SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) methods that utilize camera or combined camera and LiDAR input data in predominantly monochromatic environments. Additionally, this study seeks to identify performance issues in such applications.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/engproc2024079051

Network Optimization Aspects of Autonomous Vehicles: Challenges and Future Directions

Tamás Budai Ernö Horváth Akos Kovacs Miklos Unger Rudolf Krecht Norbert Marko

Publication Name: IEEE Network

Publication Date: 2023-07-01

Volume: 37

Issue: 4

Page Range: 282-288

Description:

Global megatrends, such as urbanization, population growth, and emerging network solutions are accelerating the development of the Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) industry. There are many truths, some misconceptions, and even some excitement about CAVs in the public's opinion. The main objective of the current article is to provide a comprehensive review, eliminate misconceptions, and outline the future of the network optimization aspects of autonomous vehicles by presenting various multidisciplinary methods, such as cooperative perception. Given our extensive experience with CAVs, we are aiming to share some of the insights and knowledge we have gained, along with relevant use-cases and experiment results.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1109/MNET.007.2300023

Towards the resilience quantification of (military) unmanned ground vehicles

Á Ballagi Árpád Tóth Rudolf Krecht Alex Suta

Publication Name: Cleaner Engineering and Technology

Publication Date: 2023-06-01

Volume: 14

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

In the case of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), resilience can be an economical, an environmental, but most importantly, a mission-critical question as well: mission failure caused by the lack of resilience in some cases might imply the loss of the UGV, which could lead to human and financial losses and environmental damage. Thus, the aim of this article is to provide a methodology for UGV resilience analysis by introducing a generalizable method that can be applied both for complete UGV systems and subsystems, and leads to resilience quantification. After proposing a specific resilience definition for UGVs, this article proposes a method for UGV resilience assessment using process graphs, created based on the system components and the expected behavior of UGVs. To provide a context for the introduced solution, existing methods applied for UGV resilience assessment are briefly mentioned. The application of the proposed method is showcased on the perception subsystem of a UGV, finalized with the evaluation of the achieved results.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.clet.2023.100644

GPS Based Navigation and Mobile Base Station of a Mobile Robot Platform

Rudolf Krecht Norbert Boros Dániel Eredits

Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions

Publication Date: 2023-01-01

Volume: 107

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 385-390

Description:

One of the central challenges of today is to increase the degree of automation of the available systems and equipment in a sustainable way. This paper presents the development of an outdoor mobile robot platform navigation method, including an on-board unit and a mobile base station to support the operation of the ZalaZone Automotive Proving Ground in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary, by precise, automated deployment of traffic cones. Currently, traffic cone handling is a time- and labor-intensive job. Its automation saves a significant amount of human resources. As a first step, the technical requirements of the problem have been defined. Then, the navigation system that met the pre-defined requirements has been implemented. This paper presents the detailed development of this navigation system, including a description of the test phases as well. As part of the development process, the operation of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver corrected by Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) is presented, supported by a small, low-power mobile base station, followed by a description of the applied hardware and software components, alongside with the alignment and further development of these components to achieve centimeter-accurate positioning. The Network Transport of Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) via Internet Protocol (NTRIP) server facilitates the communication between the onboard unit and the base station via a 5G network. This work is continued by a detailed description of the autopilot system on the robotic platform, including the tools and software used for this purpose. The calibration process of the navigation system is described as well. Finally, the results and observations gained during the test are summarized and analyzed. These results have shown that the addition of an RTK system has highly increased the accuracy of a general GNSS receiver. In addition, these results underline the crucial role of 5G networks in the case of automated mobile applications.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3303/CET23107065

Validation Process of the Computer Simulation of a Test-Purpose Self-Driving Vehicle

Á Ballagi Miklos Unger Rudolf Krecht

Publication Name: Iavvc 2023 IEEE International Automated Vehicle Validation Conference Proceedings

Publication Date: 2023-01-01

Volume: Unknown

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The aim of this article is to propose the initial validation steps for a test-purpose self-driving vehicle. The basis of the computer simulation in question is a passenger vehicle converted to be capable of specific self-driving tasks, meaning that it features a complete low-level control system, an onboard computer for high-level computation and a full sensor set consisting of laser scanners, lidars, cameras and GNSS receivers. The computer simulation of the described vehicle is created using the SVL Autonomous Vehicle Simulator and aims to completely model the behavior of the real transformed vehicle. To ensure the fidelity of the computer simulation, a set of comparative measurements are defined, which are realized using both the real vehicle and its computer simulation. The basis of comparison is, on one hand, the assessment of the vehicle control system by comparing control input and output, on the other hand, the comparison of onboard sensor measurement results.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1109/IAVVC57316.2023.10328107

The Resilience Barriers of Automated Ground Vehicles from Military Perspectives

Árpád Tóth Rudolf Krecht Alex Suta Attila Hajdu Ferenc Friedler

Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions

Publication Date: 2022-01-01

Volume: 94

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 1195-1200

Description:

In the case of autonomous and semi-autonomous unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), the military application of these systems is becoming more evident and is expected to play an increasingly important role in the future. This paper aims to present and analyse the military applicability and resilience of currently available autonomous ground vehicle perception and control systems. It is important to underline that the paper, after a comprehensive literature review and a presentation of the currently applied methods, attempts to provide a methodological classification of these complex vehicle platforms from the resilience perspective. The methodological classification is based on observations from both economic and engineering perspectives as a result of the systematic review. Furthermore, possible results of resilience are also discussed: survivability, supportability, agility and reusability of the analysed autonomous ground vehicle systems. All these factors can be significant from the point of view of sustainability. As UGVs used under challenging conditions get damaged or outdated, they tend to be dismissed without reusing expensive components, thus generating additional waste. UGVs designed with resilience in mind could be kept in service for a longer period, or their components could be reused more successfully, which supports sustainability. Based on findings there are not yet widely adopted estimation methods to measure the long-term resilience of autonomous military ground vehicles. Thus, a possible theoretical solution for system-autonomy resilience quantification was discussed relying on sensory components and perception methods extracted from the literature as input variables.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3303/CET2294199

Possible Control Methods for Skid-Steer Mobile Robot Platforms

Á Ballagi Csaba Hajdu Rudolf Krecht

Publication Name: Gpmc 2020 2nd IEEE International Conference on Gridding and Polytope Based Modeling and Control Proceedings

Publication Date: 2020-11-19

Volume: Unknown

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 31-34

Description:

The aim of this paper is to collect and analyze the possible low-level control methods for skid-steer mobile robot platforms. Most low-level control methods for mobile robots rely on the kinematic or dynamic model of the controlled robot platform. However, in case of skid-steer mobile robots, a precise kinematic or dynamic model might be too costly to be implemented for a control method. Thus, it has an outstanding importance to find a control method which can be precise enough even with a simplified kinematic or dynamic model. The overall control scheme of skid-steer robots is also discussed, along with issues regarding the kinematic and dynamic modelling of the mentioned platforms.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1109/GPMC50267.2020.9333814

Economical Mobile Robot Design Prototype and Simulation for Industry 4.0 Applications

R. C. Pozna Á Ballagi Csaba Hajdu János Hollósi Rudolf Krecht

Publication Name: Cando EPE 2020 Proceedings IEEE 3rd International Conference and Workshop in Obuda on Electrical and Power Engineering

Publication Date: 2020-11-18

Volume: Unknown

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 155-160

Description:

Autonomous mobile robots received a rising research interest, with the appearance of complex cyber-physical system applications, like Industry 4.0. Related scenarios require not only some degree of autonomous capabilities of the control software but also tight interaction between humans as well. In this paper, a prototype autonomous mobile robot of such functionalities is presented with additionally aiming cost-effective construction. The robot is currently capable of performing basic tasks, like traversing to a goal configuration, mapping the environment, and detecting and avoiding obstacles. To allow the versatile extension with additional cyber-physical software, the control software interfaces the Robot Operating System (ROS), a popular framework in robotic research. During the development of software and hardware, simulation has been heavily utilized. This allowed an iterative development and the use of verification in the early development phases.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1109/CANDO-EPE51100.2020.9337786