A system for identifying weeds present within a field includes an imaging device configured to capture an image depicting a plurality of plants present within the field. Furthermore, the system includes a computing system communicatively coupled to the imaging device, with the computing system configured to receive the image captured by the imaging device. Additionally, the computing system is configured to identify a stalk of each of the plurality of the plants depicted within the received image. Moreover, the computing system is configured to determine a parameter associated with each identified stalk. In addition, the computing system is configured to identify each plant of the plurality of plants as a crop or a weed based on the corresponding determined parameter.

A computing system may identify a surgical instrument for a surgical procedure in an operating room (OR). The computing system may detect a control input by a health care professional (HCP) to control the surgical instrument. The computing system may determine the HCP's access control level associated with the surgical instrument. The computing system may determine whether the HCP has an authorization to control the surgical instrument. If the computing system determines that HCP is unauthorized to control the surgical instrument based on the access control level associated with the HCP, the computing system may block the control input by the HCP. If the computing system determines that the HCP is authorized to control the surgical instrument based on the access control level associated with the HCP, the computing system may effectuate the control input by the HCP to control the surgical instrument.

An output controller obtains a pair of safety state inputs, and, at each of a first microcontroller and the second microcontroller determines whether the pair of safety state inputs both show an unasserted state. Responsive to determining that the pair of safety state inputs both show an unasserted state, the output controller determining a normal state, and otherwise the output controller determines a safe state. The output controller outputs a binary software command reflecting either a normal state or a safe state, and converts the binary software command to a hardware command that maintains the state of voltage of a circuit where the binary software command reflects a normal state and otherwise switches to a safe state. The controller compares readback output values from the two microcontrollers, and generates an output therefrom.

A microcontroller receives, from a device, an input signal having a value. The first microcontroller generates an adjusted value by adjusting the value to an adjusted value within a range of tolerance of a state determination system, and determines a first range of the adjusted value, the first range being within one of an asserted range, an unasserted range, or a fault range. The first microcontroller compares the first range to a second range, the second range derived based on one or more of a different input signal or a different microcontroller, and determines a result of the comparison, the result being an asserted state where the first range and the second range both are within an asserted range, the result being an unasserted state where both ranges are within an unasserted range, and the result otherwise being a fault state, and outputs the result to an output controller.

Apparatus and methods to reduce unwanted motion in precision instruments are described. An active vibration-isolation system may include a feedback loop that senses motion of an intermediate mass. In noisy environments, where the feedback loop would otherwise fail or provide inadequate isolation, feedforward control can be implemented to sense floor vibrations and reduce motion of the intermediate mass that would otherwise be induced by the floor vibrations. The feedforward control can reduce motion of the intermediate mass to a level that allows the feedback loop to operate satisfactorily.

A system that includes a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system that includes a sensor system within the HVAC system. The refrigerant sensor system includes a refrigerant sensor that detects the presence of an amount of refrigerant in the HVAC system and a control system that receives the amount of refrigerant detected from the refrigerant sensor. The control system also determines the amount of refrigerant exceeds a threshold value. Additionally, the control system sends one or more output signals to one or more components that are configured to couple to one or more devices that are part of the HVAC system. The one or more components are configured to cause the one or more devices to adjust operations based on the state of the components. The sensor system also includes a housing that encloses the refrigerant sensor and control system.

A microgrid with a high voltage direct current (HVDC) source for efficiently and safely distributing power to decentralized loads includes: at least a main HVDC power supply connectable in input to an AC grid and in output to a main DC distribution network and loads system in output, the main HVDC power supply having energy reserve means and a main switch-based fault isolator or main FI, the main DC distribution network and loads system including: a maintrunk bus, and subtrunks buses and/or front end local loads cells connected in parallel to the maintrunk bus, and at each branching of a subtrunk bus and a load or of a subtrunk bus of rank n−1 and a subtrunk bus of rank n, a local switch-based fault isolator or local FI, n being an integer comprised in the range [1, N]. A smart main controller including microcontrollers for smart operation is also included.

A safety module having a plurality of microcontrollers receives an analog input and determines a value of the analog input. The microcontrollers each determine a respective ternary state of the device by identifying, from three candidate ranges of values, a range of values in which the value falls, wherein at least two of the plurality of microcontrollers uses different candidate ranges of values, determining, based on the identified range, a ternary state corresponding to the range, and assigning the determined ternary state as the respective ternary state. The safety module determines whether the ternary states from the two microcontrollers map to a fault state, and, where they do, cause a command a command to be output to the device to enter a safe state.

In a device engineering method, data of a plant network hierarchy (PNH) and registered devices (RD) in a device management server are synchronized to a device simulation server (SS). In a simulation mode, at least one function of device management system is executed via communicating with simulated devices (SD), while the device management system being not communicatively coupled to any physical control station configured to control physical field devices in a real plant. Virtual parameters are introduced into the SD. For device configuration, simulation is made of configurable device parameters; non-configurable device parameters; and device status, with SD generated from DD files in the PNH for the RD in the FDCS. Parallel communications including sending communication requests from a CRH component to the SD in the PNH from the CRH component in the FDCS to the SD in the PNH are executed simultaneously.

A build on-demand chassis with a universal bay system that can be assembled into different configurations to support different system requirements from end users includes positionable partitions and a bay support assembly for each set of devices. A controller communicates with a microcontroller unit (MCU) in each bay support assembly to determine a slot identifier and a type of device supported by the bay support assembly to provide greater flexibility in what configurations are possible. When a processor in the information handling system sends an instruction for a type of device, the controller knows the location and capabilities of the device and manages the communication.