Ready configuration of machines into an existing manufacturing system

This paper focuses on simplifying and easing the integration of a new machine into an existing conventional hierarchical manufacturing system. Based on a distributed manufacturing paradigm, it proposes the functions and interfaces that a new machine and an existing manufacturing system should possess so that ready and simple configuration of additional machines can be achieved. The configuration process is intended to include, not only mechanical and electrical interfaces, but also decision system interfaces (such as planning, scheduling, and shop-floor control). Preliminary laboratory experiments to compare the reconfigurability resulting from a conventional integration method and the proposed distributed method are presented and discussed. © 2007 ISAM.

Physical resource coordination in manufacturing systems

This paper focuses on the physical resource coordination problem for reconfigurable manufacturing systems. It establishes requirements for physical resource coordination to support highly reconfigurable manufacturing systems, and uses two illustrative examples to illustrate critical issues that must be considered. Finally, an approach to part of the physical resource coordination mechanism for reconfigurable systems is presented. Copyright © 2006 IFAC.

Towards robust part tracking in an automated manufacturing process using RFID

Automated Identification and in particular, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) promises to assist with the automation of mass customised production processes. RFID has long been used to gather a history or trace of part movements, but the use of it as an integral part of the control process is yet to be fully exploited. Such use places stringent demands on the quality of the sensor data and the method used to interpret that data. in particular, this paper focuses on the issue of correctly identifying, tracking and dealing with aggregated objects with the use of RFID. The presented approach is evaluated in the context of a laboratory manufacturing system that produces customised gift boxes. Copyright © 2005 IFAC.

Modular distributed manufacturing systems and the implications for integrated control

Driven by the need for more responsive manufacturing processes and as a consequence of increasing complexity in products and production systems, this short paper introduces a number of developments in the area of modular, distributed manufacturing systems. Requirements for the development of such systems are addressed and, in particular, the relevance to current and future integrated control systems is examined. One of the key issues for integrated control systems in the future is the need to provide support for distributed decision-making in addition to existing distributed control capabilities.

A novel method for rapid comparative quantitative analysis of nuclear fuel cycles

One of the greatest obstacles facing the nuclear industry is that of sustainability, both in terms of the finite reserves of uranium ore and the production of highly radiotoxic spent fuel which presents proliferation and environmental hazards. Alternative nuclear technologies have been suggested as a means of delivering enhanced sustainability with proposals including fast reactors, the use of thorium fuel and tiered fuel cycles. The debate as to which is the most appropriate technology continues, with each fuel system and reactor type delivering specific advantages and disadvantages which can be difficult to compare fairly. This paper demonstrates a framework of performance metrics which, coupled with a first-order lumped reactor model to determine nuclide population balances, can be used to quantify the aforementioned pros and cons for a range of different fuel and reactor combinations. The framework includes metrics such as fuel efficiency, spent fuel toxicity and proliferation resistance, and relative cycle performance is analysed through parallel coordinate plots, yielding a quantitative comparison of disparate cycles. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

System-of-system Approaches and Challenges for Multi-Site Manufacturing

In the multi-site manufacturing domain, systems-of-systems (SoS) are rarely called so. However, there exist a number of collaborative manufacturing paradigms which closely relate to system-of-system principles. These include distributed manufacturing, dispersed network manufacturing, virtual enterprises and cloud manufacturing/manufacturing-as-a-service. This paper provides an overview of these terms and paradigms, exploring their characteristics, overlaps and differences. These manufacturing paradigms are then considered in relation to five key system-of-systems characteristics: autonomy, belonging, connectivity, diversity and emergence. Data collected from two surveys of academic and industry experts is presented and discussed, with key challenges and barriers to multi-site manufacturing SoS identified.

Paradoxical evidence integration in rapid decision processes

Decisions about noisy stimuli require evidence integration over time. Traditionally, evidence integration and decision making are described as a one-stage process: a decision is made when evidence for the presence of a stimulus crosses a threshold. Here, we show that one-stage models cannot explain psychophysical experiments on feature fusion, where two visual stimuli are presented in rapid succession. Paradoxically, the second stimulus biases decisions more strongly than the first one, contrary to predictions of one-stage models and intuition. We present a two-stage model where sensory information is integrated and buffered before it is fed into a drift diffusion process. The model is tested in a series of psychophysical experiments and explains both accuracy and reaction time distributions. © 2012 Rüter et al.

Rapid Electron Beam Reacted Tantalum/Titanium Bilayers on Silicon : Semiconductors and Semiconductor Devices

The electrical and structural characteristics of tantalum-titanium bilayers on silicon reacted by electron beam heating have been investigated over a wide range of temperature and time conditions. The reacted layers exhibit low sheet resistance and stable electrical characteristics up to at least 1100℃. Titanium starts reacting from 750℃ onwards for 100 milliseconds reaction times whereas tantalum starts reacting only above 900℃ for such short reaction times. RBS results confirm that silicon is the major diffusing species and there is no evidence for the formation of ternary silicides. Reactions have also been explored on millisecond time scales by non-isothermal heating.

Machine Vision Enhanced Post-Earthquake Inspection and Rapid Loss Estimation

Manual inspection is required to determine the condition of damaged buildings after an earthquake. The lack of available inspectors, when combined with the large volume of inspection work, makes such inspection subjective and time-consuming. Completing the required inspection takes weeks to complete, which has adverse economic and societal impacts on the affected population. This paper proposes an automated framework for rapid post-earthquake building evaluation. Under the framework, the visible damage (cracks and buckling) inflicted on concrete columns is first detected. The damage properties are then measured in relation to the column's dimensions and orientation, so that the column's load bearing capacity can be approximated as a damage index. The column damage index supplemented with other building information (e.g. structural type and columns arrangement) is then used to query fragility curves of similar buildings, constructed from the analyses of existing and on-going experimental data. The query estimates the probability of the building being in different damage states. The framework is expected to automate the collection of building damage data, to provide a quantitative assessment of the building damage state, and to estimate the vulnerability of the building to collapse in the event of an aftershock. Videos and manual assessments of structures after the 2009 earthquake in Haiti are used to test the parts of the framework.