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A major milestone in Digital NDT was reached this February— the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) E07.11 subcommittee published the new ASTM standard E3147-18 on DICONDE Interoperability.  This new standard should help further establish DICONDE in Digital NDT environments and increase the benefits of its use.

On April 20, three days after a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 experienced an engine failure due to a fractured fan blade, resulting in the death of a passenger, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency airworthiness directive that requires operators of CFM56-7B engines with more than 30,000 flight cycles to perform a one-time ultrasonic inspection of all 24 fan blades to detect cracking.

A depth gage could be as simple as marks on a piece of tape, a line on a ruler, or tape on a drill. Fortunately, of course, modern gages take the guesswork out of measurement, providing a range of simple or high-tech options depending on the job.

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the growing network of physical objects that are embedded with sensors to enable connection with each other and exchange of data.

Many people find vision challenging, and complex vision systems certainly can be overwhelming. But vision is a powerful tool for automated quality control, and in many cases, inspections that previously required costly, complex vision systems—or multiple photelectric sensors—can now be completed with an economical but capable vision sensor. 

Today’s innovative landscape is introducing sophisticated technologies for vision guided robotics (VGR) at a rapid pace, expanding robot functionality for diverse markets. Next-generation imaging systems, combined with the availability of more compact, highly efficient and less expensive robots, sensors and technologies, are allowing the implementation of robotic solutions for a wider range of applications, especially for small- to mid-size manufacturers. 

Human visual perception is the ultimate standard of quality for any lighting or display product that’s intended to be viewed by humans. From flat screen TVs to smart phones, light bulbs to traffic signals, stadium jumbotrons to VR goggles, the GPS in your car to the cockpit instruments of a jet plane, what human users perceive—and any defects they notice—is the defining factor in device quality.

First introduced in the 1980s, smart cameras or “smart sensors” combine lenses, embedded sensor, processors, interfaces and software together into small, all-in-one vision systems.

The aerospace industry is increasingly adopting metal additive manufacturing for both flight safety-critical aircraft parts and non-critical flight parts. The approach offers a shorter development cycle, which means products can be developed quicker and design changes easily incorporated. 

I was a group quality manager for an engineering company that made aero-engine parts. As part of the culture change program, I gave a presentation on examples of aircraft crashes and causes. A poorly machined blisk that caused an in-flight turbine failure, an oil-pipe with a thin wall in one area that cracked and leaked causing a fire, and an incident I personally saw, the crash of a military helicopter in Germany which was due to a series of quality failures.