Developing the UK Metrology Community

To help build a strong network for metrology research in the UK, the Hub launched the first in a series of planned research feasibility study calls.

These feasibility studies are primarily targeted at early career researchers and aimed at identifying and developing potentially valuable new areas of research which are currently at low Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). For projects where feasibility is demonstrated there is the potential to seek additional funding and for further collaboration. The first call focussed on three topics which are closely linked to the Hub’s research themes:

Photonic integration for metrology sensors Novel methods for automating metrology Measurement in challenging environments.

The call generated significant interest and in total twenty-five applications were received from eighteen universities.

Following a rigorous review and selection process, four applications were selected for funding: Immersive Metrology System (IMS)

PI: Dr Vimal Dhokia

Mixed reality is an emerging technology that blends the real and virtual to create new environments where physical and digital objects interact and co-exist in real time. The full integration of mixed reality and metrology technologies for complex assembly inspection has not been previously investigated. In this ambitious project, IMS, mixed reality technologies will be used to increase productivity within industrial, metrology-led inspection by enabling hands free measurement whilst also minimising the adverse effects of environmental factors (temperature and vibration).

High-temperature, highly integrated, aerosol printed metrology sensors on-a-chip

PI: Dr Jon Willmott

Modern optoelectronics centres on manufacturing techniques of CMOS electronics and CNC grinding for optics. These are very expensive to produce, with long lead times and lead to bulky instruments that are difficult to integrate into an industrial process. This project aims to resolve these problems by ‘Spray Printing’ optoelectronics on-chip: by creating aerosols of metal particles, dielectrics and organic semiconductors, before depositing them onto just about any stable substrate. Specifically, this project will address the feasibility of printing an optoelectronic spectrometer. Compact tailored scatterings spectrometer

PI: Dr Martynas Beresna

Scattering spectrometers offer possess a number of advantages. However, unlike conventional spectrometers, these systems lack a one-to-one spectral-to-spatial mapping. This leads to poor signal to noise ratio limiting the applications of such scattering spectrometers. This project tackles this shortfall by replacing the random disordered media with an engineered, man-made, spectral scattering chip, fabricated using direct laser writing. This will be tailored to retain a near one-to-one spatial to spectral mapping, thus exhibiting a far better signal to noise ratio.

Automating process optimisation from a metrology digital twin

PI: Prof. Jörn Mehnen

Manufacturing processes have variation of input conditions and environmental and operational disturbances such as material properties or equipment condition changing the behaviour of machining processes. This means that existing models cannot take the next step of in-process control without being dynamic, adapting to the specific conditions of each part. The aim of this project is to investigate new dynamic process models that act as a “digital twin” for forming and machining processes. Every part that passes through the manufacturing process will then carry its own unique set of model parameters derived from metrology data.