Abstract: Any industrial company needs to determine the amount of variation that exists within its measurement process and guarantee the reliability of their data, studying the performance of their measurement system, in terms of linearity, bias, repeatability and reproducibility and stability. This issue is critical for automotive industry suppliers, who are required to be certified by the 16949:2016 standard (replaces the ISO/TS 16949) of International Automotive Task Force, defining the requirements of a quality management system for companies in the automotive industry. Measurement System Analysis (MSA) is one of the mandatory tools. Frequently, the measurement system in companies is not connected to the equipment and do not incorporate the methods proposed by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG). To address these constraints, an R&D project is in progress, whose objective is to develop a web and cloud-based MSA tool. This MSA tool incorporates Industry 4.0 concepts, such as, Internet of Things (IoT) protocols to assure the connection with the measuring equipment, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, statistical tools, and advanced mathematical algorithms. This paper presents the preliminary findings of the project. The web and cloud-based MSA tool is innovative because it implements all statistical tests proposed in the MSA-4 reference manual from AIAG as well as other emerging methods and techniques. As it is integrated with the measuring devices, it reduces the manual input of data and therefore the errors. The tool ensures traceability of all performed tests and can be used in quality laboratories and in the production lines. Besides, it monitors MSAs over time, allowing both the analysis of deviations from the variation of the measurements performed and the management of measurement equipment and calibrations. To develop the MSA tool a ten-step approach was implemented. Firstly, it was performed a benchmarking analysis of the current competitors and commercial solutions linked to MSA, concerning Industry 4.0 paradigm. Next, an analysis of the size of the target market for the MSA tool was done. Afterwards, data flow and traceability requirements were analysed in order to implement an IoT data network that interconnects with the equipment, preferably via wireless. The MSA web solution was designed under UI/UX principles and an API in python language was developed to perform the algorithms and the statistical analysis. Continuous validation of the tool by companies is being performed to assure real time management of the ‘big data’. The main results of this R&D project are: MSA Tool, web and cloud-based; Python API; New Algorithms to the market; and Style Guide of UI/UX of the tool. The MSA tool proposed adds value to the state of the art as it ensures an effective response to the new challenges of measurement systems, which are increasingly critical in production processes. Although the automotive industry has triggered the development of this innovative MSA tool, other industries would also benefit from it. Currently, companies from molds and plastics, chemical and food industry are already validating it.
Abstract: This paper presents equivalent circuit modeling of active planar reflectors which can be used for the detailed analysis and characterization of reflector performance in terms of lumped components. Equivalent circuit representation has been proposed for PIN diodes and liquid crystal based active planar reflectors designed within X-band frequency range. A very close agreement has been demonstrated between equivalent circuit results, 3D EM simulated results as well as measured scattering parameter results. In the case of measured results, a maximum discrepancy of 1.05dB was observed in the reflection loss performance, which can be attributed to the losses occurred during measurement process.
Abstract: This paper describes the development of a fully
automated measurement software for antenna radiation pattern
measurements in a Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR). The
CATR has a frequency range from 2-40 GHz and the measurement
hardware includes a Network Analyzer for transmitting and
Receiving the microwave signal and a Positioner controller to control
the motion of the Styrofoam column. The measurement process
includes Calibration of CATR with a Standard Gain Horn (SGH)
antenna followed by Gain versus angle measurement of the Antenna
under test (AUT). The software is designed to control a variety of
microwave transmitter / receiver and two axis Positioner controllers
through the standard General Purpose interface bus (GPIB) interface.
Addition of new Network Analyzers is supported through a slight
modification of hardware control module. Time-domain gating is
implemented to remove the unwanted signals and get the isolated
response of AUT. The gated response of the AUT is compared with
the calibration data in the frequency domain to obtain the desired
results. The data acquisition and processing is implemented in
Agilent VEE and Matlab. A variety of experimental measurements
with SGH antennas were performed to validate the accuracy of
software. A comparison of results with existing commercial
softwares is presented and the measured results are found to be
within .2 dBm.
Abstract: A computer model of Quantum Theory (QT) has been
developed by the author. Major goal of the computer model was
support and demonstration of an as large as possible scope of QT.
This includes simulations for the major QT (Gedanken-) experiments
such as, for example, the famous double-slit experiment.
Besides the anticipated difficulties with (1) transforming exacting
mathematics into a computer program, two further types of problems
showed up, namely (2) areas where QT provides a complete mathematical
formalism, but when it comes to concrete applications the
equations are not solvable at all, or only with extremely high effort;
(3) QT rules which are formulated in natural language and which do
not seem to be translatable to precise mathematical expressions, nor
to a computer program.
The paper lists problems in all three categories and describes also
the possible solutions or circumventions developed for the computer
model.