This text represents state-of-the-art trends and developments in the emerging field of engineering asset management as presented at the Sixth World Congress on Engineering Asset Management (WCEAM) held in Cincinnati, OH, USA from October 3-5, 2011 The Proceedings of the WCEAM 2011 is an excellent reference for practitioners, researchers and students in the multidisciplinary field of asset management, covering topics such as: Asset condition monitoring and intelligent maintenance; Asset data warehousing, data mining and fusion; Asset performance and level-of-service models; Design and lifecycle integrity of physical assets; Deterioration and preservation models for assets; Education and training in asset management; Engineering standards in asset management; Fault diagnosis and prognostics; Financial analysis methods for physical assets; Human dimensions in integrated asset management; Information quality management; Information systems and knowledge management; Intelligent maintenance; Intelligent sensors and devices; Maintenance strategies in asset management; Optimization decisions in asset management; Prognostics & Health Management; Risk management in asset management; Strategic asset management; and Sustainability in asset management.

X-by-wire Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) have been attracting increased attention for various civilian or military applications. The x-by-wire techniques (drive-by-wire, steer-by-wire, and brake-by-wire techniques) provide the possibility of achieving novel vehicle design and advanced dynamics control, which can significantly improve the overall performance, maneuverability, and mobility of the UGVs. However, there are few full x-by-wire UGVs prototype models reported in the world. Therefore, there is no book that can fully describe the design, configuration, and dynamics control approach of full x-by-wire UGVs, which makes it difficult for readers to study this hot and interesting topic.

In this book, we use a full x-by-wire UGV, developed by our group, as the example. This UGV is completely x-by-wire with four in-wheel motors driven and a four-wheel independent steer steer. In this book, the overall design of the UGV, the design of the key subsystems (battery pack system,in-wheel motor-driven system, independent steer system, remote and autonomous control system), and the dynamics control approach will be introduced in detail, and the experiment''s results will be provided to validate the proposed dynamics control approach.

This text represents state-of-the-art trends and developments in the emerging field of engineering asset management as presented at the Sixth World Congress on Engineering Asset Management (WCEAM) held in Cincinnati, OH, USA from October 3-5, 2011 The Proceedings of the WCEAM 2011 is an excellent reference for practitioners, researchers and students in the multidisciplinary field of asset management, covering topics such as: Asset condition monitoring and intelligent maintenance; Asset data warehousing, data mining and fusion; Asset performance and level-of-service models; Design and lifecycle integrity of physical assets; Deterioration and preservation models for assets; Education and training in asset management; Engineering standards in asset management; Fault diagnosis and prognostics; Financial analysis methods for physical assets; Human dimensions in integrated asset management; Information quality management; Information systems and knowledge management; Intelligent maintenance; Intelligent sensors and devices; Maintenance strategies in asset management; Optimization decisions in asset management; Prognostics & Health Management; Risk management in asset management; Strategic asset management; and Sustainability in asset management.

X-by-wire Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) have been attracting increased attention for various civilian or military applications. The x-by-wire techniques (drive-by-wire, steer-by-wire, and brake-by-wire techniques) provide the possibility of achieving novel vehicle design and advanced dynamics control, which can significantly improve the overall performance, maneuverability, and mobility of the UGVs. However, there are few full x-by-wire UGVs prototype models reported in the world. Therefore, there is no book that can fully describe the design, configuration, and dynamics control approach of full x-by-wire UGVs, which makes it difficult for readers to study this hot and interesting topic.

In this book, we use a full x-by-wire UGV, developed by our group, as the example. This UGV is completely x-by-wire with four in-wheel motors driven and a four-wheel independent steer steer. In this book, the overall design of the UGV, the design of the key subsystems (battery pack system,in-wheel motor-driven system, independent steer system, remote and autonomous control system), and the dynamics control approach will be introduced in detail, and the experiment''s results will be provided to validate the proposed dynamics control approach.