Hybrid ToF and RSSI real-time semantic tracking with an adaptive industrial internet of things architecture

Real-time asset tracking in indoor mass production manufacturing environments can reduce losses associated with pausing a production line to locate an asset. Complemented by monitored contextual information, e.g. machine power usage, it can provide smart information, such as which components have been machined by a worn or damaged tool. Although sensor based Internet of Things (IoT) positioning has been developed, there are still key challenges when benchmarked approaches concentrate on precision, using computationally expensive filtering and iterative statistical or heuristic algorithms, as a trade-off for timeliness and scalability. Precise but high-cost hardware systems and invasive infrastructures of wired devices also pose implementation issues in the Industrial IoT (IIoT). Wireless, selfpowered sensors are integrated in this paper, using a novel, communication-economical RSSI/ToF ranging method in a proposed semantic IIoT architecture. Annotated data collection ensures accessibility, scalable knowledge discovery and flexibility to changes in consumer and business requirements. Deployed at a working indoor industrial facility the system demonstrated comparable RMS ranging accuracy (ToF 6m and RSSI 5.1m with 40m range) to existing systems tested in non-industrial environments and a 12.6-13.8m mean positioning accuracy

Formulating polyurethanes using case based reasoning

A large amount of historical knowledge exists in the form of ‘formulation experiences’ across polyurethane manufacturing companies. This knowledge is difficult to formalise, share and use in new formulations. As a part of an effort to support the polyurethane formulating problem, the use of case based reasoning (CBR) has been assessed. Two basic problems in the development of the proposed hybrid tool that uses past formulations to solve new problems are studied. The problems investigated are related to the retrieval of former formulations that are similar to a new problem description by the CBR module, and the adaptation of the retrieved case to meet the problem constraints using an artificial neural network (ANN). Results indicated that the CBR-ANN system is useful for reusing historical data. Although the obtained ANN is unable to generalise well when presented with more data independent from the original data set, results proved that real formulation data can be used as a ‘knowledge repository’ that can guide CBR adaptation without human expert intervention

Sensor-enabled PCBs to aid right first time manufacture through defect prediction

© 2014 IEEE. Prevention of defects can reduce waste and aid lean strategies such as right first time manufacture. The prediction of defects leads to prevention; however accurate prediction requires a high understanding of the domain and mechanics of each defect. For a prediction simulation to adapt to a manufacturing line's conditions requires timely information about the products being manufactured. In this paper, research into the addition of a sensory circuit to a PCB in order to monitor defects through its manufacture into a PCBA is outlined. Manual handling and the number of thermal cycles are attributors to many of a product's potential defects. The use of an accelerometer and temperature sensor in a circuit alongside a processor and RFID chip is presented. The use of RFID allows the board to communicate to the manufacturing line, increasing the current state of intelligence for this type of product. The use of an RFID chip also allows data storage for both manufacturing information as well as sensory information. This intelligence capability could be added to the PCB in one of two ways; embedding within the layers of the board or by integrating into a pallet or carrier which the PCB will be associated with throughout its manufacture

An automated feature extraction method with application to empirical model development from machining power data

Machining shop floor jobs are rarely optimised for minimisation of the energy consumption, as no clear guidelines exist in operating procedures and high production rates and finishing quality are requirements with higher priorities. However, there has been an increased interest recently in more energy-efficient process designs, due to new regulations and increases in energy charges. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is a popular procedure using empirical models for optimising the energy consumption in cutting operations, but successful deployment requires good understanding of the methods employed and certain steps are time-consuming. In this work, a novel method that automates the feature extraction when applying RSM is presented. Central to the approach is a continuous Hidden Markov model, where the probability distribution of the observations at each state is represented by a mixture of Gaussian distributions. When applied to a case study, the automated extracted material cutting energies lay within 1.12% of measured values and the spindle acceleration energies within 3.33% of their actual values

An application of autoregressive hidden Markov models for identifying machine operations

Due to increasing energy costs there is a need for accurate management and planning of shop floor machine processes. This would entail identifying the different operation modes of production machines. The goal for industry is to provide energy monitors for all machines in factories. In addition, where they have been deployed, analysis is limited to aggregating data for subsequent processing later. In this paper, an Autoregressive Hidden Markov Model (ARHMM)-based algorithm is introduced, which can determine the operation mode of the machine in real-time and find direct application in intrusive load monitoring cases. Compared with other load monitoring techniques, such as transient analysis, no prior knowledge of the system to be monitored is required

Product life cycle information management in the electronics supply chain

Information availability and data transparency are key requirements from manufacturers when supporting products throughout the life cycle, for example when implementing product service systems. The application of embedded wireless technologies into printed circuit boards (PCBs) can help bridging current knowledge gaps and to minimise both technical and financial risk through reduced product downtime, improved quality of tracking and enhanced end-of-life decision making. The application of embedded RFID into PCBs for life cycle monitoring of electronic products to support Product Service Systems is discussed in this paper

Enhanced condition monitoring of the machining process using wavelet packet transform

© 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, London. Tool wear in machining processes can have a detrimental impact upon the surface finish of a machined part, increase the energy consumption during manufacture and potentially, if the tool fails completely, damage incurred may require the part to be scrapped. Monitoring of the tools condition can therefore lead to preventative steps being taken to avoid excessively worn tools being used during machining, which could cause a part becoming damaged. Several studies have been devoted to condition monitoring of the machining process, including the evaluation of cutting tool condition. However, these methods are either impractical for a production environment due to lengthy monitoring time, or require knowledge of cutting parameters (e.g. spindle speed, feed rate, material, tool) which can be difficult to obtain. In this study, we aim to investigate if tool wear can be directly identified using features extracted from the electrical power signal of the entire Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine (three phase voltage and current) captured at 50 KHz, for different cutting parameters. Wavelet packet transform is applied to extract the feature from the raw measurement under different conditions. By analyzing the energy and entropy of reconstructed signals at different frequency sub-bands, the tool wear level can be evaluated. Results demonstrate that with the selected features, the effects due to cutting parameter variation and tool wear level change can be discriminated with good quality, which paves the way for using this technique to monitor the machining process in practical applications

Combining business process and failure modelling to increase yield in electronics manufacturing

The prediction and capturing of defects in low-volume assembly of electronics is a technical challenge that is a prerequisite for design for manufacturing (DfM) and business process improvement (BPI) to increase first-time yields and reduce production costs. Failures at the component-level (component defects) and system-level (such as defects in design and manufacturing) have not been incorporated in combined prediction models. BPI efforts should have predictive capability while supporting flexible production and changes in business models. This research was aimed at the integration of enterprise modelling (EM) and failure models (FM) to support business decision making by predicting system-level defects. An enhanced business modelling approach which provides a set of accessible failure models at a given business process level is presented in this article. This model-driven approach allows the evaluation of product and process performance and hence feedback to design and manufacturing activities hence improving first-time yield and product quality. A case in low-volume, high-complexity electronics assembly industry shows how the approach leverages standard modelling techniques and facilitates the understanding of the causes of poor manufacturing performance using a set of surface mount technology (SMT) process failure models. A prototype application tool was developed and tested in a collaborator site to evaluate the integration of business process models with the execution entities, such as software tools, business database, and simulation engines. The proposed concept was tested for the defect data collection and prediction in the described case study

Cyber-physical systems in the re-use, refurbishment and recycling of used electrical and electronic equipment

The aim of the research outlined in this paper is to demonstrate the implementation of a Cyber-Physical System (CPS) within the End of Life (EoL) processing of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). The described system was created by reviewing related areas of research, capturing stakeholder’s requirements, designing system components and then implementing within an actual EoL EEE processer. The research presented in this paper details user requirements, relevant to any EoL EEE processer, and provides information of the challenges and benefits of utilising CPSs systems within this domain. The system implemented allowed an EoL processer to attach passive Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to cores (i.e. mobile phones and other IT assets) upon entry to the facility allowing monitoring and control of the core’s refurbishment. The CPS deployed supported the processing and monitoring requirements of PAS 141:2011, a standard for the correct refurbishment of both used and waste EEE for reuse. The implemented system controls how an operator can process a core, informing them which process or processes should be followed based upon the quality of the core, the recorded results of previous testing and any repair efforts. The system provides Human-Computer Interfaces (HCIs) to aid the user in recording core and process information which is then used to make decisions on the additional processes required. This research has contributed to the knowledge of the advantages and challenges of CPS development, specifically within the EoL domain, and documents future research goals to aid EoL processing through more advanced decision support on a core’s processes

“Broadcaster”: An architectural description of a prototype supporting real-time remote data propagation in distributed manufacturing

Globalisation of manufacturing activities tend to geographically distribute manufacturing entities, resulting into each entity adopting its own mechanism, for aggregating and analysing real-time shop floor machines' information. The enterprise systems normally employ sophisticated and computationally expensive techniques to access this data, even if they operate remotely having limited network connectivity and system legacies. There is a need to propagate machine information in soft real-time basis to these entities regardless of their geographic locations and / or mechanisms. Authors are presenting an architectural description of a prototype system called the ldquoBroadcasterrdquo which efficiently distributes manufacturing machine information to a number of remotely located global engineering partners. This prototype addresses the emergent system issues like maintainability, reliability, integrity, robustness, flexibility and performance using a heterogeneous composition of ldquoBlackboardrdquo repository model with an event-driven invocation technique, implemented using interface-based strategy. The design and implementation assumes the control environment description to be engineered using the component-based system paradigm. Presently, the prototype is evaluated on a demonstration test rig provided by the Ford Motor Company, which is implemented using a fully Web services distributed control device called FTB, designed by the Schneider Electric Company. Based on the evaluation from the implementation stage, authors have justified and concluded the paper highlighting the key benefits of this approach, and described any future research that is to be carried out