Engineering

Seequent Drillhole-progress-being-shown-with-live-survey-data-from-the-IMDEXHUB-IQ

Seequent and IMDEX to deliver real-time 3D visualisation for minerals drilling projects

Industry-first to integrate live 3D data from ‘rig to model’ supports real-time decision-making and risk management for mining and exploration drilling projects. Seequent, a developer of revolutionary visual data science software and IMDEX, a global leader in real-time subsurface intelligence solutions, have announced an ongoing partnership to deliver a real-time 3D visualisation solution for the mining and exploration industry to dramatically improve the speed and accuracy of decision-making for drilling projects. Seequent and IMDEX are collaborating to integrate IMDEXHUB-IQ™, which provides access to sub-surface data and Central, Seequent’s centralised model management solution for visualisation, tracking and management of an organisation’s geological data. The integration will allow live 3D data collected in the field and synced to IMDEXHUB-IQ to be linked in real-time to the same project in Central, enabling 3D visualisation of downhole survey and structural geology data. The mining industry-first enables drillhole progress to be reviewed in Central’s 3D Browser alongside the planned programme and current geological interpretation, giving geologists confidence in decision-making and ensuring issues are identified and managed as they arise. The new solution, showcased at Seequent’s Lyceum innovation event in Vancouver in November, is the first in a global road show series also visiting Perth and Santiagor. “The integration of live data is crucial for mining and exploration projects of the future. Every day there is an increasing amount of data generated and the key to success is being able to understand and respond to that data in real-time or near real-time,” says Nick Fogarty, Seequent General Manager – Mining and Minerals. “Our new co-partnered solution will provide significant benefits to our drilling and resource company clients in terms of risk management and project efficiencies.” IMDEX and Seequent are long-time industry partners, sharing a common interest in developing technology and better workflows to solve ongoing challenges […]

Game-changing technology for 3D printing tiny structures revealed

A new type of 3D Printing technology enabling rapid prototyping of high-resolution microscale structures has been revealed. It all started after a kick-start from KiwiNet to commercialise the technology. New Zealand microfabrication researchers Andrea Bubendorfer and Andrew Best, the co-inventors of a new way of fabricating very small things with Laminated Resin Printing (LRP), are part of Callaghan Innovation’s MicroMaker3D team which launched the new patent pending technology in the US recently. The team are one of ten selected worldwide for IDTechEx’s Santa Clara Launchpad, an initiative showcasing new disruptive and state-of-the art technologies. Andrea, who leads the microfabrication team at Callaghan Innovation that has created the technology, says: “We’re very excited about the potential for this technology to be a game changer in a range of industries from medicine to wearable technology to aerospace. It will create the first opportunity to rapidly prototype a huge range of miniaturised structures from optical slits to miniaturised microwell plates, micromoulds and more. “Custom sensors are a great example of a niche area we’re keen to explore. One high value approach would be to use molecular sensing to functionalise microstructures, so we could rapid prototype devices for detecting insulin concentration, biomarkers, presence of toxic gases or pollutants. “There are endless possibilities to what we can print – and what is most exciting, though, will be when people start to print things we didn’t even know existed”, says Andrea. The MicroMaker3D project was kick-started when Andrea received KiwiNet Emerging Innovator Programme funding, commercialisation support and advice to explore ways to make microfabrication more accessible. “We ended up creating a new 3D printing technology that can build up tiny structures using specially engineered Laminated Resin Printing (LRP) materials. We can print structures with features as small as five microns. To put this in context, a […]

Future of Design: the Quadro RTX 4000

The Quadro RTX 4000 graphics card — the company’s first midrange professional GPU is powered by NVIDIA Turing architecture and NVIDIA RTX platform. Unveiled at the annual Autodesk University Conference in Las Vegas, the Quadro RTX 4000 puts real-time ray tracing within reach of a wider range of developers, designers and artists worldwide. Professionals from the manufacturing, architecture, engineering and media creation industries witnessed a seismic shift in computer graphics with the launch of Turing in August. The field’s greatest leap since the invention of the CUDA GPU in 2006, Turing features new RT Cores to accelerate ray tracing and next-gen Tensor Cores for AI inferencing which, together for the first time, make real-time ray tracing possible. The Quadro RTX 4000 features a power-efficient, single-slot design that fits in variety of workstation chassis. Other benefits include: ● Significant performance improvements — 8GB of ultra-fast GDDR6 graphics memory technology provides over 40 percent more memory bandwidth than the previous generation Quadro P4000. ● 36 RT Cores — enable real-time ray tracing of objects and environments with physically accurate shadows, reflections, refractions, and global illumination. 288 Turing Tensor Cores for 57 TFLOPS of deep learning performance — accelerate neural network training and inference, which are critical to powering AI-enhanced rendering, products and services. ● Hardware support for VirtualLink — new open industry standard meets the power, display and bandwidth demands of next-generation VR headsets through a single USB-C connector1. ● Improved performance of VR applications — new and enhanced technologies include Variable Rate Shading, Multi-View Rendering and VRWorks Audio. ● Video encode and decode engines — accelerate video creation and playback for multiple video streams with resolutions up to 8K. OEM support Leading OEMs have voiced their support for new Turing-based Quadro RTX 4000 GPUs: ● “AI and real-time ray tracing are […]

Manufacturing the future: The next era of global growth and innovation

By James Manyika, Jeff Sinclair, Richard Dobbs, Gernot Strube, Louis Rassey, Jan Mischke, Jaana Remes, Charles Roxburgh, Katy George, David O’Halloran, and Sreenivas Ramaswamy. The global manufacturing sector has undergone a tumultuous decade: large developing economies leaped into the first tier of manufacturing nations, a severe recession choked off demand, and manufacturing employment fell at an accelerated rate in advanced economies. Still, manufacturing remains critically important to both the developing and the advanced world. In the former, it continues to provide a pathway from subsistence agriculture to rising incomes and living standards. In the latter, it remains a vital source of innovation and competitiveness, making outsized contributions to research and development, exports, and productivity growth. But the manufacturing sector has changed—bringing both opportunities and challenges—and neither business leaders nor policy makers can rely on old responses in the new manufacturing environment. • Manufacturing’s role is changing. The way it contributes to the economy shifts as nations mature: in today’s advanced economies, manufacturing promotes innovation, productivity, and trade more than growth and employment. In these countries, manufacturing also has begun to consume more services and to rely more heavily on them to operate. • Manufacturing is not monolithic. It is a diverse sector with five distinct groups of industries, each with specific drivers of success. • Manufacturing is entering a dynamic new phase. As a new global consuming class emerges in developing nations, and innovations spark additional demand, global manufacturers will have substantial new opportunities—but in a much more uncertain environment. Manufacturing’s role is changing Globally, manufacturing continues to grow. It now accounts for approximately 16 percent of global GDP and 14 percent of employment. But the manufacturing sector’s relative size in an economy varies with its stage of development. We find that when economies industrialize, manufacturing employment and output both […]

Keysight recently in Singapore

Keysight’s largest annual signature event, the Keysight Measurement Forum (KMF) 2018, recently happened on the 20th of July in Singapore. At the event, Keysight and industry experts not only shared about key trends in the industry but also showcased solutions that accelerate innovation in 5G New Radio (NR) Workflow, End-to-End Mission-Critical IoT and Autonomous Vehicles and Connected Cars. Keysight also announced two key updates – firstly, their new Infiniium UXR series, which are the only oscilloscopes to support terabit research with real-time bandwidth. Secondly, Keysight has also expanded their Ixia visibility portfolio with Hawkeye Express, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) extension to the Hawkeye network assessment and monitoring platform.

NUM and Chinese partnership develop machining centre

CNC specialist NUM has helped the Chinese machine building company Original Point Machine Tools (OPMT) to develop an advanced 8-axis CNC machining centre capable of processing many different types of materials, including metal, ceramics, glass and cemented carbide. OPMT is a relatively small but fast-growing company based in Fo’shan – of Guangdong Province – in south China. It is rapidly acquiring a reputation for innovative complex engineering: after developing a highly successful 4-axis milling centre for an automotive production line, it then created a compact 5-axis milling station for the dental industry. For its latest project, OPMT was asked by Guangdong University of Technology to develop a machining centre that combined high speed laser cutting and milling capabilities. This key provincial university is located in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, and provides a wide range of courses, with a major emphasis on engineering. OPMT chose to partner with NUM for its CNC expertise and with the Xi’an Zhongke Microcrystalline Manufacturing Company and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to help with some of the complex materials processing issues. The result is the ML125 8-axis multi-function machining centre. The machine has a dual laser head that is capable of switching between a 20 watt picosecond laser for very high speed cutting and an ultrafast 10 watt femtosecond laser for improved process quality. The femtosecond laser is capable of drilling and cutting almost any type of material, and its very short 1030 nm wavelength means that it is suitable for micro/nano processing applications. Entirely controlled by NUM’s latest-generation Flexium+ 68 CNC platform, the ML125 machining centre has eight servo axes, two independent NC channels and fast application-specific I/Os embedded in the NCK hardware. Movement of the fully articulated laser head is controlled by five NUMDrive X servo drives, with high speed interpolation between all five […]

First demonstration of drone-based deliveries along power-line routes

TEPCO Ventures, Inc., Zenrin Co., Ltd. and Rakuten, Inc. have begun examining the utilisation of “drone highways,” or the airspace above infrastructure such as power transmission lines, for drone logistics. The three companies also announced that they have safely carried out the world’s first demonstration test utilising a drone highway. TEPCO Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., and map publisher Zenrin formed an alliance on March 29, 2017 to confirm the use of drone highways for safe drone-based deliveries. The concept, which is attracting increasing interest, is a focus of the “2018 Roadmap for the Industrial Revolution of the Sky,” which was approved by the Public-Private Conference on Infrastructure Creation for Drones in Japan in June 2018. To develop a drone highway, TEPCO and Zenrin have been studying how to combine data on TEPCO’s infrastructure, such as transmission lines and towers, substations and utility poles, with Zenrin’s three-dimensional maps of the sky, which are currently under development. Going forward, several test courses will be set up in eastern Japan’s Kanto Region during 2018 to demonstrate the practical use of drone highways. Internet services company Rakuten, which has been operating a drone-based delivery service called “Rakuten Drone,” has joined the initiative. The first demonstration test, conducted in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, successfully achieved the world’s first drone-based delivery using a power line route for the flight path.

First Pacific Patrol Boat launched

The first of 21 Guardian Class Pacific Patrol Boats to be designed and built by Austal has been launched. The launch of the first vessel comes just two years after the contract was awarded to the Australian shipbuilder. The first vessel is now scheduled for delivery to Papua New Guinea in late October 2018. The launch of the first Pacific Patrol Boat is a milestone for Austal, with the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement (PPB-R) program marking the company’s first steel ship program. “Austal is proud to be delivering the PPB-R program for the Commonwealth. This is the first steel ship program we have managed and we are doing so on time and on budget,” Austal chief executive David Singleton said. “It is a testament to the skills, experience and management of the Austal PPB-R team that the first vessel has met its project milestones for design and build, on schedule. The overall construction program is well underway, with vessels two and three in build and the fourth vessel commencing construction in June.” Singleton said the program will support 200 direct jobs at Austal and 200 indirect jobs in the broader Australian industry in a program that now extends out to late 2023. This employment is in addition to several hundred jobs at Austal created by a number of large commercial export contracts currently under construction and planned for construction at the Henderson shipyard. “We are already working on export opportunities leveraging off the Pacific Patrol Boats, which will assist Australia to sustain its sovereign naval shipbuilding industry. Austal has already delivered over 40 patrol boats to international customers around the world,” Singleton said. The Pacific Patrol Boat contract was awarded to Austal in May 2016, worth $305 million for the original 19 vessels and associated in service support, with a […]

Will fine circuit traces soon become ubiquitous?

In the manufacture of industrial applications, more and more industry sectors are turning to a new technology as an alternative to classic PCBs. The revolution is called 3-D MID (Moulded Interconnect Devices or Mecha-tronic Integrated Devices) – injection-moulded plastic parts with conduc-tive traces integrated by using laser direct structuring (LDS). This technique adds power to the trend towards miniaturisation in the electronics industry and provides product developers with new design op-portunities. The projects from Multiple Dimensions, illustrates the diversity of possible ap-plications for 3D-MID. They simplify the operation of household appliances, improve driver experience in power steering systems and open new ways of saving space — for example in sensing and industrial electronics. These fine, golden traces on formed plastic are transforming industrial produc-tion. The basis of all 3D-MID applications is a thermoplastic material: Using injection- moulding, first manufacture the part to fit the customer’s application, using different types of thermoplastic, which contain an additive that can be activated by laser. A laser ray then engraves the surface of the plastic and activates the additive. A copper bath then follows, which lets the conductive traces form directly on the thermoplastic. Depending on the type of application, the MID parts may have to be extremely robust or temperature-resistant. Some even must be acid or sweat-resistant, for example applications for hear-ing aids or headphones. In a final step, a barrier layer of nickel is applied and then conditioned with a thin layer of gold to ensure good solderability. What differentiates the company from the competition is that it produces trac-es in almost microscopically small dimensions. Their manufacturing expertise can compete with anyone in the world, especially their uniquely fine trace width and the narrow spacing between traces. Most suppliers are currently working with 300 – 400 µm spacing between trac-es. At Multiple […]

The Interview: FARO

Spokesperson: CHEW Beow Kwan, Product Marketing Associate Manager, Asia Pacific, FARO Technologies. Please tell us what BuildIT Construction is all about? The BuildIT Construction software leverages on FARO’s cutting-edge 3D metrology capability. FARO is to first to offer this fully integrated building lifecycle Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) management tool empowering construction professionals to continuously evaluate projects with real time comparisons against CAD designs using 3D scan data. The software from FARO uniquely enables laser scanner users to perform immediate, real-time build and verify analysis throughout the entire project, and facilitates a new level of cost management and operational efficiency. BuildIT Construction can be fully integrated with 3D data collected from FARO Focus Laser Scanners, optimised for the FARO TracerM Laser Projector for placement and layout of structural components and is compatible with the FARO Laser Tracker for prefabricated modular positioning. It can also be used seamlessly with other third-party hardware. Where do you see this software being used most? Application areas that will benefit most from the BuildIT Construction software include Architecture, Civil Engineering/Surveying, Construction, Facility Management, Historical Preservation, and Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP). AEC professionals will find the software useful for: ⁃ Verifying accuracy of scan data to design models ⁃ Detecting incorrect placement or missing features such as walls, columns, beams, pipes, etc. ⁃ Performing important measurements accurately and quickly ⁃ Inspecting construction for adherence to building standards ⁃ Verifying shifts and movements within structural performance over time with 4D analysis ⁃ Performing real time monitoring of adjacent structures throughout the project lifecycle Is there a lot of construction underway across ASEAN? Prospects for construction in the ASEAN region is generally bright. According to the Global Construction 2030 Report , the ASEAN construction market is expected to exceed US$1 trillion by 2030, with growth […]

«‹ 22 23 24 25 ›»

News Ticker

Engineering