CERES :: Browsing by Author "Roy, Rajkumar"

Browsing by Author "Roy, Rajkumar"

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Open Access
A Design Approach to IoT Endpoint Security for Production Machinery Monitoring
(Cranfield University, 2019-05-22 16:09) Tedeschi, Stefano; Emmanouilidis, Christos; Mehnen, Jörn; Roy, Rajkumar
The Internet of Things (IoT) has significant potential in upgrading legacy production machinery with monitoring capabilities to unlock new capabilities and bring economic benefits. However, the introduction of IoT at the shop floor layer exposes it to additional security risks with potentially significant adverse operational impact. This project addresses such fundamental new risks at their root by introducing a novel endpoint security by design approach. The approach is implemented on a widely applicable production machinery monitoring application by introducing real time adaptation features for IoT device security through subsystem isolation and a dedicated lightweight authentication protocol.
Open Access
Acquisition and sharing of innovative manufacturing knowledge for preliminary design
(Cranfield University, 2009) Mountney, Sara; Gao, James X.; Roy, Rajkumar
This study investigates the identification, acquisition and sharing of innovative manufacturing knowledge for the preliminary design of complex mechanical components. Such components need to satisfy multiple, often conflicting design and performance requirements. Some degree of innovation may be required, involving the development of new manufacturing processes. The innovative nature of this manufacturing knowledge makes it difficult to define, codify and share, especially during preliminary design, where this can present significant risks in the design process. Current methods of knowledge sharing do not account for the immature nature of innovative manufacturing knowledge and the combined explicit and tacit elements needed to express it. A flexible interpretive research study with inductive and hypothesis testing elements was undertaken to explore this novel knowledge management problem. During the inductive phase, two data collection activities were undertaken to investigate the manufacturing knowledge required for the preliminary design of gas turbine engines. Using a data driven approach, the main findings which emerged were: the need to include an assessment of the maturity of the design process; the need to use a range of tacit and explicit knowledge to effectively share this and the need to manage knowledge across different domain boundaries. A conceptual framework of the findings was used to develop a hypothesis of knowledge requirements for preliminary design. For the hypothesis testing phase, a systematic methodology to identify, acquire and share innovative manufacturing knowledge for preliminary design was developed from the knowledge requirements. This approach allowed both explicit and tacit knowledge sharing. An evaluation of the methodology took place using three different industrial cases, each with a different component / manufacturing process. The evaluations demonstrated that using the range of knowledge types for transferring knowledge was effective for the specific cases studied and confirmed the hypothesis developed.
Open Access
The adoption and use of Through-life Engineering Services within UK Manufacturing Organisations
(Sage, 2014-07-18) Redding, Louis E.; Tiwari, Ashutosh; Roy, Rajkumar; Phillips, Paul; Shaw, Andrew
Manufacturing organisations seek ever more innovative approaches in order to maintain and improve their competitive position within the global market. One such initiative that is gaining significance is ‘through-life engineering services’. These seek to adopt ‘whole life’ service support through the greater understanding of component and system performance driven by knowledge gained from maintenance, repair and overhaul activities. This research presents the findings of exploratory research based on a survey of UK manufacturers who provide through-life engineering services. The survey findings illustrate significant issues to be addressed within the field before the concept becomes widely accepted. These include a more proactive approach to maintenance activities based on real-time responses; standardisation of data content, structure, collection, storage and retrieval protocols in support of maintenance; the development of clear definitions, ontologies and a taxonomy of through-life engineering services in support of the service delivery system; lack of understanding of component and system performance due to the presence of ‘No Fault Found’ events that skew maintenance metrics and the increased use of radio-frequency identification technology in support of maintenance data acquisition.
Open Access
Affordability Assessment of Industrial Product-Service System in the Aerospace Defence Industry
(Cranfield University Press, 2009-04-01) Bankole, O. O.; Roy, Rajkumar; Shehab, Essam; Wardle, P.; Rajkumar Roy; Essam Shehab
The Industrial Product-Service System (IPS2) takes a whole life cycle view in order to consider the total cost of the IPS2 offering. This paper focuses on the concept of customer affordability which aims to review current practice in industry and with interaction between customer and solution providers to identify factors affecting affordability. It secures a standard definition and proposes a measurement technique called the Affordability Index (AI) within the aerospace defence industry. A preliminary Affordability Capability Audit Tool is developed to give an indication of the confidence level about the AI. It identifies challenges in industry and outlines opportunities for further research scope.
Open Access
Augmented Reality in Maintenance: An information-centred design framework
(Elsevier, 2018-02-08) Fernández del Amo, Iñigo; Erkoyuncu, John Ahmet; Roy, Rajkumar; Wilding, Stephen
Augmented Reality (AR) visualization capabilities can impact on maintenance. From enhancing performance to retrieving feedback, AR can close the information loop between maintenance information systems and the operations supported. Though, the design of AR applications is not aligned with current information systems, which prevents maintenance information to be used and improved properly. In this paper, industrial collaboration contributed to determine a framework for AR integration in maintenance systems. The framework describes information types, formats and interactions modes for AR to enhance efficiency improvements in maintenance of complex equipment. Semi-structured interviews and surveys with maintainers were conducted to determine the maintenance challenges and also to validate the framework proposed. Therefore, exposing future research in topics such as multimodal interaction, information contextualization and performance analysis to achieve the complete integration of AR in maintenance.
Open Access
Authoring digital contents for augmented reality in maintenance.
(2018-04) Palmarini, Riccardo; Erkoyuncu, John Ahmet; Roy, Rajkumar
Technicians’ performance is a major driver in maintenance and each process can be prone to time and quality variances as well as errors due to factors such as experience, complexity and environment. Augmented Reality (AR) is an emerging technology that has been applied in a wide variety of disciplines and has been demonstrated to have a role with improving efficiency, effectiveness and decision-making within industrial maintenance. AR has not reached its full potential yet and its implementation in Industry is slowed down by three main limitations: hardware restricted capabilities, object recognition robustness and contents-related issues. This PhD project focuses on easing the implementation of AR by overcoming the AR technology selection challenges and the AR contents-related issues. In order to reach the aim, the student has provided three main contributions to knowledge: 1) a process to select AR technology for maintenance (IPSAR), 2) a method for creating AR step-by-step procedures (FARP) and 3) a method for providing remote assistance (ARRA). FARP and ARRA methods have been developed and tested. The first allows recording procedures in an ad-hoc designed “AR-format” and is able to show “step-by-step” procedures. It aims to support deskilling the maintenance process and reducing the error rate by simplifying the delivery of maintenance with efficient and effective guidance. The second overcomes current remote video-call assistance limitations by improving spatial referencing. ARRA module allows to provide AR-assistance by overlaying virtual objects on the real environment of a remote maintainer. The methods proposed by the student could boost the implementation of AR and open the doors for a bright future in which AR supports technicians thus reducing operational costs and training and improving human performances.
Open Access
Automated Cost and Customer Based Business Process Reengineering in the Service Sector
(Cranfield University, 2008-10) Stelling, Mark; Roy, Rajkumar; Tiwari, Ashutosh
The design of business processes often ignores detailed consideration of service cost. With competitive market pressure, this has become a key factor for the service sector. Along with cost, customer satisfaction is a driving force in all organisations these days. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, due to the current emphasis on service throughout the whole economy, businesses must fight to attract and retain their customers. The response time for modification, or reengineering, of existing processes and the creation of new processes is important in the service sector – this is usually required in a short period of time in order to respond to market and/or customer demand. Thus, there is a requirement for the automation of business process reengineering in order to facilitate this and to minimise response time. In order to address the above, the research carried out during this project involved the design and development of a framework to integrate an activity based cost estimating approach which takes into account probability of resource usage in variable processes, with an automated business process reengineering technique which incorporates an evolutionary computing (genetic algorithms) based optimisation module. Along with this, a novel methodology for detecting risk of negative impact on levels of customer satisfaction without the availability of customer related data has also been developed and integrated with the reengineering technique - cost reduction being the primary objective, but not at the expense of customer satisfaction. The overall aim is to automate the reengineering of business processes to as great an extent as possible in order to save potentially considerable human time and effort. The development of the automated framework also included the creation of a numeric process representation mechanism in order to enable quantitative analysis of complex business processes. The framework is implemented within a prototype software platform for expert validation.
Open Access
Automation of knowledge extraction for degradation analysis
(Elsevier, 2023-07-13) Addepalli, Sri; Weyde, Tillman; Namoano, Bernadin; Oyedeji, Oluseyi Ayodeji; Wang, Tiancheng; Erkoyuncu, John Ahmet; Roy, Rajkumar
Degradation analysis relies heavily on capturing degradation data manually and its interpretation using knowledge to deduce an assessment of the health of a component. Health monitoring requires automation of knowledge extraction to improve the analysis, quality and effectiveness over manual degradation analysis. This paper proposes a novel approach to achieve automation by combining natural language processing methods, ontology and a knowledge graph to represent the extracted degradation causality and a rule based decision-making system to enable a continuous learning process. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by using an aero-engine component as a use-case.
Open Access
The best practice for virtual conference / discussion in high technology area
(2002-09) Ling, Daniel; Roy, Rajkumar; Taratoukhine, V.
This thesis presents analysis of virtual conference. It describes the virtual AS-IS process model, the user groups and the features that are concerned with virtual conferencing. An analysis of asynchronous Vs synchronous conferencing for a high technology business environment is presented. The identified best practise for virtual conference in high technology area and the resulting best practice checklist for virtual conference management and development are determined.
Open Access
Challenges in real world optimisation using evolutionary computing
(2004-11-10T00:00:00Z) Tiwari, Ashutosh; Roy, Rajkumar
Challenges in real world optimisation using evolutionary computing With rising global competition, it is becoming increasingly more important for industry to optimise its activities. However, the complexity of real-life optimisation problems has prevented industry from exploiting the potential of optimisation algorithms. Industry has therefore relied on either trial-and-error or over- simplification for dealing with its optimisation problems. This has led to the loss of opportunity for improving performance, saving costs and time. The growth of research in the field of evolutionary computing has been encouraged by a desire to harness this opportunity. There are a number of benefits of evolutionary-based optimisation that justify the effort invested in this area. The most significant advantage lies in the gain of flexibility and adaptability to the task in hand, in combination with robust performance and global search characteristics. This report presents the proceedings of the workshop on ‘Challenges in Real World Optimisation Using Evolutionary Computing’. This workshop is organised in association with the Eighth International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN VIII) held in Birmingham (UK) on 18- 22 September 2004. The aim of this workshop is to explore the use of evolutionary computing techniques for solving real-life optimisation problems. It is the purpose of this workshop to bring together researchers working in the area of industrial application of evolutionary-based computing techniques such as genetic algorithms, evolutionary programming, genetic programming and evolutionary strategies. The workshop provides a great opportunity for presenting and disseminating latest work in optimisation applications of evolutionary computing in varied industry sectors and application areas, e.g. manufacturing, service, bioinformatics and retail. It provides a forum for identifying and exploring the key issues that affect the industrial application of evolutionary-based computing techniques.  This report presents three papers from the workshop. The first paper examines the possibilities of train running time control using genetic algorithms for the minimisation of energy costs in DC rapid transit systems. The second paper provides an overview of soft computing techniques used in the lead identification and optimisation stages of the drug discovery process. The third paper proposes a micro-evolutionary programming technique for optimisation of continuous
Open Access
A coefficient clustering analysis for damage assessment of composites based on pulsed thermographic inspection
(Elsevier, 2016-06-11) Zhao, Yifan; Tinsley, Lawrence; Addepalli, Sri; Mehnen, Jorn; Roy, Rajkumar
This paper introduces a coefficient clustering analysis method to detect and quantitatively measure damage occurring in composite materials using pulsed thermographic inspection. This method is based on fitting a low order polynomial model for temperature decay curves, which (a) provides an enhanced visual confirmation and size measurement of the damage, (b) provides the reference point for sound material for further damage depth measurement, (c) and reduces the burden in computational time. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated through a practical case study with carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates which were subjected to a drop impact test with varying energy levels. A novel method for reducing an entire thermogram sequence into a single image is introduced, which provides an enhanced visualisation of the damage area.
Open Access
A collaborative machine tool maintenance planning system based on content management technologies
(Springer, 2016-12-03) Wan, Shan; Li, Dongbo; Gao, James X.; Roy, Rajkumar; He, Fei
From product maintenance and service point of view, high-value sophisticated computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools in modern manufacturing factories play important roles: they are manufacturing equipment, and on the other hand, they are also products supplied by equipment manufacturers. There is a trend that manufacturers are extending their responsibilities to the products use phase to meet customers’ requirements for lifetime support and service. To ensure the effective performance and efficient maintenance of high-value machine tools, information and knowledge from their lifecycle should be collected and reused. However, in the research area of product service systems and related computerised maintenance systems, there is a lack of research work on how to integrate knowledge from different stakeholders into the maintenance and service planning process, which is important for modern digital manufacturing systems to reduce machine tools’ downtime and improve their working performance. This project proposed a collaborative maintenance planning framework to connect different stakeholders and integrate their knowledge into the maintenance and service process. The potential of advanced content management systems (CMSs), which are widely used non-engineering sectors such as finance, business, publishing and government organisations, has been explored and tested for applications in the manufacturing engineering domain. The research realised that CMSs have several advantages compared with traditional engineering information systems, especially in managing dynamic and unstructured knowledge. A prototype maintenance and service planning system has been developed and evaluated using a real CNC machine tool.
Open Access
A conceptual design for smell based augmented reality: case study in maintenance diagnosis
(Elsevier, 2018-11-24) Wang, Jeff; Erkoyuncu, John Ahmet; Roy, Rajkumar
The trend of Industry 4.0 encourages the next generation of manufacturing to be flexible, intelligent, and interoperable. The implementations of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology could potentially enhance maintenance in efficiency, and accuracy. However, it will not be a substitution to the human operator’s flexibility, decision-making and information received by the natural five senses. Augmented reality (AR) is commonly understood as a technology that overlays virtual information onto the existing environment to provide users a new and improved experience to assist their daily activities. However, AR can be used to enhance all human five senses rather than just overlay virtual imagery. In this paper, a design and a practical plan of smell augmentation for diagnosis is initialised, via a case study in maintenance. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the feasibilities, identify challenges, and summarise initial results of overlaying information through smell augmentations.
Open Access
Conceptualising the impact of information asymmetry on through-life cost: case study of machine tools sector
(Elsevier, 2019-11-02) Farsi, Maryam; Grenyer, Alex; Sachidananda, Madhu; Sceral, Mario; Mcvey, Steve; Erkoyuncu, John Ahmet; Roy, Rajkumar
Information asymmetry (IA) in terms of contextual variety and importance is one of the most challenging aspects of through-life costing in product-service systems (PSS). IA is an imbalance in the information, data and knowledge shared among the parties involved in a contractual agreement. In manufacturing systems under PSS, interaction and effective communication among several parties who are involved in a contractual agreement, rely on the continuity and accuracy of information and context. In such systems, contextual variety exhibits complexity and uncertainty in through-life costing and subsequently in PSS cost assessment. Although the economic aspect of PSS has been studied previously, the impact of IA on through-life cost and for different PSS solutions has not been detailed. Considering manufacturing value chains, this paper introduces a new concept of PSS-hierarchy to perform through-life costing in the presence of IA for various PSS solutions. Moreover, this paper proposes a generic life-cycle model for different PSS solutions to assess the total cost of ownership (TCO). The proposed model has been developed to support decisions on contract design in manufacturing systems. This study considers the manufacturer, service provider and customer perspectives to develop the TCO model using a machine tool manufacturing case study.
Open Access
A confidence map based damage assessment approach using pulsed thermographic inspection
(Elsevier, 2017-10-07) Zhao, Yifan; Addepalli, Sri; Sirikham, Adisorn; Roy, Rajkumar
In the context of non-destructive testing, quantification of uncertainty caused by various factors such as inspection technique, testing environment and the operator is important and challenge. This paper introduces a concept of contour-based confidence map and an application framework for pulsed thermography that offers enhanced flexibility and reliability of inspection. This approach has been successfully applied to detect three flat-bottom holes of diameter 32, 16 and 8 mm drilled onto a 5 mm thick aluminium plate with a high accuracy of damage detection (R > 0.97). Its suitability and effectiveness in assessing impact damage occurring in composites have also been demonstrated.
Open Access
Continuous maintenance and the future – Foundations and technological challenges
(Elsevier, 2016-06-30) Roy, Rajkumar; Stark, R.; Tracht, K.; Takata, S.; Mori, M.
High value and long life products require continuous maintenance throughout their life cycle to achieve required performance with optimum through-life cost. This paper presents foundations and technologies required to offer the maintenance service. Component and system level degradation science, assessment and modelling along with life cycle ‘big data’ analytics are the two most important knowledge and skill base required for the continuous maintenance. Advanced computing and visualisation technologies will improve efficiency of the maintenance and reduce through-life cost of the product. Future of continuous maintenance within the Industry 4.0 context also identifies the role of IoT, standards and cyber security.
Open Access
Cost engineering: why, what and how?
(2003-09-18T00:00:00Z) Roy, Rajkumar; Editor
Cost has become a major business driver in many industries. It is observed that there is a lack of understanding about the process to estimate, manage and control costs across the lifecycle of a product. This report presents a business case to understand the principles of ‘Cost Engineering’ within the manufacturing industries. The main focus of the report is in the techniques and tools used in cost estimating – one of the major activities in cost engineering. Five different methods of cost estimating are discussed in the report along with cost management issues including risk analysis. The report also presents research findings on ‘industry practice’ in hardware and software development cost estimating. The study shows the lack of research in hardware cost estimating and highlights the lack of communication within different groups of people involved in cost engineering. The report then focuses on the research trends in cost engineering and presents two case studies from recent research projects at Cranfield University. The case studies clearly show the progress in formalising the cost engineering process and the improvements in the current understanding about the domain. Two major areas of research as identified in the report are: i) integrating the cost engineering capability with the ERP (enterprise resource planning) environment so that data can be shared effectively, and ii) capture and reuse of human expertise in cost engineering for performance improvement. Finally, the report also identifies the need for simpler and cheaper cost engineering software for Small and Medium scale Enterpris
Open Access
A cost estimating framework for electronic, electrical and electromechanical (EEE) components obsolescence within the use-oriented product-service systems contracts
(Professional Engineering Publishing, 2012-01-31T00:00:00Z) Romero Rojo, Francisco Javier; Roy, Rajkumar; Shehab, Essam; Cheruvu, Kalyan; Mason, Phil
This paper provides a cost estimating framework for electrical, electronic and electromechanical (EEE) components obsolescence, which represents the main source of obsolescence issues, owing to the increasingly short life cycle of these types of component. The framework comprises several areas: component complexity levels, obsolescence management levels, obsolescence resolution profiles and obsolescence cost metrics. Several studies, based on the literature and on interaction with numerous obsolescence management experts from industry, have been employed in this research, following a systematic approach. The framework is able to estimate the non-recurring cost of obsolescence during the contracted period within the inservice phase. This is based on the information available at the bidding stage concerning the product breakdown structure (PBS) and the obsolescence management strategy deployed. This framework has been validated at four different UK organizations in the defence and aerospace sectors using seven case studies, one of which is presented in this paper in detail.
Open Access
A cost estimation approach for IoT modular architectures implementation in legacy systems
(Elsevier, 2018-02-08) Tedeschi, Stefano; Emmanouilidis, Christos; Erkoyuncu, John Ahmet; Rodrigues, Duarte Polonia; Roy, Rajkumar; Starr, Andrew
Industry 4.0 has encouraged manufacturing organisations to update their systems and processes by implementing Internet of Things (IoT) technology in legacy systems to provide new services such as autonomous condition monitoring and remote maintenance. However, there is still no literature that guides in realizing the advantages and disadvantages of the fourth industry revolution in terms of complexity, data security, and cost. This paper lays the foundation for the creation of an innovative conceptual model to estimate the cost for implementation of new architectures for legacy systems. The proposed approach considers aspects that impact the cost of different IoT architectures such as: complexity, data gathering and sharing protocols, and cyber security. The authors suggest a further implementation of the cost model, in order to guide the organisations in the most cost-effective architecture for modernisation of their legacy systems.
Open Access
Cost impact analysis for requirements management
(Cranfield University, 2006-10) Oduguwa, Patrick Ademola; Roy, Rajkumar
Competition and the associated challenges in the automotive industry are increasing. Products are becoming more complex to satisfy growing needs of the consumers and products need to be cheaper and produced quicker. The automotive industry is responding to these challenges, by developing products within collaborative and extended enterprises across diverse geographical location. New customer requirements imply high frequency changes to the initial design requirements. Current unstructured approaches are not robust to deal with the volume and complexity of the nature of product changes in this environment. The aim of this research is to develop two methodologies, one for requirements extraction methodology (REXTRAM) and the second cost impact analysis methodology (CIAM) within the automotive industry. The research was conducted in a collaborative development environment between automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers and Tier 1 Suppliers. The thesis has proposed two novel methodologies. The first methodology (REXTRAM) extracts relevant data from product design documents and industrial domain experts. REXTRAM generates as output a repository of requirements, design parameters and their constraints. The second methodology (CIAM) identifies two types of changes (constraints changing on requirements and constraints changing on design parameters). CIAM combines matrixes and business (cost and time) driver rules to determine incurred (delta) cost of requirement changes. The matrixes exhibit three types of relationships: requirements to requirements; requirements to design parameters and design parameters to design parameters relationships. Case study approach and independent expert are used to illustrate the application and the capability of both methodologies. In this way this research proposes a tested and validated set of methodologies for the extraction of relevant data and the cost impact analysis of requirement changes and its challenges. The resultant methodologies have widespread application in the context of complex mechanical designs. The research also identifies future research directions in the relevant areas.