Clemens Westerkamp

Remote engineering solutions for industrial maintenance

This paper presents the NDT (Non Destructive Testing) concept and process in combination with the OMA system (Online Maintenance Assistance) for remote service support. The system is used to support complex maintenance processes by assistance from remote experts in an online video conference with integration to inspection workflow and devices. The system operates on Commercial of the Shelf (COTS) hardware and in standard Web Browsers. It allows flexible integration into the enterprise IT e.g. in existing role and authentication concepts and is compliant to standard enterprise security regulations.

Knowledge-based mobile remote engineering for maintenance processes

This paper presents the OMA system (Online Maintenance Assistance) for remote service support. The system is used to support complex maintenance processes by assistance from remote experts in an online video conference with integration to inspection workflow and devices. The system operates on Commercial of the Shelf hardware and in standard Web Browsers. It allows flexible integration into the enterprise IT e.g. in existing role and authentication concepts and is compliant to standard enterprise security regulations. The OMA system is still in development, but will be ready for use in the near future. Current research focuses on creating a model based signal monitoring function and improving the workflow support by using context awareness.

Hybrid low bandwidth transport for video, screen and sensor signals

Remote engineering systems are a valuable tool to give visual assistance and remote support e.g. in industrial service or Teleteaching. The origins of the OMA system (Online Maintenance Assistance) are the outcome of a european project for aircraft teleservice. It allows collaboration between mobile operators and supporting experts. An enhanced version supports sensor data exchange and context awareness. In Teleteaching the system is used to demonstrate experiments to remote viewers, which can actively control parts of the experiment and see the outcomes. The hybrid low bandwidth transport is an important base of the OMA system and combines different signals in a secure wide area tunnel. By using an adaptive coding control bandwidth priorities and compression are accommodated to the dynamic signal properties and the current working situation.

Einsatz von Agentensystemen zur Optimierung der Logistik in Produktions- und Agrarprozessen

In vielen industriellen Anwendungen werden Entscheidungsprozesse anhand von zentralen Vorgaben aus Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)-Werkzeugen oder Produktionsplanungssystemen (PPS) durchgefuhrt. Um Ziele wie eine flexible Fertigung oder schnelle Reaktion auf lokale Anderungen erreichen zu konnen, mussen Entscheidungen zunehmend dezentral autonom oder teilautonom (mit menschlicher Unterstutzung) getroffen werden. Zur Realisierung dieser Anforderungen werden in diesem Beitrag Agenten-Systeme untersucht. Um die entstehende Plattform zur dezentralen Entscheidungsunterstutzung universell einsetzen zu konnen, hat die Hochschule Osnabruck in zwei Projekten Erweiterungen zum weit verbreiteten JADE-Agentensystem entwickelt. Diese sollen die Einsetzbarkeit auf moglichst vielen Hardware-Plattformen und unter erschwerten Kommunikationsbedingungen ermoglichen. Das dabei entstandene KOMOBAR-Agentensystem wird anhand von zwei Beispielen aus der industriellen Produktionslogistik und der Optimierung von Ernteprozessen erprobt.

Content Adaptive Signal Compression for Remote SHM and NDT Operation

Remote engineering systems are valuable tools to give visual assistance and remote support e.g. in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) or Non-destructive Testing (NDT). They allow discussing a second opinion with a remote expert and thus reducing the human factor during testing and monitoring. For an optimal impression of the situation, the second person requires both a camera view of the location and the screen view of the SHM/NDT system used. The Online Maintenance Assistance (OMA) system implements this two-view collaboration. Remote partners can see and actively control measuring equipment, while observing details of the location in the camera window. Due to varying screen signals and communication properties, an adaption for optimal visual quality of the camera and screen signal compression is required. The adaption is performed in a Machine Learning System (MLS), which uses an adapted k-nearest neighbors algorithm to adapt signal compression parameters to the measurement task and the communication channel. doi: 10.12783/SHM2015/148

Online Maintenance Assistance (OMA) - Remote control of service and lab experiments

Online Maintenance Assistance (OMA) is a tool for supporting Remote Maintenance. It was developed by Airbus and the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrueck, Germany. Operators performing maintenance tasks in front of an aircraft can use OMA to establish a conference to a remote expert. They can provide different camera views on of a maintenance part or location. In addition, the screen output of measuring devices or operation panels can be transferred to show measuring results. The expert has remote access to these systems and can configure them to improve his evaluation. The system can operate on normal laptops or tablets using encrypted internet connections. Porting to other application fields like service for agricultural machines is currently in preparation.

A cross platform mobile application approach for supporting harvesting process execution in agricultural production

Part of the KOMOBAR project aims to support agricultural production processes in rural areas. These processes are subject to frequent disturbances that need to be accounted for. KOMOBAR proposes to reduce the (human to human) communication overhead by deploying a distributed system that allows for soft real-time monitoring of the respective processes in execution. Further, KOMOBAR considers a major requirement that is found in the targeted market: A majority of the subcontractors that conduct the harvest are small to medium sized businesses that are unlikely to accept larger investments in IT infrastructure. KOMOBAR addresses this by employing Commercial Of-The-Shelf hardware and a cross platform software approach.