Cardiff University (CU)

Dr Zuobin WANG

Project Manager

Manufacturing Engineering Centre (MEC)

School of Engineering

Cardiff University

Cardiff CF24 0YF

UK

Tel: +44(0)29 20876266

Fax: +44(0)29 20874003

WangZ@cf.ac.uk

Cardiff University (CU) is a traditional university with a strong emphasis on research. In the recent national assessment of research by the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, CU was ranked 7^th among the 110 British universities. The proposed research activities will be carried out in the Manufacturing Engineering Centre (which is part of a 5A-rated unit of assessment). The Centre focuses on research in intelligent technologies, machine vision, advanced signal processing, computer integrated manufacturing, optical metrology, high precision measurement and instrumentation. It has more than 70 full-time researchers and is currently participating in and coordinating several national and European RDT projects with a total budget exceeding 13M Euros.

The award-winning WDA-accredited Manufacturing Engineering Centre has won acclaim for its work in establishing lasting and fruitful partnerships with companies and universities in the UK and other EU countries. The MEC was recently awarded the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry’s First Prize for university-industry partnership and the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for higher and further education. In recent years, the MEC has involved in 14 EU projects including: (1) PRO-MANUAL; (2) INFORMAN; (3) VITAMIN; (4) HOMER; (5) RP-TOOL; (6) PRIMACORPS; (7) CONFLOW; (8) SYNERAGH; (9) REHAROB; (10) PSYCHO; (11) SIMDES; (12) AMANIS; (13) QUAINT; (14) ROBAS.

The RTD role of the MEC in the project includes the development of sensing technologies, machine vision systems, intelligent signal/image processing algorithms and embedded techniques, as well as developing and evaluating the prototype device. The centre’s research experience in signal processing, electronics, intelligent sensors, Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, knowledge-based systems, modelling and simulation is closely relevant to the RTD activities. As a higher education institute, the MEC has the advantage of holding seminars and workshops to disseminate the RTD results of the project.

Qualifications of key personnel assigned to this project

DUC TRUONG PHAM, OBE, FREng, BE, PhD, DEng, CEng, FIEE, is Professor and Director of the Manufacturing Engineering Centre. His research areas include intelligent systems, advanced manufacturing engineering, visual inspection, precision measurement and quality control using artificial intelligence. He has more than 250 publications. He is a member of the editorial boards and panels of six international journals and an editor of the Springer-Verlag Advanced Manufacturing book series. Professor Pham is a recipient of several prizes including The Queen’s Prize, and the Sir Joseph Whitworth prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

ZUBIN WANG, BSc, MSc, PhD, MSPIE, is a project manager of the Manufacturing Engineering Centre in Cardiff School of Engineering. He has been involved in two EU projects at Cardiff University since 1997. His research interest is in the area of quality control, computer vision, optical metrology, laser interferometry, nanotechnology, signal/image processing, high precision measurement and instrumentation including hardware and software design of measurement systems. He has published more than 30 papers. He is a member of SPIE, and he was listed in Who’s Who in the World in 2000.

MICHAEL S PACKIANATHER received his BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and MSc and PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Wales in 1991, 1993 and 1997 respectively. He worked as a Research Associate at the Manufacturing Engineering Centre from 1997 before becoming a lecturer at Cardiff School of Engineering in March 2001. His research areas include neural network, pattern recognition, expert system, signal processing, data mining, innovative products, medical instrumentation and design of experiments. He is responsible for managing two European Projects to which he provides technical consultancy. He is a Charted Engineer and a corporate member of the British IEE. He gave an ‘invited lecture’ for the IEE South Wales Centre, Manufacturing and Management Section, in April 1998.

YONG XU, BEng, MSc, PhD, is a senior researcher in MEC. His research area is industrial system control, which includes instrumentation and automation, SCADA, Internet-enabled systems and robotics. He is particularly interested in industrial Intra/Extranet development and applications.

Relevant Publications:

[1]        D T Pham, Z Wang, M Yang, and M S Packianather, “Statistical Analysis of Signal-to-Noise Ratios in Fringe Pattern Matching,” Proc. IEEE Signal Processing, Vol.1, pp626-639, 2002.

[2]        D T Pham and Z Wang, “Fringe Pattern Shift Detection with Nano Resolution,” Proc. IEEE Signal Processing, Vol.2, pp1823-1826, 2002.

[3]        D T Pham, M Yang, Z Wang, and M S Packianather, "Extraction of respiratory and Cardiovascular signals from vibration sensitive mattress," Electronics Letters, Vol.35, No.19, pp1600-1601, 1999.

[4]        D T Pham, M Yang, Z Wang, and M S Packianather, “Device for extraction of respiratory and Cardiovascular signals from vibration sensitive mattress”, Patent, UK.

[5]        D T Pham and X Liu, Neural Networks for Identification, Prediction, and Control, Springer, 1999.

[6]        D T Pham and R J Alcock, “Synergistic classification systems for wood defect identification”, Proc Instn Mech Engrs, Vol. 213, Part E, pp127-133, 1999.

[7]        D T Pham, Z Wang and V Djakov, “A system for measuring the leg movements of a micro multipede”, Professional Engineering Publishing Ltd. Bury St Edmunds and London, 2001.

[8]        Z Wang, P J Bryanston-Cross, and D T Pham, “Two Methods for Achieving Sub-pixel Resolution in Phase Difference Determination by Fringe Pattern Matching,” Proc. SPIE, Vol.3098, pp252-260, 1997.

[9]        Z Wang, P J Bryanston-Cross and D J Whitehouse, “Effect of Image Patch Size on Phase Difference Determination by Fringe Pattern Matching,” Optical Engineering, Vol.36, No.9, pp2482-2488, 1997.