Internet page

Citation

Rigelsford, J. (2000), "Internet page", Sensor Review, Vol. 20 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2000.08720dag.001

Internet page

http://mrthp4.mach.uni-karlsruhe.de/Mitarbeiter/puente/publ/isam97.htmlAbstract

Keywords Inspection, Metals, Vision

This page contains an abstract which was presented at the International Symposium on Intelligent Systems & Advanced Manufacturing, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, 14-17 October 1997.

The paper, "Active vision and sensor fusion for inspection of metallic surfaces", deals with strategies for reliably obtaining the edges and the surface texture of metallic objects. It is written by F. Puente León and J. Beyerer and the full version of the paper can be downloaded in PDF format.

This work was undertaken at the Department of Measurement and Control, The University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

http://www.cmm-measure.com/tskmsm.htmlCascade Engineering Technologies

Keywords Inspection, Technology

Established in 1989, Cascade Engineering Technologies, Incorporated offers high quality contact dimensional inspection. Using state-of-the-art equipment they can provide inspection services for difficult and complex configurations and can deliver the accuracy and precision demanded by aerospace and high technology customers.

This is a clearly presented site which contains plenty of information that is easy to access.

http://www.adr.on.ca/techno/adr11.htmADR Spacelink$ Commercialization Inc. (ADR)

Keyword Technology transfer

ADR is a Canadian technology consulting company which has experience in technical, legal and business areas necessary for achieving successful technology transfers. They are a part of the European Space Agency (ESA) Spacelink project, to promote Canadian terrestrial applications of space-related technologies. The aim of this project is to help make technology transfers within Canada and between Canada and Europe.

The Texture and Surface Analysis System (TSAS) is a neural network based system which analyses images of surfaces and textures of objects in order to assess their state of degradation, find surface flaws and discrepancies.

Although this is quite an interesting Web site, it is poorly presented and not all of the links work. You might need to do some clever browsing to find what you are looking for.

http://www.mfg.mtu.edu/cyberman/quality/metrology/surface.htmlMichigan Technological University

Keywords Manufacturing, Education

The CYBERMAN Education page provides manufacturing-related educational materials. Information can be found on: machining, machine tool systems, metal working fluids, quality/design concepts/methods, environment related, shaping and forming, plastics and polymers and internal flow processes. In the Metrology for Manufacturing section (found under quality), generalised measurement systems, dimensional, surface, force, temperature and pressure measurement systems are all discussed.

This Web site is a very useful resource and contains a large amount of information about a host of engineering topics. Navigation is easy if you start from http://www.mfg.mtu.edu/

http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/whitburn/914/home5.htmUniversity of West England (Bristol)

Keywords Surface measurement, Inspection

This page gives information about research into surface inspection at the University of the West of England (UWE). The research aims to develop innovative techniques for the visual inspection of complex surfaces and is supervised by Dr Melvyn Smith (see Media review). Overall this page gives a good introduction to the current research being undertaken at UWE, but you may wish to turn down the brightness on your monitor beforehand.

http://www.zygo.com/industrial/indus.htmZygo!

Keywords Surface measurement, Automation

Established in 1970, Zygo! provides quantitative surface analysis technology. Information is given about their industrial measurement and automation capabilities, and provides links to their product description pages. Sections include: Surface texture measurement, Automated part handling and Surface form measurement.

Overall this is a large site which contains product and financial performance information, along with the company's latest share price.

http://www.candela-inst.com/Candela Instruments

Keywords Surface measurements, Optics

Candela Instruments was founded in March 1997. Candela's TS series of Optical Surface Analysers (OSA), provides surface and thin film analysis in one tool, combining imaging, quantitative analysis and material differentiation. Their OSA technology was invented at IBM by one of Candela's chief technical officer, and his colleague. Together, they developed two generations of OSA systems for in-house use at IBM. The TS-2100 represents the fourth generation of OSA technology and incorporates significant enhancements in sensitivity, resolution, speed, signal processing and software analysis.

This is another well presented site.

Hot sites

http://www.ee.oulu.fi/research/imag/texture/University of Oulu

Keyword Machine vision

The University of Oulu was founded in 1958 and is now one of the largest universities in Finland. The Machine Vision and Media Processing Unit is involved in a range of image analysis topics and concentrates its research on texture analysis, colour analysis and document image analysis.

The objective of their research into texture analysis is to develop leading edge approaches to increase the usefulness of texture in practical applications. Over the past few years the group has developed new non-parametric methods for texture description, texture classification and segmentation, and demonstrated their usefulness in a number of applications.

This is a superbly presented site which contains an abundance of technical information and is well worth a visit.

http://www.predev.com/Precision Devices,Inc.

Keywords Surface measurement, Inspection, Metrology

Precision Devices Inc. (PDI) has produced a Surface Metrology Guide to help its current and future customers learn more about surface finish and related subjects. The guide contains information about: surfaces and profiles, specification of surface texture, measuring instruments, reference specimens and calibration, profile filtering, profile parameters, advanced analysis and surface finish standards.

This is another very good Web site which contains plenty of information about surface metrology and a wide range of equipment.

Jonathan Rigelsford