Rapid detection and quantification of features such as damage or flaws in composite and metallic structures

An apparatus, system, and method for non-destructible evaluation (NDE) of a material use thermography to rapidly detect and/or generally locate a feature such as, for example, damage or a defect in the material. The apparatus, system, and method also use ultrasound to specifically locate the feature in the material for quantification and/or evaluation either by an operator or by an external device suited for such purpose. Accordingly, the apparatus, system and method are particularly useful for NDE in applications such as the analysis of the structure of an aircraft, for example, in which the scale of the material to be analyzed is large, thus requiring the rapid NDE afforded by thermography, and in which quantification and/or evaluation of a feature must be performed with precision, thus requiring the relatively high-resolution NDE afforded by ultrasound

Survey of currently available high-resolution raster graphics systems

Presented are data obtained on high-resolution raster graphics engines currently available on the market. The data were obtained through survey responses received from various vendors and also from product literature. The questionnaire developed for this survey was basically a list of characteristics desired in a high performance color raster graphics system which could perform real-time aircraft simulations. Several vendors responded to the survey, with most reporting on their most advanced high-performance, high-resolution raster graphics engine

Metrofission project: An overview of the ENEA contribution

Abstract The paper describes the progress made by ENEA-INMRI in the research carried out within the framework of the Joint Research Project (JRP) ENG08 Metrofission of the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP). This JRP aims to solve important problems related to the development of the Generation IV (GenIV) nuclear power plants in Europe as required by new demands of energy supplies that must be secure, sustainable, of high quality and also able to reduce the green house gas emissions. In the Metrofission project the ENEA-INMRI is directly involved in three Working Packages (WPs): the WP6, that aims to develop a portable Triple-to-Double-Coincidence-Ratio (TDCR) system for measuring in-situ of pure beta radionuclides; the WP7, devoted to the development of modern acquisition techniques based on Digital Coincidence Counting (DCC) with high sampling speed for radionuclide standardization; the WP8, leaded by ENEA-INMRI, which takes into account the impact of the project toward the end-users and the nuclear industry. The new prototype of the ENEA-INMRI portable TDCR counter will be presented. The preliminary results obtained in the activity measurements of 14C and 63Ni standard sources carried out by the new counter equipped with the new front-end electronics based on the CAEN Digitizer DT5720 will be discussed

Enabling Mobile Neutron Detection Systems with CLYC

Cs2LiYCl6:Ce3+ (CLYC) has the desirable property of being sensitive to both gamma rays and neutrons while producing waveforms suitable for pulse shape discrimination (PSD) to determine which radiation was detected. This dissertation examines the behavior of CLYC to support its further development for mobile and portable applications. First, the feasibility of performing PSD with CLYC and an inexpensive data acquisition system was examined. This system was able to clearly distinguish both events with a figure of merit of 1.42. Next, the performance of a SiPM was compared to a traditional PMT. Analysis showed that the SiPM degraded the energy resolution by an average of 34.0±0.7% (at 662 keV). Measurements were also taken using a CLYC crystal with two optical windows which was rotated to determine the direction of a neutron source with an accuracy of ±10°. An analysis of the ability of clustering algorithms to discriminate between gamma ray and neutron interactions was also performed. A methodology was developed and applied to separate these two interactions and provide the ability to isolate the 35Cl(n,p)35S interaction with thermal neutrons, which occurs close to the gamma ray region and is difficult to separate visually. Finally, the effect of temperature on a 7Li (99%) enriched CLYC crystal (important when the 35Cl(n,p)35S interaction is more desirable than 6Li(n,t)α interaction) was examined. Measurements agreed with previous results from 6Li (95%) enriched CLYC, but also indicated that identifying the cluster corresponding to thermal neutrons interacting with 35Cl was temperature dependent

Spacelab data analysis and interactive control study

The study consisted of two main tasks, a series of interviews of Spacelab users and a survey of data processing and display equipment. Findings from the user interviews on questions of interactive control, downlink data formats, and Spacelab computer software development are presented. Equipment for quick look processing and display of scientific data in the Spacelab Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) was surveyed. Results of this survey effort are discussed in detail, along with recommendations for NASA development of several specific display systems which meet common requirements of many Spacelab experiments

Design and Development of a Mobile Soil Profile Digitizer

This study describes the design and development of an automated, mobile-type 2-axis laser soil surface profile digitizer for 3D mapping of soil surface. The construction of the digitizer consists of 2 main parts, the measurement apparatus and a special design trailer. The measurement apparatus provides the non-contact soil surface digitizing and the special design hydraulically powered open-base trailer is used for transporting, uplifting or releasing the measurement apparatus during field operation. The digitizer was pulled by a Massey Ferguson 3060 Instrumented agricultural tractor. Three PLC controlled stepper motors and 3 sets of precision ball screw carriage mechanism were used to drive the sensor in 2-axis of digitizing direction. Dewe-2010 PC Instrument was employed to perform the data acquisition and user control task for the digitizer. The simplified method of the user control interface integrates the concept of touch-screen virtual control panel built on Dasylab V5b.5@ programming platform. The Digitizer was capable to digitize a maximum area of 1.05m x 1.8m with an adjustable digitizing speed, digitizing interval and digitizing area to suit with the required operation time and output resolution. Field tests were conducted to determine adequate digitizing speed and digitizing interval for the digitizer, and also to evaluate the significant of tillage operations, tractor travel speeds and rotary tiller's speeds with respect to average elevation height, Degree of Tilth, and Random Roughness Index of the soil surface profile, and sensing error of the digitizer. Result from field test showed that implement types, tractor travel speed, and rotary tiller speed had significant effects on random roughness index of the soil surface profile. Implement types had only significant effect on the sensing error of the digitizer and rotary tiller speed had only significant effect the Degree of Tilth of the soil surface profile

An investigation to examine the most appropriate methodology to capture historical and modern preserved anatomical specimens for use in the digital age to improve access: a pilot study

Anatomico-pathological specimens constitute a valuable component of many medical museums or institutional collections but can be limited in their impact on account of both physical and intellectual inaccessibility. Further concerns relate to conservation as anatomical specimens may be subject to tissue deterioration, constraints imposed by spatial or financial limitations of the host institution, or accident-based destruction. In awareness of these issues, a simple and easily implementable methodology to increase accessibility, impact and conservation of anatomical specimens is proposed which combines photogrammetry, object virtual reality (object VR), and interactive portable document format (PDF) with supplementary historical and anatomical commentary. The methodology was developed using wet, dry, and plastinated specimens from the historical and modern collections in the Museum of Anatomy at the University of Glasgow. It was found that photogrammetry yielded excellent results for plastinated specimens and showed potential for dry specimens, while object VR produced excellent photorealistic virtual specimens for all materials visualised. Use of PDF as output format was found to allow for the addition of textual, visual, and interactive content, and as such supplemented the virtual specimen with multidisciplinary information adaptable to the needs of various audiences. The results of this small-scale pilot study indicate the beneficial nature of combining these established techniques into a methodology for the digitisation and utilisation of historical anatomical collections in particular, but also collections of material culture more broadly

Application Of Antenna Synthesis And Digital Signal Processing Techniques For Active Millimeter-wave Imaging Systems

Millimeter-wave imaging has gathered attention in recent years for its ability to penetrate clothing, thin layers of soils, and certain construction materials. However, image quality remains a challenge that needs to be addressed. One way of improving image quality is by increasing the dimensions of the collecting aperture. A sparse array can be used to synthesize a larger aperture with a limited set of relatively small detectors. In this research we design, build, and test a test-bed having an active source at 94 GHz and an array of coherent detectors, mounted on arms that extend radially on a rotary table. Using this test bed a circular area with a maximum diameter of 900 mm can be scanned. The signal is down-converted using heterodyne receivers with digital in-phase and quadrature detection. Signal correlation is performed using the digitized data, which is stored for post-processing, electronic focusing, and image reconstruction. Near-field imaging using interferometric reconstructions is achieved using electronic focusing. Imaging tests show the ability of the system to generate imagery of concealed and unconcealed objects at distances between 400 and 700 mm. A study of the effects of redundant and nonredundant configurations on image quality for 4 common detector configurations is presented. In this document we show that an active sparse-aperture imaging system using digital correlators is a viable way to generate millimeter-wave images