The Centre for Intelligent Monitoring Systems

The Centre for Intelligent Monitoring Systems (CIMS) is a research group situated within the Electrical and Electronic Engineering department of Liverpool University. Liverpool University is an internationally renowned red brick university established in 1881.

Nature of business

CIMS is dedicated to developing leading-edge electronic instrumentation solutions for industrial clients. It undertakes a wide variety or research, but specialises in intelligent sensors, data-analysis techniques and optically-based sensor technologies.
[www.cims.org.uk]

Duration

Six years (as a series of successive short-term contracts)

Job Title

Research Associate.

Work Undertaken

Image processing software

I helped develop real-time image processing software, while working in a team of five developers.

I was responsible for documenting and summarizing the groups existing code so that both the directors and new developers had a working understanding of its capabilities and structure. I proposed, developed and documented several software updates that improved its usability, written using Visual C++. I then became involved with evaluating the software, getting the first installation operational and undertaking further installations; this involved writing several tools to determine some important start-up parameters and also record resource usage.

Two separate applications were developed. One of these has been used commercially for several years (at a trial site) and the other was used to begin a spin-off company that was granted a SMART award.

Hand-held chromatic monitor

This was a small hand-held device developed by CIMS to record the colour of objects it was pointed at. The device could then be connected to a personal computer and the colour information downloaded and displayed using a bespoke application written in Visual C++.


When I was handed the project neither the hardware or communication software worked correctly; I was able to get the device operational and debug the software and firmware. Several devices were then manufactured by a local company and supplied to clients to evaluate. I wrote a user manual for these devices and also supported clients based within CIMS that applied the device to pollution monitoring.

Pollution monitoring

The [CATCH] partnership approached CIMS to see if new ways could be found to measure air-pollution in Liverpool city centre.


This was a self-managed project. I was given the task of researching what could be found using a residual gas analyzer (a type of mass spectrometer). I wrote software in Visual C++ to estimate the levels of various gasses from the data being gathered. Man-made carbon dioxide was the most easily measured, which showed a marked increase during rush-hours. Then I developed software that correlated this information with information from other CIMS sensors, as well as with weather information recorded by the [Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory]; this made it possible to determine the direction of the pollution sources relative to the measurement site. At the end of the project I contributed to the final report, promotional posters and scientific papers.

Following this I formed part of a two man team sent to measure polluting sulphur hexafluoride gas released from high-voltage circuit breakers in the Netherlands. This was done by taking a residual gas analyzer out to [KEMA]. During this expedition we had to rapidly devise new methods to collect gas samples from a difficult to access area.

Measuring undersea electric and magnetic fields

[COWRIE] approached CIMS because they needed to determine the level of electro-magnetic fields present around offshore wind-farm power-cables. The purpose was to establish if these fields could influence electro-receptive fish species such as sharks and rays.


This was a self-managed project. I researched the science and with the aid of a finite-element-analysis simulation concluded that fish could potentially be indirectly affected by the magnetic fields present around the cables. Following this I designed and built several highly sensitive electric and magnetic field detectors for use in seawater. These were tested in the laboratory then taken out on-site with clients and results obtained. Following this I contributed to several of COWRIE’s reports; explaining the terms used so that the results could be understood by the widest possible audience.


Due to the success of this project CIMS was then contracted to design a new generation of sensors for a further research program. Before starting at Fairbanks I helped contribute to this program by using the existing equipment to find suitable locations to undertake a new series of experiments.

Data-logger for optical-fibre sensors

This was a low-cost device that I developed at CIMS to measure, record and display colour variations in fibre-optic sensors.


This was a self-managed project. In addition to designing and building the optical-fibre interface components and hardware, I used C to write the devices firmware. The firmware implemented a menu driven user interface with liquid crystal display and keypad, while simultaneously sequencing a multi-coloured LED light-source and logging the returned levels of light. The firmware also automatically adapted the optical-fibre interface component's sensitivity so that a wide variety of sensors could be used with the device.

Hybrid optical current transformer (HOCT)

VA TECH (part of [REYROLLE]) approached CIMS to develop and evaluate an innovative current measurement system for high-voltage power-lines.


I planned and self-managed the two year project to design, manufacture and test a prototype HOCT. The HOCT used a combination of optical and electronic technologies to accurately measure current. A very low power microprocessor (MSP430) situated on the power-line was energized by laser light striking a photocell or by a local heat-source. The microprocessor regularly sampled the current and encoded the data as a series of light flashes. The data was then communicated to a computer on the ground using an optical fibre.

The project involved writing a GUI application that communicated with the HOCT as well as recorded and displayed the data received from it. In addition to this I wrote other applications (using Visual C++) that compared data received from the HOCT to that recorded by other instruments. The HOCT firmware multi-tasked; In addition to producing an un-interrupted stream of sample data, it provided a control interface that allowed diagnostic information (such as supply voltage) to be obtained or the operation of the HOCT to be altered.

I produced regular group presentations on the projects progress and also generated monthly reports. In addition to writing an M.Phil thesis on this project, I wrote a scientific paper and presented it at a conference on gas discharges and their applications.

Researching microchip degradation

A company employed CIMS to see if the (mission-critical) microchips they were using were showing any signs of degradation.


This was a self-managed project. Only a few samples of the microchip were provided, so I had to develop reliable methods to remove the microchip packaging without damaging the microchip itself. I then photographed the microchip with a high-powered microscope before finding a way to remove the remainder of the packaging so that it could be examined with a scanning electron microscope. I then documented my findings and sent them back to the client.