Abstract: A system and method for monitoring and controlling in real-time the development of residual stress accumulation in a product during its fabrication by a laser-aided, computer-controlled, direct material deposition process. The system includes a laser source, a laser controller and a numerical controller. The material is deposited on a substrate which is equipped with strain gages on its back surface, i.e. the surface opposite to the surface on which material is deposited. The strain gages measure real-time changes in chosen locations and directions, typically in two orthogonal directions along and across the deposition direction. Acoustic and optical sensors are also mounted on locations appropriate for measurement. The strain gage, acoustic sensor and optical sensor measurements are sent to a computer with a stress analysis software package, which uses the strain data as an input to calculate the stress accumulation.

Abstract: A system and method provide for the creation and operation of real-time, enterprise-wide, personalized supervisory and control data acquisition systems Personalized SCADA applications are constructed from a virtual application service arid a personal agent framework using simple drag and drop operations or other high level actions. The virtual application service includes a communications gateway that communicates with disparate arid non-interoperable systems and external field devices to communicate low level real time data collected from such systems into the application environment, transforming the collected data in a single common data format. The virtual application service includes application cells that receive the reformatted data and process it to provide high level analysis and context, storing the processed data in an object server. The object server provides a unified, hierarchical object model for all of the data received from the underlying devices and systems.

Abstract: An industrial plant asset management system comprising of a synchronized multiple view graphical user interface combining simultaneous real time and database display capability, a database including a knowledge manager and having input and output interfaces, a normalizing data acquisition module with real time and database interfaces, and a variety of device dependent data collector modules with associated signal conditioning and processing devices for providing an environment for development and deployment of visual models for monitoring plant assets.

Abstract: A discrete-time sliding mode controller (SMC) controls the motion of mechanical apparatus such as a read head in a disk storage system. The overall control effort is generated by combining a linear control effort with a discrete-time sliding mode control effort generated by switching between gains in order to drive the system's phase states toward a sliding line trajectory. An estimate of a reference is generated and added to the control effort, thereby providing an approximation of the derivative of the reference signal. Estimating the reference signal may be performed by various methods, depending on whether the reference is known, unknown but repeatable, or completely unknown and non-repeatable. A least-mean-square (LMS) algorithm is employed to estimate the reference signal by computing coefficients of a function which minimizes a particular system parameter.

Abstract: A process and apparatus for controllably registering two continuously moving layers of material is provided. A continuously moving first layer has a plurality of components, and a continuously moving second layer has a plurality of reference marks representing a respective plurality of components. The process and apparatus control the distance between reference marks of the second layer to a selected distance, and then controllably registers each reference mark of the second layer to a respective component of the continuously moving first layer.