(Originally published on 09/21/2012)
Project Duration: April 2008 until March 2010.
Distributed sensors and controls can enable fundamental advances in automotive factory automation. Conventional sensor systems rely on hard-wired communication systems that are expensive to install, have restricted mobility, and limit future expansion due to an inflexible overall layout. Wireless integrated network sensors (WINS) are low cost mobile systems that can cover the entire enterprise. WINS can minimize downtime, and provide a feedback control path to enhance quality with existing tools.
The primary objective of this project is to develop an efficient shop floor sensing and control system to support real time decision making in automotive factory automation systems, thereby increasing the productivity and profitability of automotive manufacturing enterprises and the global competitiveness of the Canadian automotive sector. The project team will collaborate specifically within the AUTO21 Themes: Materials and Manufacturing, and Intelligent Systems and Sensors on the following major tasks:
- Development of wireless micro-sensors suitable for installation on rotating tools, machine tools, workpieces, and assemblies.
- Development of cutting-edge, energy-efficient, fault tolerant collaborative processing protocols for use by the network when processing its collected data.
- Integration of different wired and wireless sensing and control networks in factory automation systems.
- Standardization of communication interfaces / protocols / data formats for both wired and wireless sensor networks in factory automation systems.
- Development of a Plug-&-Play framework for both wired and wireless sensors and controllers.
- Development of a security framework for factory automation systems (particularly with wireless sensors and controllers).
- Prototypes implementation, evaluation and validation.
Our short-to-medium-term goal is to develop a MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) integrated wireless sensor node, a reference architecture with a related design methodology, mechanisms, and algorithms, etc., and implement a testbed within the facilities of National Research Council Canada's Integrated Manufacturing Technology Institute.
This project fits very well with the program objectives of AUTO21. The success of the project can enhance the global competitiveness and the social benefits of the automotive sectors in Canada through the deployment of cutting-edge, energy-efficient wireless sensor nodes and network, and an intelligent shop floor monitoring and control system. Additional benefits of the proposed project include that WINS condition-based maintenance provide large operating cost savings by allowing tool and system maintenance to be scheduled in advance of a failure. Of course, WINS developed in this project will also find applications in numerous other industrial sectors including medical informatics, civil and environmental, and intelligent transportation systems.
Project Leader
Dr. Jonathan Wu - University of Windsor (UW)
Professor - Canada Research Chair in Automotive Sensors and Sensing Systems
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The University of Windsor
401 Sunset, Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9B 3P4
Tel: 519 253 3000 ext 2580
Fax: 519 971 3695
Email: jwu@uwindsor.ca
Other Investigators
Dr. Robert Brennan - University of Calgary (UC), O3neida
Associate Professor, Director of Manufacturing Program
Dept. of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary
Tel: (403) 220-5798
Fax: (403) 282-8406
E-mail: rbrennan@ucalgary.ca
Dr. Weiming Shen - University of Western Ontario (UWO)
Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UWO
Senior Research Officer, Concurrent Engineering Group
Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Institute
National Research Council
Tel: (519) 430-7134
Fax: (519) 430-7064
E-mail: weiming.shen@nrc.gc.ca