Fastening and Joining Research Institute  The objective of this institute is to enhance the reliability and safety of metallic, composite and polymeric joints by advancing the science and technology of mechanical fastening, adhesive bonding, welding and riveting. The institute is a one-of-a-kind facility that pursues fundamental and applied research to develop and disseminate new technologies for the fastening and joining of metals, composites and polymers. The Institute develops and disseminates novel advanced technologies in the areas of automated assembly of bolted joints, adhesive bonding of composites, resistance welding and riveting, a niche area that significantly impacts the safety and reliability of many products. |
Depth-of-Focus reduction for digital in-line holography of particle fields  Poor axial precision caused, in part, by large depth-of-focus has been a vexing problem in particle position extraction from digital in-line holograms. Michigan Tech researchers have developed a simpler method to combat the depth-of-focus difficulty. Laboratory tests and simulations proved that the large depth of focus problems believed to be inherent in in –line holograms can be greatly improved by a digital filter to the limit determined only by the pixel size of the detector. This digital filter method relaxes the demands on optical configurations used in in-line holography. It is effective in applications using seeding particles in which the particle size can be uniform with high accuracy, such as particle tracking / image velocimetry. |
Very High Purity Alumina Processing Technique This technology allows for the production of a new aluminum oxide (alumina) material with very high compressive strength making the material suitable for applications that require high strength and/or high temperature. The failure strength of alumina created with this process is considerably greater than any other commercially available alumina. The manufacturing process for this new ultra high-strength alumina includes traditional processing techniques such as vacuum hot pressing and hot isostatic pressing. |
Pedestrian Detection System This is a novel approach to vehicle warning systems. The system is “active” in the sense that it relies on the external objects to be avoided to communicate their presence to the vehicle on their own. In this approach, the external objects inform the car of their presence without the car having to directly search for them. The means by which this is accomplished in by a wireless signal that presumably each pedestrian would be giving out from their cellular phones. The car’s detection system would assume that wherever a cellular signal is present, so is a pedestrian. Additional objects that a driver would also want to avoid (such as a bridge), could be given the ability to also send a cellular signal to the car. |
Location and Tracking Technology Development and Testing Service This is one of the few laboratories across the country that specializes in antenna location and tracking systems. Efforts are focused on developing and promoting a location technology development and research Center of Excellence. The Center will offer a research service component to advance the development and design of new products in the location and tracking space. In addition, the Center would become one of only ten facilities in the world to provide antenna testing facilities aimed at the automotive market. The program is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. |
Control System Design and Nonlinear Models An emerging area of research is the utilization of interspacecraft Coulomb forces for both position and attitude control. This has applications from spacecraft formation flying to active “virtual” structures that are highly reconfigurable and robust to individual spacecraft failure. Spacecraft force coupling and the nonlinear electrostatic force behavior provide a variety of interesting technical challenges from nonlinear control to optimal formation design. Similar research topic areas such as, nonlinear control, system simulation, nonlinear system parameter identification and optimization, are present in most of his ongoing projects. Examples include active control of diesel engine aftertreatment systems, at-sea ship crane control, and hydraulic system parameter identification. Another research area is focused on increasing robot-based, flexible material throughput for manufacturing
applications. The system dynamics of the part are exploited, in conjunction with vision-based trajectory optimization, to minimize maneuver time. |
Broadband Communication Systems This research program covers a range of targets in broadband communication systems including ultra-broadband wireless communication networks and testbed, routing, protocol design and analysis. Additional topics for investigation are spread spectrum communications, CDMA, signal design and detection, modulation and coding, and synchronization.
This research program also covers optical wireless communications networks, ultra-broadband wireless transceiver design and implementation, communications circuits, and integrated broadband automotive networks. |
Statistical Modeling and Inference for Computational Imaging and Signal Analysis This is an extensive research program exploring the application of statistical modeling and inference to problems in computational imaging and signal analysis. Formative work was conducted in the area of multi-frame blind deconvolution with physical system-constraints. More recently, the program has been oriented toward system design and analysis for computational sensing and imaging; image restoration and synthesis with system uncertainties; active imaging with sparse arrays; multi-spectral mine detection; and image recovery from intensity measurements. The work has cross-cutting application including aeronautical and aerospace engineering. |
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