Advanced Digital Manufacturing Technology Research Centre (ADMT)
ADMT works closely with world-leading technology providers and regional industries on future ICT-enabled manufacturing execution.
By focusing on data-driven digital-integrated manufacturing execution and exploiting the geographical position in one of the most important manufacturing regions in the world, ADMT has developed the world’s first Tele-immersive Digital Manufacturing platform (TiM) as its vision for the affordable and autonomous factory of the future through its close links with the regional prime manufacturing companies in aerospace, automotive, food, nuclear, and submarine sectors, and has brought in various world-leading technology providers.
In terms of communication infrastructure, TiM is the first and the only laboratory in the education sector having the latest industrial fault-tolerant networking system with adaptive security provided by Cisco. In terms of information technology, TiM is supported by an extensive range of innovative technologies in signal and image processing, 3D/4D computer vision, as well as interactive and immersive visualisation, which have been developed by ADSIP from synergistic research in the aerospace and medical sectors since the late 1990s.
The research activities in this area focus mainly on ICT-enabled manufacturing execution as evidenced by the innovative development of a laboratory-based production platform that is beyond state-of-the-art for tele-immersive digital manufacturing (TiM). The platform consists of reconfigurable work cells which can plug and play in manufacturing, in different configurations on demand, by attaching to a conveyor system that transports components in pallets from one work cell to another or using mobile robots equipped with a pick and place unit. The work cells include an automatic warehouse for material delivery and product storage, 3D printer for manufacturing, measurement systems based on camera, laser or ultrasound for component inspection, as well as collaborative robots for product pre-assembly and assembly. Each work cell can be programmed, controlled and monitored remotely in real-time via the internet. Various digital tracking, sensing and monitoring technologies are integrated to provide a comprehensive set of process and product quality data with associated energy consumption. Building on the successful development of TiM, the research is now extended to cloud manufacturing to make geographically dispersed manufacturing facilities accessible via the internet on a pay-per-use basis by anyone, anywhere and anytime.
In partnership with the regional manufacturing primes and world-leading technology providers, the development of the world’s first tele-immersive digital manufacturing platform has led to a multitude of impacts, such as:
- demonstrating the affordable and autonomous factory of the future
- igniting the digital transformation in manufacturing companies in the region
- creating a new perception of engineering in young people
- providing a futuristic manufacturing environment to truly experience technology-based education and training from technicians to PhDs
- drawing in high profile visits from senior Government ministers, as well as from HM The Queen and the HRH Duke of Edinburgh in her diamond jubilee tour
From 2010
Brooks HL, Piorkowski BA and Lupeanu M (2013) . International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, 3 (2/3), pp 154-171.Research towards high speed freeforming
Lupeanu M, Brooks HL, Rennie A and Hill D (2013) . The Scientific Bulletin of Politehnica University of Bucharest, Series D, 75 (1), pp 141-160.Research on deploying technical functional analysis for additive manufacturing of a surgical device for intravitreal interventions
Piorkowski BA, Gao JX, Evans RD and Martin N (2013) . International Journal of Production Research, 51 (7), pp 2176-2185.A dynamic knowledge management framework for the high value manufacturing industry
Smith JP and Shark L-K (2012) . Book Chapter in Wiley Encyclopaedia of Composites, Second Edition, Edited by Luigi Nicolais and Assunta Borzacchiello, Vol.3, pp 1975-2015, Wiley.Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation of Composite Aerospace Structures
Tranter P and Hall G (2012) . In: 29th International Manufacturing Conference, 29-30 August 2012, Belfast, Northern Ireland.Advanced digital manufacturing teaching facility
Wulan M and Petrovic D (2012) . Computers in Industry, 63 (8), pp 739-748.A fuzzy logic based system for risk analysis and evaluation within enterprise collaborations
Wulan M, Petrovic D and Popplewell K (2012) . In: I-ESA’12 (Interoperability for Enterprise Systems and Applications), 20-23 March 2012, Valencia, Spain.Fuzzy logic-based risk evaluation in a virtual organisation
Aitchison DR, Brooks HL, Bain JB and Pons D (2011) . Virtual and Physical Prototyping, 6 (1). pp. 41-46.Rapid manufacturing facilitation through optimal machining prediction of polystyrene foam
Brooks HL (2011) . In: 12th Rapid Design, Prototyping & Manufacturing Conference, 17 June 2011, Lancaster, UK.Variable fused deposition modelling - concept design and tool path generation
Brooks HL and Aitchison D (2011) . In: 12th Rapid Design, Prototyping & Manufacturing Conference, 17 June 2011, Lancaster, UK.Using the Finite Element Method to Determine the Temperature Distributions in Hot-wire Cutting
Brooks HL, Rennie AEW, Abrams TN, McGovern J and Caron F (2011) . In: 5th International Conference on Advanced Research in Virtual and Rapid Prototyping, 28 September - 1 October, 2011, Leiria, Portugal.Variable Fused Deposition Modelling – analysis of benefits, concept design and tool path generation
Piorkowski BA, Evans RD and Gao JX (2011) . In: 15th International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (CSCWD), 8-10 June 2011, Lausanne, Switzerland.Development of a face-to-face meeting capture and indexing process
Piorkowski BA, Lees A and Barton GJ (2011) . Sports Biomechanics, 10 (1), pp 1-11.Single maximal versus combination punch kinematics
Piorkowski BA, Gao J and Evans R (2011) . In: 18th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering, 2-4 May 2011, Braunschweig, Germany.A case-study: finding references to product development knowledge from analysis of face-to-face meetings
Tranter JP, Hall G, Shark L-K, Varley MR and Mein SJ (2011) . In: International Conference on Engineering Education, (ICEE2011), 21-26 August 2011, Belfast, Northern Ireland.Factories of the future: Advanced digital manufacturing in undergraduate education
Tranter JP, Hall G, Varley MR and Patel MM (2011) . In: International Conference on Engineering Education, (ICEE2011), 21-26 August 2011, Belfast, Northern Ireland.From robotics to Tesco technology
Brooks HL and Aitchison D (2010) . Journal of Engineering Manufacture - Part B, 224 (5), pp 709-719.Force feedback temperature control for hot-tool plastic foam cutting
Brooks HL and Aitchison D (2010) . The Rapid Prototyping Journal, 16 (5), pp 318-327.A review of state-of-the-art large sized foam cutting rapid prototyping and manufacturing technologies
Shark L-K, Zhang Y and Boller C (2010) . Insight – Non-Destructive Testing and Condition Monitoring, 52 (3), pp 124-129.Integrity evaluation of metallic aerostructures by trend analysis of acousto-ultrasonic signals
Wulan M, Dai X and Popplewell K (2010) . In: I-ESA’10 (Interoperability for Enterprise Software and Applications), 13-15 April 2010, Coventry, UK.Collaboration knowledge management and sharing services to support a virtual organisation
Wulan M, Dai X and Popplewell K (2010) . In: In: I-ESA’10 (Interoperability for Enterprise Software and Applications), 13-15 April 2010, Coventry, UK.Collaboration knowledge ontologies to support knowledge management and sharing in virtual organisations
From 2005 to 2009
Mein SJ, Matuszewski BJ and Shark L-K (2009) . In: BINDT Non-Destructive Testing Conference (NDT 2009), 15-17 September 2009, Blackpool, UK.Markov chain Monte Carlo defect characterisation from ultrasonic NDT data
Shark L-K, Zhang Y and Boller C (2009) . In: BINDT Non-Destructive Testing Conference (NDT 2009), 15-17 September 2009, Blackpool, UK.Integrity evaluation of metallic aerostructures by trend analysis of acousto-ultrasonic signals
Tang X, Liu X, Sedaghat A and Shark L-K (2009) . In: 44th International Universities’ Power Engineering Conference (UPEC), 1-4 September 2009, Glasgow, UK.Rotor design and analysis of stall-regulated horizontal axis wind turbine
Brooks HL (2008) . In: 9th National Conference on Rapid Design, Prototyping & Manufacturing, 13 June 2008, Lancaster, UK.Foam cutting mechanics for rapid prototyping and manufacturing purposes
Shark L-K, Zhang Y, Boller C and Leung YS (2008) . In: 4th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM), 2-4 July 2008, Krakow, Poland.Trend analysis and visualisation of acousto-ultrasonic data from a metallic aircraft structure under cyclic loading
Shark L-K, Zhang Y, Boller C and Leung YS (2008) . In: 4th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM), 2-4 July 2008, Krakow, Poland.Principal component analysis of acousto-ultrasonic signals for structural health monitoring
Rolland L, Lawton R, Culloty D, Ait-Boudaoud D and Shark L-K (2007) . In: IEEE SMC UK-IR Chapter 6th Conference on Cybernetic Systems, 6-7 September 2007, Dublin, Ireland.Dead reckoning with a mobile robotic unit: a simple approach for industrial applications
Rolland L, Zhang Y, Lawton R, Culloty D, Ait-Boudaoud D and Shark L-K (2007) . In: IEEE SMC UK-IR Chapter 6th Conference on Cybernetic Systems, 6-7 September 2007, Dublin, Ireland.Registration of 3D surface models with calibrated photographs: reverse engineering for automatic robot programming
Shark L-K and Yu C (2006) . Signal Processing, 86 (7), pp 1451-1469.Design of matched wavelets based on generalized Mexican-hat function
Head of Centre
Professor Lik-Kwan Shark
Anthony Marshall Michael Mead
Academic Staff
Carl Berry, Dr Geoff Hall, Professor Bogdan Matuszewski, Dr Stephen MeinPhil Tranter, Dr Muqi Wulan
Visiting Professor
Professor Keiichi Watanuki (Saitama University, Japan)
Contact Details:
Email Professor Lik-Kwan Shark
C&T Building University of Central Lancashire Preston Lancashire PR1 2HE UK
Tel: +44 (0)1772 893253
Fax: +44 (0)1772 892915
Current Funded Projects
- Automatic defect seeking and geometry characterisation by intelligent beam forming and scanning through ultrasonic arrays, funded by BAE Systems Maritime – Submarines.
- Self-resilient reconfigurable assembly system with in-process quality improvement, funded by EPSRC, in collaboration with Warwick University and supported by BAE Systems, EnginSoft, Georgia Institute of Technology, Hexagon Metrology, Jaguar Cars, Stadco, Universities of Huddersfield and Michigan.
- En-ComE: Energy harvesting powered wireless monitoring systems based on integrated smart composite structures and energy-aware architecture, funded by EPSRC, in collaboration with AgustaWestland, BAE Systems, Cranfield University, DSTL, TRW Conekt, and Zartech.
- 3D tomographic display and analysis of FMC acquisition, funded by BAE Systems Maritime – Submarines, in collaboration with University of Bristol and AMEC.
- Developing digital manufacturing capabilities for aerospace platforms, funded by EPSRC and BAE Systems Military Air and Information.
- Design and development of test capabilities for smart metering, KTP funded by TSB and BGlobal.
- (DigitME), funded by ERDF. Digital integrated manufacturing execution
Previous Funded Projects
- Enhanced NDE TDP, funded by BAE Systems Maritime – Submarines, in collaboration with University of Bristol and Doosan Babcock.
- Extended warehouse management PLC, funded by Config Team.
- Digital Engineering Research and Innovation Centre (DERiC), funded by BAE Systems.
- Computer assisted inspection and 3D visualisation of foreplane, funded by BAE Systems.
- Project for applied research in advanced digital manufacturing (Paradigm), funded by ERDF.