COMIT Community Day

Workshop Session

Tim Bodley-Scott, Ryan Grammenos

Lai Bun Lok, Paul Brennan

Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Thursday 10th Sep 2015

Tarmac, Solihull

UCL

• 3rd University established in

England (1826), first to welcome

women on equal terms with men.

• World-leading institution (5th in

QS World Rankings 2014).

• Nobel Prizes have been awarded

to 29 people who are or were

students or academics at UCL,

most recently Prof. John

O’Keefe (Medicine) in 2014.

• Oldest EEE department in

England (1885).

• 38 academics, 60 postdocs, 150

PhD students, 100 masters

students and 350

undergraduates.

Founded by the ‘father of electronics’, Prof. Sir John Ambrose Fleming, inventor of the first electronic device- the thermionic valve

UCL Electronic & Electrical Engineering

Hub funded by the EPSRC to bring together:

• Large enterprises whose business will be

influenced by the new technologies

developed at UCL.

• Small enterprises seeking to develop

novel devices or to provide design

software or services.

• Entrepreneurially-minded researchers

from UCL and its university partners within

the Programme Grants.

http://www.biteimpact.org/

biteimpact@ee.ucl.ac.uk

UCL BITE – Knowledge Transfer

BITE and Balfour Beatty at the OST

http://www.biteimpact.org/

biteimpact@ee.ucl.ac.uk

The Problem

• Millimetre-precision point distance measurement

to multiple targets (up to 1 km range) within a

harsh environment

Proposed new solution

• Radar-based instrument using radio waves

• Simultaneous, non-sequential measurement

capability to multiple targets

• Immunity from dust/smoke/fog

• Low-cost, high portability, ease of setup

• Cost is around £10k per unit.

• Difficulties operating in poor visibility

(dust/smoke/fog).

• Mechanical – so slow speed/set-up time.

Total Station: industry-standard optical

instrument for point-to-point surveying

Opto-electro-mechanical

device

• >100 Total-stations (MS05AX)

• >1000s prisms

• 18 months: 60 total stations above the Whitechapel and Liverpool Street

Stations monitoring movement. 19 operating within the station tunnels

checking alignment. 10 used for general surveying across the site.

£1.8m+

(0.7% of total

contract cost)

(Sources: www.ice.org.uk/disciplines-and-resources/case-

studies/crossrail-tunnel-construction-monitoring)

Based on quotation from Pheonix Surveying Equipment Ltd (Dec

2014): MS1AXT; Dual-display monitoring Station; £20,114 each.

2015: Tottenham Court Road station

(Source: www.crossrail.co.uk/route/stations/)

2015: Tottenham Court Road station

(Source: www.crossrail.co.uk/route/stations/)

Successful SSCG collaboration with industry

Source: www.ucl.ac.uk/impact/case-study-repository/improved-

short-range-marine-navigation-for-large-ships

Source: http://www.guidance.eu.com/mini-radascan

Acronyms

• RES: Radio Echo Sounding

– pRES => Phase-sensitive RES

– ApRES => Autonomous pRES

– xRES => ‘Extended’ pRES

• FMCW: Frequency modulated continuous wave

• SSCG: Sensors Systems and Circuits Group

• iSTAR: Ice shelf stability research program

• UWB: Ultra wideband

pRES system

Ref: H. F. J. Corr, A. Jenkins, K. W. Nicholls,

C. S. M. Doake, “Precise measurement of

changes in ice-shelf thickness by phase-

sensitive radar to determine basal melt rates,”

Geophysical Res. Letts., vol. 29. no. 8, 2002.

Parameters Value

Centre frequency 300 MHz

Sweep bandwidth 200 MHz

Output transmit

power

0.1 W

Antenna gain 7 dBi

Pulse duration 1 sec

DC operating power

consumption

5 W

ADC sampling rate 40 kSa/s

Maximum range c. 5 km

ApRES system

• FMCW radar architecture

• Direct digital synthesis (DDS) linear chirp generator

• Manual/Autonomous operation

Available at: http://digital-library.theiet.org/content/journals/10.1049/iet-rsn.2013.0053

Manual measurement example

Typical range profile

Overview of Fieldwork

Pine Island

Glacier

Autonomous measurement example

70 cm

60 cm

30 cm

Publicity

Outlook for ApRES

(Source: www.soos.aq/news/current-news/162-necklace)

xRES: new, radar-based precision surveying

instrument for the construction industry

• mm-precision measurement.

• Easy set up: no moving parts, no line-of-sight

required; portable, low power consumption.

• Operation in dust/smoke/fog conditions.

• Low-cost: estimated 1/10th cost of Total Station

All-electronic device

Active targetsxRES

Base unit

• UWB band – license free spectrum

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UWB_channels

Summary

• Overview of ApRES radar technology

• Motivation to widen applications to terrestrial

surveying

• Outline of proposed xRES system

• Pilot/feasibility study

Thank you!

Emails: l.lok@ucl.ac.uk

p.brennan@ucl.ac.uk

Breakout Session