Micro-manufacturing : research, technology outcomes and development issues

Besides continuing effort in developing MEMS-based manufacturing techniques, latest effort in Micro-manufacturing is also in Non-MEMS-based manufacturing. Research and technological development (RTD) in this field is encouraged by the increased demand on micro-components as well as promised development in the scaling down of the traditional macro-manufacturing processes for micro-length-scale manufacturing. This paper highlights some EU funded research activities in micro/nano-manufacturing, and gives examples of the latest development in micro-manufacturing methods/techniques, process chains, hybrid-processes, manufacturing equipment and supporting technologies/device, etc., which is followed by a summary of the achievements of the EU MASMICRO project. Finally, concluding remarks are given, which raise several issues concerning further development in micro-manufacturing

The NASA SBIR product catalog

The purpose of this catalog is to assist small business firms in making the community aware of products emerging from their efforts in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. It contains descriptions of some products that have advanced into Phase 3 and others that are identified as prospective products. Both lists of products in this catalog are based on information supplied by NASA SBIR contractors in responding to an invitation to be represented in this document. Generally, all products suggested by the small firms were included in order to meet the goals of information exchange for SBIR results. Of the 444 SBIR contractors NASA queried, 137 provided information on 219 products. The catalog presents the product information in the technology areas listed in the table of contents. Within each area, the products are listed in alphabetical order by product name and are given identifying numbers. Also included is an alphabetical listing of the companies that have products described. This listing cross-references the product list and provides information on the business activity of each firm. In addition, there are three indexes: one a list of firms by states, one that lists the products according to NASA Centers that managed the SBIR projects, and one that lists the products by the relevant Technical Topics utilized in NASA's annual program solicitation under which each SBIR project was selected

Annals of Scientific Society for Assembly, Handling and Industrial Robotics

This Open Access proceedings present a good overview of the current research landscape of industrial robots. The objective of MHI Colloquium is a successful networking at academic and management level. Thereby the colloquium is focussing on a high level academic exchange to distribute the obtained research results, determine synergetic effects and trends, connect the actors personally and in conclusion strengthen the research field as well as the MHI community. Additionally there is the possibility to become acquainted with the organizing institute. Primary audience are members of the scientific association for assembly, handling and industrial robots (WG MHI)

NASA Capability Roadmaps Executive Summary

This document is the result of eight months of hard work and dedication from NASA, industry, other government agencies, and academic experts from across the nation. It provides a summary of the capabilities necessary to execute the Vision for Space Exploration and the key architecture decisions that drive the direction for those capabilities. This report is being provided to the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) team for consideration in development of an architecture approach and investment strategy to support NASA future mission, programs and budget requests. In addition, it will be an excellent reference for NASA's strategic planning. A more detailed set of roadmaps at the technology and sub-capability levels are available on CD. These detailed products include key driving assumptions, capability maturation assessments, and technology and capability development roadmaps

Technical Design Report for the PANDA Micro Vertex Detector

This document illustrates the technical layout and the expected performance of the Micro Vertex Detector (MVD) of the PANDA experiment. The MVD will detect charged particles as close as possible to the interaction zone. Design criteria and the optimisation process as well as the technical solutions chosen are discussed and the results of this process are subjected to extensive Monte Carlo physics studies. The route towards realisation of the detector is outlined

Enhancing Cyber-Resiliency of DER-based SmartGrid: A Survey

The rapid development of information and communications technology has enabled the use of digital-controlled and software-driven distributed energy resources (DERs) to improve the flexibility and efficiency of power supply, and support grid operations. However, this evolution also exposes geographically-dispersed DERs to cyber threats, including hardware and software vulnerabilities, communication issues, and personnel errors, etc. Therefore, enhancing the cyber-resiliency of DER-based smart grid - the ability to survive successful cyber intrusions - is becoming increasingly vital and has garnered significant attention from both industry and academia. In this survey, we aim to provide a systematical and comprehensive review regarding the cyber-resiliency enhancement (CRE) of DER-based smart grid. Firstly, an integrated threat modeling method is tailored for the hierarchical DER-based smart grid with special emphasis on vulnerability identification and impact analysis. Then, the defense-in-depth strategies encompassing prevention, detection, mitigation, and recovery are comprehensively surveyed, systematically classified, and rigorously compared. A CRE framework is subsequently proposed to incorporate the five key resiliency enablers. Finally, challenges and future directions are discussed in details. The overall aim of this survey is to demonstrate the development trend of CRE methods and motivate further efforts to improve the cyber-resiliency of DER-based smart grid.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid for Publication Consideratio

Belle II Technical Design Report

The Belle detector at the KEKB electron-positron collider has collected almost 1 billion Y(4S) events in its decade of operation. Super-KEKB, an upgrade of KEKB is under construction, to increase the luminosity by two orders of magnitude during a three-year shutdown, with an ultimate goal of 8E35 /cm^2 /s luminosity. To exploit the increased luminosity, an upgrade of the Belle detector has been proposed. A new international collaboration Belle-II, is being formed. The Technical Design Report presents physics motivation, basic methods of the accelerator upgrade, as well as key improvements of the detector.Comment: Edited by: Z. Dole\v{z}al and S. Un

The characteristics of the CAT to CAD to rapid prototyping system

ThesisComputer Aided Design (CAD), Rapid Prototyping (RP) and Computer Aided Tomography (CAT) technologies were researched. The project entails a unique combination of the abovementioned technologies, which had to be mastered by the author, on local and international terms. Nine software packages were evaluated to determine the modus operandi, required input and final output results. Fifty Rapid Prototyping systems were investigated to determine the strong and weak areas of the various systems, which showed that prototype materials, machine cost and growing time play an essential role. Thirty Reverse Engineering systems were also researched. Six different RE methods were recorded with several commercial systems available. Nineteen case studies were completed by using several different Computer Aided Tomography (CAT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) centers. Each scanning centre has different apparatus and is discussed in detail in the various case studies. The focus of this project is the data transfer of two dimensional CAT scanning data to threedimensional prototypes by using Reverse Engineering (RE) and Rapid Prototyping (RP). It is therefore of cardinal importance that one is familiar and understands the various fields of interest namely Reverse Engineering, Computer Aided Tomography and Rapid Prototyping. Each of these fields will be discussed in detail, with the latest developments in these fields covered as well. Case studies and research performed in the medical field should gain the medical industry's confidence. Constant marketing and publications will ensure that the technology is applied and transferred to the industry. Commercialisation of the technology is of utmost importanc

Regionally distributed architecture for dynamic e-learning environment (RDADeLE)

e-Learning is becoming an influential role as an economic method and a flexible mode of study in the institutions of higher education today which has a presence in an increasing number of college and university courses. e-Learning as system of systems is a dynamic and scalable environment. Within this environment, e-learning is still searching for a permanent, comfortable and serviceable position that is to be controlled, managed, flexible, accessible and continually up-to-date with the wider university structure. As most academic and business institutions and training centres around the world have adopted the e-learning concept and technology in order to create, deliver and manage their learning materials through the web, it has become the focus of investigation. However, management, monitoring and collaboration between these institutions and centres are limited. Existing technologies such as grid, web services and agents are promising better results. In this research a new architecture has been developed and adopted to make the e-learning environment more dynamic and scalable by dividing it into regional data grids which are managed and monitored by agents. Multi-agent technology has been applied to integrate each regional data grid with others in order to produce an architecture which is more scalable, reliable, and efficient. The result we refer to as Regionally Distributed Architecture for Dynamic e-Learning Environment (RDADeLE). Our RDADeLE architecture is an agent-based grid environment which is composed of components such as learners, staff, nodes, regional grids, grid services and Learning Objects (LOs). These components are built and organised as a multi-agent system (MAS) using the Java Agent Development (JADE) platform. The main role of the agents in our architecture is to control and monitor grid components in order to build an adaptable, extensible, and flexible grid-based e-learning system. Two techniques have been developed and adopted in the architecture to build LOs' information and grid services. The first technique is the XML-based Registries Technique (XRT). In this technique LOs' information is built using XML registries to be discovered by the learners. The registries are written in Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) format. The second technique is the Registered-based Services Technique (RST). In this technique the services are grid services which are built using agents. The services are registered with the Directory Facilitator (DF) of a JADE platform in order to be discovered by all other components. All components of the RDADeLE system, including grid service, are built as a multi-agent system (MAS). Each regional grid in the first technique has only its own registry, whereas in the second technique the grid services of all regional grids have to be registered with the DF. We have evaluated the RDADeLE system guided by both techniques by building a simulation of the prototype. The prototype has a main interface which consists of the name of the system (RDADeLE) and a specification table which includes Number of Regional Grids, Number of Nodes, Maximum Number of Learners connected to each node, and Number of Grid Services to be filled by the administrator of the RDADeLE system in order to create the prototype. Using the RST technique shows that the RDADeLE system can be built with more regional grids with less memory consumption. Moreover, using the RST technique shows that more grid services can be registered in the RDADeLE system with a lower average search time and the search performance is increased compared with the XRT technique. Finally, using one or both techniques, the XRT or the RST, in the prototype does not affect the reliability of the RDADeLE system.Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu - Directorate General For Jubail Project Kingdom of Saudi Arabi

Design optimization of the ¯PANDA Micro-Vertex-Detector for high performance spectroscopy in the charm quark sector

The ¯PANDA experiment is one of the key projects at the future FAIR facility, which is currently under construction at GSI Darmstadt. Measurements will be performed with antiprotons using a fixed-target setup. The main scope of ¯PANDA is the study of the strong interaction in the charm quark sector. Therefore, high precision spectroscopy of hadronic systems in this energy domain is a prerequisite. The Micro-Vertex-Detector (MVD) as innermost part of the tracking system plays an important role to achieve this goal. At present, the ¯PANDA project has exceeded the initial phase of conceptual design studies. Based on these results, an optimization of the individual detector subsystems, and thus also for the MVD, is necessary to continue the overall detector development towards its commissioning. Therefore, a comprehensive and realistic detector model must be developed, which on the one hand fulfils the physics requirements but on the other hand also includes feasible engineering solutions. This task is the main scope of the present work. The outcome of these studies will deliver important contributions to the technical design report for the ¯PANDA MVD, which is the next step towards the final detector assembly. In the first part of this work, main physics aspects of the charm spectroscopy are highlighted and a complete review of the experimental status in this field is given. Afterwards, all relevant details of the ¯PANDA experiment are summarized. The conceptual design and associated hardware developments for the MVD are discussed separately in the following chapters. They deliver basic input for the performed detector optimization, which is presented in the central part. Furthermore, this section describes the development of a comprehensive detector model for the MVD and its introduction into the physics simulation framework of ¯PANDA. The final part contains a compilation of extended simulations with the developed detector model. This includes the determination of basic detector parameters as well as the full simulation of physics channels. Obtained results demonstrate the compliance with all given requirements that warrant the desired physics performance.Das ¯PANDA-Experiment ist eines der Hauptprojekte an der zukünftigen Beschleunigeranlage FAIR, die sich zurzeit an der GSI in Darmstadt im Aufbau befindet. Für die später dort durchgeführten Experimente werden Antiprotonen zum Einsatz kommen, die auf ein festes Target geführt werden. Hauptziel dieser Messungen wird die Untersuchung der starken Wechselwirkung im Charm-Quark-Sektor sein. In diesem Zusammenhang ist eine hochpräzise Spektroskopie hadronischer Systeme im entsprechenden Energiebereich unabdingbar. Der Mikro-Vertex-Detektor (MVD) als innerster Teil des Spurerkennungssystems spielt dabei eine wesentliche Rolle. Das ¯PANDA-Projekt hat die Anfangsphase rein konzeptioneller Studien bereits hinter sich gelassen. Basierend auf diesen Ergebnissen ist eine Optimierung der einzelnen Detektorsysteme einschließlich des MVDs erforderlich, um die Umsetzung des Vorhabens bis hin zu seiner Inbetriebnahme voranzutreiben. Um dies zu erreichen muss ein möglichst realistisches und umfangreiches Modell erarbeitet werden, welches sowohl den physikalischen Anforderungen genügt, als auch die ingenieurstechnische Umsetzung erlaubt. Diese Aufgabe steht im Mittelpunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit. Wesentliche Teile der präsentierten Studien werden dabei Einklang in den zu erstellenden technischen Abschlussbericht für den ¯PANDA-MVD finden. Dieser Bericht ist der nächste Schritt auf dem Weg zum endgültigen Aufbau des Detektors. Der erste Teil der Arbeit befasst sich zunächst mit den wesentlichen physikalischen Aspekten der Spektroskopie Charm-behafteter Systeme. Außerdem wird ein kompletter Überblick über den derzeitigen experimentellen Stand auf diesem Gebiet gegeben. Anschließend werden alle wichtigen Informationen zum ¯PANDA-Experiment zusammengefasst. In den darauf folgenden Kapiteln werden die Grundkonzeption und zugehörige Hardware-Entwicklungen für den MVD vorgestellt. Diese liefern die wesentlichen Vorgaben für die durchgeführte Detektoroptimierung, welche im Hauptteil der Arbeit präsentiert wird. Darin wird auch die Ausarbeitung des detaillierten MVD-Modells bis hin zu seiner Implementierung in die Simulations-Software des ¯PANDA-Experiments beschrieben. Im letzten Teil werden die Ergebnisse ausführlicher Simulationen zusammengefasst, die mit dem entwickelten Detektormodell durchgeführt worden sind. Diese beziehen sich sowohl auf Basisparameter des Detektors als auch auf die vollständige Simulation physikalischer Kanäle. Die erzielten Resultate bestätigen die Einhaltung aller Vorgaben, die für das gewünschte Detektorverhalten zur Erfüllung des physikalischen Kernprogramms notwendig sind