Contact-Free Monitoring - Enabling Technologies & Emerging Opportunities (Technical Insights) : Monitoring every moment without physical presence

Contact-free monitoring (CFM), an emerging technology domain is likely to impact applications related to automation, digitalization and smart devices. This technology aids in monitoring and detecting motion of a moving object or human activity. CFM employs advanced sensors to monitor properties such as temperature, vibration, speed, phase, velocity and direction of the object. CFM introduces new dimensions to healthcare market by effectively measuring patient movements, pulse rate, heartbeat, sleep timing and many other vital parameters. The report captures advanced sensor technologies used for contact-free monitoring such as Micro Doppler sensor, Thermography sensor, Micro Wave sensor and Fiber Bragg Grating. The main application of contact-free monitoring is automation; however the technology finds use in many new sectors such as Health Care, Industrial Process Control, Automotive & transportation and Aerospace & Defense. Smart cities, smart house, Internet of Things also enable faster adaption of contact-free monitoring. The research service focusses on covering emerging opportunities of contact-free monitoring. The modules of the report include: technology significance, current trends, applications landscape, enabling technology and emerging opportunity assessment.

Key Findings – Enabling Technology and Application Impact

Sensors play a key role in facilitating adoption

Sensor technology has advanced to an extent that it now plays a vital role in many application segments such as Health care, Aerospace, defence, Automotive and transportation. Sensor technologies are used for monitoring, tracking and detecting purpose, thereby helping us analysing object and activities. 

-Contact-free monitoring is an enterprise system that embeds multiple applications to monitor and provide solutions without touching the object or humans. 

Contact-free monitoring finds potential use in health care applications where there is a need for continuous and real-time monitoring of patients. This improves the quality and accuracy of the treatment. Moreover, Contact-free monitoring is enabled by wireless communication, touch-free technology, advanced sensors, and smart devices.

Application Impact

The impact of contact free monitoring in applications areas such as healthcare and security industry is immense and is expected to delivers numerous benefits to the users. 

-Applications which are majorly impacted in the healthcare industry include monitoring patient activity in hospital beds, analysing their’ physical conditions and their response to medical treatment. 

-Future applications of contact-free monitoring in this industry would include analyzing, monitoring, and recording details about the specific body functions such as, functioning of heart, blood profile, pulse, brain activity, kidney, and liver.

-Contact-free monitoring is expected to have a high influence in the security industry for applications such as tracking of speeding vehicles, detecting driver information from vehicles, remote monitoring of vehicles, monitoring cargo movement, and remote tracking of illicit cargo activity.

Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p03551346-summary/view-report.html

Wind farm failure prediction via Piezo Sensor

Engineers have developed a piezoelectric sensor that lets wind farm operators know when bearings are about to fail, a development that could prevent costly downtime.

The sensor, developed by Wenqu Chen, a mechanical engineering research student at Sheffield University, uses ultrasonic waves to measure the load transmitted through a bearing in a wind turbine.
A limiting factor with wind turbines is gearbox reliability, particularly in relation to bearings where manufacturers and operators have faced issues with reliability. Failures come from the fact that these are big bearings subject to quite unusual loading.They’re subject to high dynamic loading and they’re failing in ways that aren’t usually seen on more conventional bearings seen in trucks and cars and process machinery. The 2mm2 sensor has been validated in the lab and is currently being tested at the Barnesmore wind farm in Donegal, Ireland by Ricardo.

Prof Dwyer-Joyce, director of the Leonardo Centre for Tribology at the University said the patented sensor has been installed in the raceway of a transmission bearing, adding that the raceway compresses slightly as the ball and roller pass over it. "We pick up that compression and that compression depends on the load applied to the ball in the first place,” he said. “It’s that stress…which is going to control the life of the bearing."

The time of flight of the ultrasonic pulse from the sensor is affected by the stress level in the material, making the new method the first to directly measure the transmitted load through the rolling bearing components.

Current sector-related condition monitoring methods come in the form of acoustic emission signal, vibration sensing, or oil debris analysis that alert operators to damage after it has occurred, which puts the new sensor – and its size – at an advantage.

For full article click here: https://www.theengineer.co.uk/piezo-sensor-predicts-wind-farm-failure/ 

India to develop its FIRST anti-tank mine

Instead of procuring from US or Israel, country's defense forces will soon be self-reliant with the first indigenous off-route or anti-tank mines. These are improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which explode like a projectile while camouflaged and placed on a tripod stand.

The mine, unlike conventional mines, is not buried underground and needs no pressure when placed underneath a vehicle for activation. To be developed by the Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory (TBRL), a Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) laboratory in Chandigarh, and the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), the mine is used in surfaces where underground burial is not possible. The project began six months ago and was reviewed by DRDO experts early this week. It is expected to be completed in another four years.

The incoming target combat vehicle shall be detected using seismic and acoustics sensors, which shall be made by the CSIO. The sensors fitted in these mines can detect seismic vibrations produced when vehicles such as tanks head towards ambush area. When acoustic and seismic sensors detect approach of a suitable target, the infra-red sensors (IR) in it are also activated. These IR sensors can send images of the target for attack. Consequently, after the target is confirmed, all these sensors trigger the warhead of the mine to project towards the target as it comes before it.

The TBRL plans to have a smart mine trap using these anti-tank mines. "Until the target does not approach, the off route mines can be kept on sleep mode, which can conserve the battery required for its operation," said Manjit Singh, director TBRL. He said, "We are working with CSIO on production of special seismic sensors, which can detect the potential target approaching us and also give a wake-up call to the operator as soon as the target approaches."

The anti-tank mine is portable and suitable for both offensive and defensive operations. The range of the off-route mine is 2 to 97 meters. The collaborators are working towards enhancing the range. The CSIO already has special sensors, being used in Delhi metro, to provide advanced earthquake warning system. "These sensors shall be improvised and worked upon for defense application," said CSIO director R K Sinha.

How it works

• The off-route mine is placed in the range 2-97 m from the target on a tripod stand
• It does not require any pressure of a vehicle for explosion
• These mines cannot be detected easily
• Its acoustic vibration (seismic) and infra-red sensors are triggered when a combat vehicle nears the trap, the mine is activated and shoots off a projectile.

Read the full article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/India-to-develop-its-first-anti-tank-mine/articleshow/50214894.cms