Spec2Fab: A reducer-tuner model for translating specifications to 3D prints

Multi-material 3D printing allows objects to be composed of complex, heterogenous arrangements of materials. It is often more natural to define a functional goal than to define the material composition of an object. Translating these functional requirements to fabri-cable 3D prints is still an open research problem. Recently, several specific instances of this problem have been explored (e.g., appearance or elastic deformation), but they exist as isolated, monolithic algorithms. In this paper, we propose an abstraction mechanism that simplifies the design, development, implementation, and reuse of these algorithms. Our solution relies on two new data structures: a reducer tree that efficiently parameterizes the space of material assignments and a tuner network that describes the optimization process used to compute material arrangement. We provide an application programming interface for specifying the desired object and for defining parameters for the reducer tree and tuner network. We illustrate the utility of our framework by implementing several fabrication algorithms as well as demonstrating the manufactured results.United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (N66001-12-1-4242)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (CCF-1138967)reducer-tuner model for translating specifications to 3D prints (IIS-1116296)Google (Firm) (Faculty Research Award

Reducer-tuner model for translating specifications to 3D prints

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 42-45).Multi-material 3D printing allows objects to be composed of complex, heterogeneous arrangements of materials. It is often more natural to define a functional goal than to define the material composition of an object. Translating these functional requirements to fabricable 3D prints is still an open research problem. Recently, several specific instances of this problem have been explored (e.g., appearance or elastic deformation), but they exist as isolated, monolithic algorithms. In this research, I propose an abstraction mechanism that simplifies the design, development, implementation, and reuse of these algorithms. The solution relies on two new data structures: a reducer tree that efficiently parameterizes the space of material assignments and a tuner network that describes the optimization process used to compute material arrangement. I provide an application programming interface for specifying the desired object and for defining parameters for the reducer tree and tuner network. I illustrate the utility of my new framework by implementing several fabrication algorithms as well as demonstrating the manufactured results.by Desai Chen.S.M

Silicon-micromachined Vibratory Diffraction Gratings for Miniaturized High-resolution Rapid Laser Scanning

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Analytical Ultrasonics in Materials Research and Testing

Research results in analytical ultrasonics for characterizing structural materials from metals and ceramics to composites are presented. General topics covered by the conference included: status and advances in analytical ultrasonics for characterizing material microstructures and mechanical properties; status and prospects for ultrasonic measurements of microdamage, degradation, and underlying morphological factors; status and problems in precision measurements of frequency-dependent velocity and attenuation for materials analysis; procedures and requirements for automated, digital signal acquisition, processing, analysis, and interpretation; incentives for analytical ultrasonics in materials research and materials processing, testing, and inspection; and examples of progress in ultrasonics for interrelating microstructure, mechanical properites, and dynamic response

The 1992 Goddard Conference on Space Applications of Artificial Intelligence

The purpose of this conference is to provide a forum in which current research and development directed at space applications of artificial intelligence can be presented and discussed. The papers fall into the following areas: planning and scheduling, control, fault monitoring/diagnosis and recovery, information management, tools, neural networks, and miscellaneous applications

1-D broadside-radiating leaky-wave antenna based on a numerically synthesized impedance surface

A newly-developed deterministic numerical technique for the automated design of metasurface antennas is applied here for the first time to the design of a 1-D printed Leaky-Wave Antenna (LWA) for broadside radiation. The surface impedance synthesis process does not require any a priori knowledge on the impedance pattern, and starts from a mask constraint on the desired far-field and practical bounds on the unit cell impedance values. The designed reactance surface for broadside radiation exhibits a non conventional patterning; this highlights the merit of using an automated design process for a design well known to be challenging for analytical methods. The antenna is physically implemented with an array of metal strips with varying gap widths and simulation results show very good agreement with the predicted performance

Beam scanning by liquid-crystal biasing in a modified SIW structure

A fixed-frequency beam-scanning 1D antenna based on Liquid Crystals (LCs) is designed for application in 2D scanning with lateral alignment. The 2D array environment imposes full decoupling of adjacent 1D antennas, which often conflicts with the LC requirement of DC biasing: the proposed design accommodates both. The LC medium is placed inside a Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) modified to work as a Groove Gap Waveguide, with radiating slots etched on the upper broad wall, that radiates as a Leaky-Wave Antenna (LWA). This allows effective application of the DC bias voltage needed for tuning the LCs. At the same time, the RF field remains laterally confined, enabling the possibility to lay several antennas in parallel and achieve 2D beam scanning. The design is validated by simulation employing the actual properties of a commercial LC medium