Service Knowledge Capture and Reuse

The keynote will start with the need for service knowledge capture and reuse for industrial product-service systems. A novel approach to capture the service damage knowledge about individual component will be presented with experimental results. The technique uses active thermography and image processing approaches for the assessment. The paper will also give an overview of other non-destructive inspection techniques for service damage assessment. A robotic system will be described to automate the damage image capture. The keynote will then propose ways to reuse the knowledge to predict remaining life of the component and feedback to design and manufacturing

Hybrid dispersion laser scanner.

Laser scanning technology is one of the most integral parts of today's scientific research, manufacturing, defense, and biomedicine. In many applications, high-speed scanning capability is essential for scanning a large area in a short time and multi-dimensional sensing of moving objects and dynamical processes with fine temporal resolution. Unfortunately, conventional laser scanners are often too slow, resulting in limited precision and utility. Here we present a new type of laser scanner that offers ∼1,000 times higher scan rates than conventional state-of-the-art scanners. This method employs spatial dispersion of temporally stretched broadband optical pulses onto the target, enabling inertia-free laser scans at unprecedented scan rates of nearly 100 MHz at 800 nm. To show our scanner's broad utility, we use it to demonstrate unique and previously difficult-to-achieve capabilities in imaging, surface vibrometry, and flow cytometry at a record 2D raster scan rate of more than 100 kHz with 27,000 resolvable points

The detection and tracking of mine-water pollution from abandoned mines using electrical tomography

Increasing emphasis is being placed on the environmental and societal impact of mining, particularly in the EU, where the environmental impacts of abandoned mine sites (spoil heaps and tailings) are now subject to the legally binding Water Framework and Mine Waste Directives. Traditional sampling to monitor the impact of mining on surface waters and groundwater is laborious, expensive and often unrepresentative. In particular, sparse and infrequent borehole sampling may fail to capture the dynamic behaviour associated with important events such as flash flooding, mine-water break-out, and subsurface acid mine drainage. Current monitoring practice is therefore failing to provide the information needed to assess the socio-economic and environmental impact of mining on vulnerable eco-systems, or to give adequate early warning to allow preventative maintenance or containment. BGS has developed a tomographic imaging system known as ALERT ( Automated time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography) which allows the near real-time measurement of geoelectric properties "on demand", thereby giving early warning of potential threats to vulnerable water systems. Permanent in-situ geoelectric measurements are used to provide surrogate indicators of hydrochemical and hydrogeological properties. The ALERT survey concept uses electrode arrays, permanently buried in shallow trenches at the surface but these arrays could equally be deployed in mine entries or shafts or underground workings. This sensor network is then interrogated from the office by wireless telemetry (e.g: GSM, low-power radio, internet, and satellite) to provide volumetric images of the subsurface at regular intervals. Once installed, no manual intervention is required; data is transmitted automatically according to a pre-programmed schedule and for specific survey parameters, both of which may be varied remotely as conditions change (i.e: an adaptive sampling approach). The entire process from data capture to visualisation on the web-portal is seamless, with no manual intervention. Examples are given where ALERT has been installed and used to remotely monitor (i) seawater intrusion in a coastal aquifer (ii) domestic landfills and contaminated land and (iii) vulnerable earth embankments. The full potential of the ALERT concept for monitoring mine-waste has yet to be demonstrated. However we have used manual electrical tomography surveys to characterise mine-waste pollution at an abandoned metalliferous mine in the Central Wales orefield in the UK. Hydrogeochemical sampling confirms that electrical tomography can provide a reliable surrogate for the mapping and long-term monitoring of mine-water pollution

Supporting visualization analysis in industrial process tomography by using augmented reality—A case study of an industrial microwave drying system

Industrial process tomography (IPT) based process control is an advisable approach in industrial heating processes for improving system efficiency and quality. When using it, appropriate dataflow pipelines and visualizations are key for domain users to implement precise data acquisition and analysis. In this article, we propose a complete data processing and visualizing workflow regarding a specific case—microwave tomography (MWT) controlled industrial microwave drying system. Furthermore, we present the up-to-date augmented reality (AR) technique to support the corresponding data visualization and on-site analysis. As a pioneering study of using AR to benefit IPT systems, the proposed AR module provides straightforward and comprehensible visualizations pertaining to the process data to the related users. Inside the dataflow of the case, a time reversal imaging algorithm, a post-imaging segmentation, and a volumetric visualization module are included. For the time reversal algorithm, we exhaustively introduce each step for MWT image reconstruction and then present the simulated results. For the post-imaging segmentation, an automatic tomographic segmentation algorithm is utilized to reveal the significant information contained in the reconstructed images. For volumetric visualization, the 3D generated information is displayed. Finally, the proposed AR system is integrated with the on-going process data, including reconstructed, segmented, and volumetric images, which are used for facilitating interactive on-site data analysis for domain users. The central part of the AR system is implemented by a mobile app that is currently supported on iOS/Android platforms

NASA SBIR abstracts of 1991 phase 1 projects

The objectives of 301 projects placed under contract by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are described. These projects were selected competitively from among proposals submitted to NASA in response to the 1991 SBIR Program Solicitation. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 301, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference of the 1991 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA Field Center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number are included

ToScA North America (6 – 8 June 2017, The University of Texas, Austin, TX) Program

ToScA North America will address key areas of science, including Multi-modal Imaging, Geosciences, Forensics, Increasing Contrast, Educational Outreach, Data, Materials Science and Medical and Biological Science.University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility (UTCT); Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin; Natural History Museum (London); Royal Microscopical Society (Oxford, UK)Geological Science

In-Situ Defect Detection in Laser Powder Bed Fusion by Using Thermography and Optical Tomography—Comparison to Computed Tomography

Among additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is one of the most important technologies to produce metallic components. The layer-wise build-up of components and the complex process conditions increase the probability of the occurrence of defects. However, due to the iterative nature of its manufacturing process and in contrast to conventional manufacturing technologies such as casting, L-PBF offers unique opportunities for in-situ monitoring. In this study, two cameras were successfully tested simultaneously as a machine manufacturer independent process monitoring setup: a high-frequency infrared camera and a camera for long time exposure, working in the visible and infrared spectrum and equipped with a near infrared filter. An AISI 316L stainless steel specimen with integrated artificial defects has been monitored during the build. The acquired camera data was compared to data obtained by computed tomography. A promising and easy to use examination method for data analysis was developed and correlations between measured signals and defects were identified. Moreover, sources of possible data misinterpretation were specified. Lastly, attempts for automatic data analysis by data integration are presented

Application of the X-ray measurement model to image processing of X-ray radiographs

Information can be conveyed in many forms, yet it is perhaps easiest interpreted when in a visual form. The human mind has the ability to look at a scene containing complex patterns and extract particular features by considering the content of the entire image and focusing on the items of interest. The processing power, speed to decipher images, and complexity of the human brain has yet to be matched by any artificial means. Although the brain is a excellent processor and interpreter, a human can tire and become less accurate with time, potentially causing costly errors. Since consistency is especially important in inspection situations, it is desirable to automate part or all of the vision process to simplify the inspection. Thus, images can be acquired and processed to improve image quality for either human interpretation or machine perception and analysis. With image processing, it is possible to remove patterns or artifacts induced by the testing equipment, or to seek particular features for enhancement or extraction. The use of imaging technologies facilitates quantitative analysis and objective interpretation of selected parameters, especially in repetitive tasks