Airports have undergone a significant digital evolution over the past decades, enhancing efficiency, effectiveness, and user-friendliness through various technological advancements. Initially, airports deployed basic IT solutions as support tools, but with the increasing integration of digital systems, understanding the detailed digital ecosystem behind airports has become crucial. This research aims to classify technological maturity in airports, using the access control process as an example to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed taxonomy. The study highlights the current digital ecosystem and its future trends and challenges, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between different levels of technological maturity. The role of biometric technology in security access control is examined, highlighting the importance of proper identification and classification. Future research could explore data collection, privacy, and cybersecurity impacts, particularly regarding biometric technologies in Smart Access Level 4.0. The transition from Smart Access Level 3.0 to 4.0 involves process automation and the introduction of AI, offering opportunities to increase efficiency and improve detection capabilities through advanced data analytics. The study underscores the need for global legislative frameworks to regulate and support these technological advancements.
Gepubliceerd in Mikroniek, nr. 6 2018 In manufacturing environments where collaborative robots are employed, conventional computer vision algorithms have trouble in the robust localisation and detection of products due to changing illumination conditions and shadows caused by a human sharing the workspace with the robotic system. In order to enhance the robustness of vision applications, machine learning with neural networks is explored. The performance of machine-learning algorithms versus conventional computer vision algorithms is studied by observing a generic user scenario for the manufacturing process: the assembly of a product by localisation, identification and manipulation of building blocks.
MULTIFILE
The potential of technological innovation to address urban sustainability has been widely acknowledged over the last decade. Across cities globally, local governments have engaged in partnership arrangements with the private sector to initiate pilot projects for urban innovation, typically co-funded by innovation subsidies. A recurring challenge however is how to scale up successful projects and generate more impact. Drawing on the business and management literature, we introduce the concept of organizational ambidexterity to provide a novel theoretical perspective on sustainable urban innovations. We examine how to align exploration (i.e., test and experiment with digital technologies, products, platforms, and services) with exploitation (i.e., reaping the financial benefits from digital technologies by bringing products, platforms, and services to the market), rooted in the literature on smart cities. We conclude that the concept of ambidexterity, as elaborated in the business and management literature and practiced by firms, can be translated to the city policy domain, provided that upscaling or exploitation in a smart city context also includes the translation of insights from urban experiments, successful or not, into new routines, regulations, protocols, and stakeholder/citizen engagement methods.
Printplaten (PCB's) zijn essentieel in elektronische producten. Ze bestaan uit een drager, geleidende kopersporen en een beschermende soldermask-laag. PCB's worden geproduceerd via fotolithografie en etstechnieken, wat kostenefficiënt is voor massaproductie, maar niet voor kleine oplages. Dit vormt een probleem wanneer bedrijven één PCB nodig hebben, bijvoorbeeld in de ontwerp- of prototypefase en bij eenmalige installaties. Bedrijven zoals 100%FAT en Edulogics bestellen dan meerdere PCB's, waarvan ze slechts één gebruiken. PCB-productiebedrijf DeltaProto beaamt dat bijna al hun klanten op deze manier werken. Dit leidt tot verspilling. Bovendien maken bedrijven zich, bij uitbesteding van PCB-productie, zorgen over veiligheid van hun ontwerpen en ecologische voetafdruk van productie en verzending. Digital manufacturing maakt het mogelijk om in-house PCB’s te maken. Dit biedt flexibiliteit en snelheid, maar het ontbreekt aan een methode om een kwalitatief goede soldermask-laag aan te brengen. Deze PCB’s voldoen niet aan industrie-standaarden, waardoor bedrijven deze methode niet gebruiken. Dit project richt zich op de ontwikkeling van een methode voor additive manufacturing, zoals inkjet-printing, van soldermask op PCB's, zodat ze voldoen aan industrie-standaarden. Additive manufacturing wordt digitaal gestuurd dus maakt snelle ontwerpwijzigingen mogelijk en materiaal wordt alleen aangebracht waar nodig. Dit minimaliseert verspilling, verlaagt opstartkosten en maakt in-house productie van prototype-PCB’s geschikt voor professioneel gebruik. Een eenjarig verkennend onderzoek is nodig om technische uitdagingen en eisen voor het aanbrengen van een soldermask-laag te begrijpen en een prototype te ontwikkelen als proof-of-concept. Wanneer deze technologie wordt ontwikkeld, zal in-house PCB-productie bijdragen aan sneller, beter en verantwoord ontwerpen van elektronica. Dit projectvoorstel past binnen het innovatiedomein Smart Industry door de focus op flexibele en duurzame productie van prototype-PCB's. Het draagt bij aan technologieontwikkeling en heeft een duidelijke maatschappelijke impact. Daarnaast sluit het aan bij innovatiedomeinen Mechatronics en Optomechatronics en sleutel technologieën Advanced Materials en Engineering and fabrication technologies, wat de relevantie verder onderstreept.
Currently, many novel innovative materials and manufacturing methods are developed in order to help businesses for improving their performance, developing new products, and also implement more sustainability into their current processes. For this purpose, additive manufacturing (AM) technology has been very successful in the fabrication of complex shape products, that cannot be manufactured by conventional approaches, and also using novel high-performance materials with more sustainable aspects. The application of bioplastics and biopolymers is growing fast in the 3D printing industry. Since they are good alternatives to petrochemical products that have negative impacts on environments, therefore, many research studies have been exploring and developing new biopolymers and 3D printing techniques for the fabrication of fully biobased products. In particular, 3D printing of smart biopolymers has attracted much attention due to the specific functionalities of the fabricated products. They have a unique ability to recover their original shape from a significant plastic deformation when a particular stimulus, like temperature, is applied. Therefore, the application of smart biopolymers in the 3D printing process gives an additional dimension (time) to this technology, called four-dimensional (4D) printing, and it highlights the promise for further development of 4D printing in the design and fabrication of smart structures and products. This performance in combination with specific complex designs, such as sandwich structures, allows the production of for example impact-resistant, stress-absorber panels, lightweight products for sporting goods, automotive, or many other applications. In this study, an experimental approach will be applied to fabricate a suitable biopolymer with a shape memory behavior and also investigate the impact of design and operational parameters on the functionality of 4D printed sandwich structures, especially, stress absorption rate and shape recovery behavior.
Nowadays, there is particular attention towards the additive manufacturing of medical devices and instruments. This is because of the unique capability of 3D printing technologies for designing and fabricating complex products like bone implants that can be highly customized for individual patients. NiTi shape memory alloys have gained significant attention in various medical applications due to their exceptional superelastic and shape memory properties, allowing them to recover their original shape after deformation. The integration of additive manufacturing technology has revolutionized the design possibilities for NiTi alloys, enabling the fabrication of intricately designed medical devices with precise geometries and tailored functionalities. The AM-SMART project is focused on exploring the suitability of NiTi architected structures for bone implants fabricated using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology. This is because of the lower stiffness of NiTi alloys compared to Ti alloys, closely aligning with the stiffness of bone. Additionally, their unique functional performance enables them to dissipate energy and recover the original shape, presenting another advantage that makes them well-suited for bone implants. In this investigation, various NiTi-based architected structures will be developed, featuring diverse cellular designs, and their long-term thermo-mechanical performance will be thoroughly evaluated. The findings of this study underscore the significant potential of these structures for application as bone implants, showcasing their adaptability for use also beyond the medical sector.
