Honeywell Experion System: Configuration, simulation and process control software interoperability

The use of automated distributed control systems has become a widely discussed topic as industry attempts to maximise efficiency. An increase in automation technology has resulted in demand for “industry ready” graduate engineers with knowledge and experience with such technologies. Murdoch University (Murdoch) provides students with exposure to industry standard automation systems such as Honeywell’s Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS), a Distributed Control System (DCS) designed for the control and optimisation of industrial plants. Presently, Murdoch uses Experion to monitor and control its pilot plant, exposing instrumentation and control students to the configuration and control of an industrial plant. Additionally, Murdoch holds a second Experion simulation license providing the ability to program and simulate process and control strategies. This project scope was to explore several key areas of the Experion simulation system followed by the development of a series of learning materials to facilitate the teaching of the Experion system to students for a new unit to be introduced at Murdoch University in 2017. The methodology adopted to achieve the project outcome involved developing a comprehensive understanding of Experion and its associated applications, before building a series of example simulation programs for the purpose of implementing and testing a variety of Experion’s control strategies. Additionally, real-time control of the Experion simulation programs, using third party process control software, was achieved. The successful interoperability of MATLAB, Simulink, and LabVIEW with Experion provides an avenue for implementing advanced control strategies both in simulation and on Murdoch’s pilot plant. At the conclusion of the project, an extensive list of learning materials was produced, providing comprehensive procedures to enact tasks within the Experion system. This includes initial setup and configuration, development of simulated programs and associated Human Machine Interface (HMI) displays, the implementation of control strategies, and third party process control software interoperability. These learning materials provide students with an enhanced learning experience, giving them the skills and exposure required to thrive in the automation engineering industry as a Murdoch University graduate

Introducing cost-effective technology into a small New Zealand manufacturing company : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Manufacturing and Industrial Technology at Massey University

Appendix F, G and H have been removed due to copyrightPrecision Manufacturing Limited (PML) is a small general engineering firm in Feilding, New Zealand. It is a general job shop (with a few specialty products) well known in the region for producing timely, high quality results. Southchain Conveying Systems Limited was purchased in November of 1998 and is the only conveyor chain manufacturer in New Zealand. Soon after taking over Southchain, the company found it difficult to compete against chain imports in the New Zealand conveyor chain market with a manual operation. At this point in time Precision Manufacturing owner, Garth Thelin, contacted Massey University and the idea of a GRIP project was introduced. The project commenced on November 1 1999 and ran for 14 months. The technical goals of the project were to reduce manufacturing costs by 30% and limit capital expenditure to $100,000. A numerical process model was built using Microsoft Excel based around a combination of a Bill of Materials model and a Route Sheet model. After completing the proccss model, it was then analysed to obtain a list of first order savings projects in the company. Dollar savings vs. the estimated cost of implementation, as well as interdependencies between the issues, was used as a criteria to rank projects as first order. Two projects were then chosen to be pursued: pin induction automation and roller induction heat treatment. The induction automation project covered the design of the mechanical apparatus, building and testing of working models, building of the production machinery, and the industrial control systems to integrate the mechanics to the induction heater. The roller induction heat treatment project investigated using the in-house induction heater to case harden the chain rollers and divest the company of a high external expense. Six months after the project was completed the company had reduced its costs considerably and as a result, was more profitable. The key to this was the reduction in roller costs. With better margins the company has been able to increase its sales and hence boost production levels. Being more profitable also means the company is in a better position to implement more cost saving measures and become more competitive in the market place

Integration and Automation Software for Testing of RIME and REASON Instruments

In collaboration with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the University of Iowa Radio and Plasma Wave Group is building the RIME and REASON radar instruments for the JUICE mission and the Europa Clipper mission respectively. Our team is in charge of designing and fabricating the transmitter circuit boards consisting of the power supplies, the high-frequency amplifier and the signal conditioner for both missions. I have been working with the group for the past year, and this summer I interned at JPL developing software for the Europa Clipper mission. For the 2018-2019 year, I am continuing this work with the Iowa team to help develop the flight boards for the mission and contribute to the testing phase. I developed several programs and graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to interact with test equipment during my internship. These programs were originally specific to the JPL side, but are extremely useful on the Iowa side as well. Using the code I’ve already developed, I am working with the Iowa team to develop these programs on this end and create further programmatic implementation to help with the testing process. This code will allow the extensive testing phase to proceed with more automation and in a more comprehensive manner

Software test automation : a design and tool selection approach for a heterogeneous environment

textThis report describes a design approach for implementing a software test automation solution that can accommodate existing test processes in an organization. The process of implementing a software test automation solution is a large undertaking and requires careful planning to avoid unsuccessful implementations. This report outlines a design that can integrate with existing business and development processes in an organization, and recommends automation and development frameworks for achieving the test automation goals. Considerations for a heterogeneous test environment with varying types of supported operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, and multiple test execution environments, such as Java and .NET, have been made in this design and in the tool selections for the system implementation. The report also describes some of the challenges and caveats of automation in a heterogeneous environment along with recommended solutions to these challenges.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

The transaction pattern through automating TrAM

Transaction Agent Modelling (TrAM) has demonstrated how the early requirements of complex enterprise systems can be captured and described in a lucid yet rigorous way. Using Geerts and McCarthy’s REA (Resource-Events-Agents) model as its basis, the TrAM process manages to capture the ‘qualitative’ dimensions of business transactions and business processes. A key part of the process is automated model-checking, which CG has revealed to be beneficial in this regard. It enables models to retain the high-level business concepts yet providing a formal structure at that high-level that is lacking in Use Cases. Using a conceptual catalogue informed by transactions, we illustrate the automation of a transaction pattern from which further specialisations impart a tested specification for system implementation, which we envisage as a multi-agent system in order to reflect the dynamic world of business activity. It would furthermore be able to interoperate across business domains as they would share the generalised TM as a pattern.</p

Intelligent Coordination and Automation for Smart Home Accessories

Smarthome accessories are rapidly becoming more popular. Although many companies are making devices to take advantage of this market, most of the created smart devices are actually unintelligent. Currently, these smart home devices require meticulous, tedious configuration to get any sort of enhanced usability over their analog counterparts. We propose building a general model using machine learning and data science to automatically learn a user\u27s smart accessory usage to predict their configuration. We have identified the requirements, collected data, recognized the risks, implemented the system, and have met the goals we set out to accomplish

Automation and data processing with the immucor Galileo (R) system in a university blood bank

Background: The implementation of automated techniques improves the workflow and quality of immuno-hematological results. The workflows of our university blood bank were reviewed during the implementation of an automated immunohematological testing system. Methods: Work impact of blood grouping and subgrouping, cross- matching and antibody search using the Immucor Galileo system was compared to the previous used standard manual and semi- automated methods. Results: The redesign of our workflow did not achieve a significant reduction of the specimen's working process time, the operator's time however was reduced by 23%. Corresponding results were achieved for blood grouping, Rhesus typing, antibody screen and for autocontrol when changing from two semi- automated to the Galileo system. Because of the higher sensitivity of the Immucor antibody detection system, the rate of the initial positive antibody screens rose from 4 to 6% Conclusion: The Immucor Galileo system automates routine blood bank testing with high reliability, specificity and higher sensitivity compared to our previous used standard manual and semi- automated methods

A prototype implementation of the AUnit test automation framework for alloy

Alloy is a declarative language based on relational first-order logic. Unlike commonly used procedural languages, the testing criteria of declarative languages like Alloy has remained largely ad hoc. Recent work on the AUnit test automation framework introduced a foundation for testing Alloy models. This report presents our effort on developing a prototype implementation of AUnit based on the standard Alloy distribution. Our implementation of AUnit has all core functionalities for writing unit tests, running all tests, showing the test execution results including the number of tests ran, the number of tests failed, coverage obtained (which is highlighted using coloring), all test requirements, and all uncovered requirements. We compute coverage for signatures, fields, predicates and specifically for primitive Booleans and quantified formulas. Our implementation can allow users to check the quality of their models in the spirit of traditional unit testing.Electrical and Computer Engineerin