Showing papers on "Visual inspection published in 2015"

Vision‐Based Automated Crack Detection for Bridge Inspection

Abstract: The visual inspection of bridges demands long inspection time and also makes it difficult to access all areas of the bridge. This paper presents a visual-based crack detection technique for the automatic inspection of bridges. The technique collects images from an aerial camera to identify the presence of damage to the structure. The images are captured without controlling angles or positioning of cameras so there is no need for calibration. This allows the extracting of images of damage sensitive areas from different angles to increase detection of damage and decrease false-positive errors. The images can detect cracks regardless of the size or the possibility of not being visible. The effectiveness of this technique can be used to successfully detect cracks near bolts.

Integrating new classes on the fly in evolving fuzzy classifier designs and their application in visual inspection

Abstract: Graphical abstractDisplay Omitted HighlightsEvolving fuzzy classifiers being able to integrate new event types in visual inspection on-line and on-the-fly.Class decomposition strategy for fast and stable integration of new classes.Generalized fuzzy rules for a more compact representation of classes.Analysis of the impact of new classes on the already established classifiers' decision boundaries.Estimation of the expected change in classifier's accuracy.Single-pass active learning for reducing operator's annotation effort during on-line visual inspection. In this paper, we address the problem of integrating new classes on the fly into on-line classification systems. The main focus is on visual inspection tasks, although the concepts proposed in this paper can easily be applied to any other on-line classification systems. We use evolving fuzzy classifiers (EFCs), which can adapt their structure and update their parameters in incrementally due to embedded on-line adaptable classifier learning engines. We consider two different model architectures - classical single model and an all-pairs approach that uses class information to decompose the classification problem into several smaller sub-problems. The latter technique is essential for establishing new classes quickly and efficiently in the classifier, and for reducing class imbalance. Methodological novelties are (i) making appropriate structural changes in the EFC whenever a new class appears while operating in a single-pass incremental manner and (ii) estimating the expected change in classifier accuracy on the older classes. The estimation is based on an analysis of the impact of new classes on the established decision boundaries. This is important for operators, who are already familiar with an established classifier, the accuracy of which is known. The new concepts are evaluated in a real-world visual inspection scenario, where the main task is to classify event types which may occur dynamically on micro-fluidic chips and may reduce their quality. The results show stable performance of established classifiers and efficient (low number of samples requested) as well as fast integration (steeply rising accuracy curves) of new event types (classes).

Proof of Concept for Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for High Mast Pole and Bridge Inspections

Abstract: Bridges and high mast luminaires (HMLs) are key components of transportation infrastructures. Effective inspection processes are crucial to maintain the structural integrity of these components. The most common approach for inspections is visual examination by trained and experienced inspectors. A proposed approach to assist inspectors during the visual inspection process is to use small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) equipped with high-definition cameras to transmit video data of structural components in near real time. The use of sUAS as tools for structural inspections can significantly reduce costs and safety risks associated with inspectors and motorists, and improve the effectiveness and accuracy of structural health evaluations. Following a systems engineering approach, a proof-of-concept initial study was conducted to identify system limitations and gain insights into the expected usefulness of sUAS as tools for structural inspections. Extensive indoor controlled experiments using industrial fans were conducted to evaluate sUAS flight response in controlled wind conditions, to measure image quality in different flight scenarios, and to determine image quality in low-light conditions. Altitude, payload, and maneuverability tests were conducted to understand sUAS performance and limitation parameters related to their use for transportation infrastructure inspections. In full coordination with Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), limited field tests were conducted to collect image data of underside bridge sections and HMLs. The collected images were of similar quality than those collected by inspectors during previous inspections. In addition, a basic sUAS flight training program was developed, and a preliminary cost analysis was conducted to estimate the cost for using sUAS as tools during inspections. Preliminary results showed potential cost savings in man-hours by using an sUAS approach instead of conventional methods. Overall, results provided evidence that significant benefits can be obtained from using sUAS during bridge and HML inspections. However, there still exist gaps that need to be addressed in order to use these aerial systems safely and effectively in practice. Various future research areas are identified to close these gaps and increase the general understanding of sUAS for structural inspections.

Human factors in visual quality control

Abstract: Received: 30 April 2015 Abstract Accepted: 8 May 2015 Visual control (visual inspection) is often used in production because – in comparison to other kinds of control – it is relatively easy to conduct. It does not require any specialized technical equipment. Human senses, usually sight, are the measurement tool. Unfortunately, visual control does not guarantee a fully correct assessment. The reason is the limited human reliability. There are plenty of factors which influence ability of a human to assess the process or product quality properly. An important group of them are ergonomic factors. The goal of the paper is to identify and discuss their influence on the efficiency of the visual quality control in manufacturing processes. The research was carried out in manufacturing company from automotive industry. The paper presents the investigation of work organizational factors influence on visual control effectiveness. A controller can make two types of errors in the process of visual inspection: to assess a conforming product as “defective” or to assess a non-conforming product as “good”. Effectiveness of sequential visual controls in selected process was examined. As a measure of visual control effectiveness Control First Pass Yield index was defended. Three operations were analyzed: assembly of components, melting components and applying a protective coating.

Procedure for quality inspection of welds based on macro-photogrammetric three-dimensional reconstruction

Abstract: The results of visual inspection of welds depend on the visual ability of inspector. With the optical macro-photogrammetric low-cost procedure proposed in this paper only a digital single lens reflex camera with a macro-lens and a photogrammetric reconstruction software developed by the authors are needed for the generation of accurate and scaled 3D models of welds directly from images taken by a non-expert operator. This result eliminates the need of an in-situ assessment by the inspector, since it can be done directly using the 3D models generated, which the inspector can consult for the performance of all the measurements required by international standards.

Visual Inspection Reliability for Precision Manufactured Parts

Abstract: Objective:Sandia National Laboratories conducted an experiment for the National Nuclear Security Administration to determine the reliability of visual inspection of precision manufactured parts used in nuclear weapons.Background:Visual inspection has been extensively researched since the early 20th century; however, the reliability of visual inspection for nuclear weapons parts has not been addressed. In addition, the efficacy of using inspector confidence ratings to guide multiple inspections in an effort to improve overall performance accuracy is unknown. Further, the workload associated with inspection has not been documented, and newer measures of stress have not been applied.Method:Eighty-two inspectors in the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise inspected 140 parts for eight different defects.Results:Inspectors correctly rejected 85% of defective items and incorrectly rejected 35% of acceptable parts. Use of a phased inspection approach based on inspector confidence ratings was not an effective or effic...

Crack detection using a texture analysis-based technique for visual bridge inspection

Abstract: Bridge inspection is a pathway to bridge condition rating assessment, and is an essential element of any bridge management system (BMS). The success of a BMS is highly dependent on the quality of bridge inspection outcomes and accurate estimation of future bridge condition ratings. However, existing visual bridge inspection methods suffer several limitations due to human subjective judgment. In order to minimise such limitations, a feasibility study has been performed to enhance the current visual inspection method using optical image processing techniques. However, the accuracy of the inspection outcomes still requires further improvement. This paper proposes an automatic bridge inspection approach employing wavelet-based image features along with support vector machines (SVM) for automatic detection of cracks in bridge images. A two-stage approach is followed, in the first stage, a decision is made as whether an image should undergo a pre-processing step (depending on image characteristics); in the second stage, wavelet features are extracted from the image using a sliding window texture analysis-based technique. Consequently, an average accuracy of 92% (effect of training image types on accuracy) is obtained even when undertaking experiments with noisy and complex bridge images.

Comparative Study of Approaches to Delineating Built-up Areas Using Road Network Data

Abstract: : Delineated built-up areas may be used for applications such as navigation, database enrichment and the identification of urban sprawls. As more road network data have become available, many studies have considered using road network data to delineate built-up areas. This study investigated the three existing approaches to delineating built-up areas on a map: the grid-based approach, kernel density analysis and an approach based on street blocks. These approaches are evaluated and compared from three angles. First, two measures were proposed to quantitatively evaluate the land area of the delineated built-up areas; second, a questionnaire was designed to visually compare the representations of the delineated built-up areas; and, third, the time complexity of using each approach was tested. The three approaches were applied to different sets of road network data for New Zealand; data from buildings and residential areas were used as benchmarks. The results showed that: (1) in a quantitative assessment, both the grid-based approach and kernel density analysis can usually detect more built-up areas than the approach based on street blocks; (2) on visual inspection, most of the students who completed the questionnaire performed the representations using the approach based on street blocks; and (3) in time complexity, the approach based on street blocks always takes the least time.

Classifications of citrus fruit using image processing -GLCM parameters

Abstract: In recent years, automatic visual inspection system has become useful tool in industrial process. The citrus fruit sorting and grading process has now been completely automated with the exception of the final stage of classification concerned with visual inspection. Due to the growing demand of quality citrus fruit, an automated and reliable identification and classification mechanism in order to handle the bulk of data is implemented. Human vision sometimes leads to mismatch between the fruits. Using machine vision system, it will be simple to reduce human effort and achieve a better output. The objective of this project is to assess the fruit by color grading. In this paper we describe an integrated system developed for the sorting on citrus fruit and for the color grading of the defected fruits. The result suggests that the performance is adequate to provide the basis for a viable commercial visual inspection system. The following project aims at implementing such an automated system using image processing with images of citrus fruit as a basis of classification depending on its color. The goal of the inspection is not to give a statistical analysis of the production but to classify every citrus fruit into quality constant batches.

A Micro-Aerial platform for vessel visual inspection based on supervised autonomy

Abstract: Seagoing vessels have to undergo regular visual inspections in order to detect the typical defective situations affecting metallic structures, such as cracks and corrosion. These inspections are currently performed by ship surveyors manually at a great cost. To make ship inspections safer and more cost-efficient, this paper presents a Micro-Aerial Vehicle (MAV) intended for visual inspection and based on supervised autonomy. On the one hand, the vehicle is equipped with a vision system that effectively teleports the surveyor from the base station to the areas of the hull that need inspection. On the other hand, the MAV is the result of a complete redesign of a visual inspection-oriented aerial platform that we proposed some years ago, with the aim of introducing the surveyor in the control loop and, in this way, enlarge the range of inspection operations that can robustly be carried out. Another goal is to make the platform as usable as possible for a non-expert. All this has been accomplished by means of the definition of different autonomous functions, including obstacle detection and collision prevention, and extensive use of behavior-based high-level control. The results of some experiments conducted to assess both the performance and usability of the platform are discussed at the end of the paper.

Application of Non-Destructive Techniques in the Inspection of Wooden Structures of Protected Buildings: The Case of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores Church (Isla Cristina, Huelva)

Abstract: This study describes a thorough inspection of a 20th century church in the town of Isla Cristina (in the province of Huelva, southwestern Spain), which is currently awaiting restoration. The study indicates the damage processes at work in the building structure materials (brick, concrete, steel, and wood), which are closely related to its geographical location, and analyses the deterioration of the wooden roof structure. The analysis of the wooden roof includes the results of an inspection methodology on a protected building based on traditional techniques such as visual inspection and innovative non-destructive inspection techniques (visual classification, ultrasounds and thermography). Fieldwork consisted of the visual classification of the wooden pieces according to Spanish standard UNE 56544:2007 specifications after which ultrasound and thermography techniques were applied on-site. A second stage involved laboratory tests (anatomic identification, density and bending strength) using wood samples extr...

An intelligent vision system for detecting defects in glass products for packaging and domestic use

Abstract: Defect detection is an important task in glass manufacturing. Despite the importance of the visual inspection of glass products, many of the visual inspection processes are performed manually. The problem is that human inspection presents some drawbacks, such as being time-consuming, the high cost involved, and the lack of standardization. In this context, the development of automated processes for the inspection of glass products is important. In this paper, we propose an intelligent vision system for the automatic inspection of two types of defects in glass products: the first one is detection of a critical defect in glass cups for food packaging and domestic use, called glass sparkle or fragment of glass, and the second one is identification of a defect called deformation in plates for domestic use. To evaluate these applications, we used an apparatus consisting of a conveyor belt and a camera controlled by a PC to simulate an industrial line of production. The results indicate that the developed applications are suitable for the detection of investigated defects because for both applications, the hit rate was above 95 %.

A mosaicing approach for vessel visual inspection using a micro-aerial vehicle

Abstract: Vessel maintenance entails periodic visual inspections of internal and external parts of the hull in order to detect the typical defective situations affecting metallic structures. Nowadays, robots are becoming more and more important regarding these inspection tasks, since they can collect the requested information and, thus, prevent humans from performing tedious, and even dangerous tasks because of places hard to reach for humans. A Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) fitted with vision cameras can be used as part of an automated or semi-automated inspection strategy. The resulting collection of individual images, however, does not permit the surveyor to get a global overview of the state of the surface under inspection, apart from the fact that the defects can be separated into different consecutive images. Image mosaicing can certainly help in this case. To this end, in this paper, we propose a novel image mosaicing approach able to deal with this kind of scenarios. Our solution employs a graph-based registration method from which relevant topological relationships between (overlapping) images are found. This graph is built according to a visual index based on a Bag-of-Words (BoW) scheme making use of binary descriptors for speeding up the image description process. At the end of the paper, we report about the results of a number of experiments that validate our approach, including the outcome of defect detectors working directly over the mosaic.

Real-Time Automatic Inspection System for the Classification of PCB Flux Defects

Abstract: Automatic inspection based on a real-time machine vision system may serve as substitute for the manual human visual inspection of flux defects in Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), which often cause damage on the board in the form of corrosions that harm the assembly. The concept of automatic inspection contributes to the improvement of the manufacturing quality of PCBs and facilitates their approval or rejection. The Automatic Inspection System for Printed Circuit Boards (AIS-PCB) is developed with the capability to identify the defects and the quality of PCBs. It is based on a real time system machine vision. The developed AIS-PCB is capable of detecting, indexing and classifying by measuring the flux defects in PCBs during the re-flow of the real-time process. The AIS-PCB is The total automation control system is the core of the AIS-PCB. This system consist of vision inspection station, mechanical loader and unloader, final decision station and the pneumatic system handler. To detect and classify the quality of PCBs, segmentation in conjunction with Radon transform approaches are used for feature indexing and line detection based on the gradient field of PCB images. The Feed-Forward Back-Propagation (FFBP) model is used to classify the product quality of the PCBs via a learning concept. A number of trainings using the FFBP are performed to learn and match the targets. The images of each PCB classes are used as inputs to the classification module. The obtained results from the classification and rule decision are used to establish the receiver operating characteristic curve. The classifier, which is based on the proposed approach and is tested on the PCBs from a factory’s production line, achieves a sorting Coefficient Of Efficiency (COE >95%). The developed AIS-PCB system shows promising results in successfully segmenting and classifying flux defects in PCBs through computerized visual information and facilitates their automatic inspection, thereby aiding humans in conducting rapid inspections.

Visual Inspection for Determining Days When Accelerometer Is Worn: Is This Valid?

Abstract: AB Purpose: Logs have been traditionally used for ascertaining accelerometer wear days in mail study designs, but not all participants complete logs. Visual inspection of accelerometer output may supplement missing logs; however, no data on the validity of this method are available. Methods: We compared visual inspection with participant logs in 197 women (mean age, 71.0 yr). Women were mailed an accelerometer to be worn during waking hours for 7 d, marking each wear day on a log before returning the accelerometer by mail. For every participant, we created a series of graphs of accelerometer counts by time of day (one chart for each day with accelerometer output, including mail days). Two raters, masked to log wear status, independently inspected these graphs and scored each day as "worn" or "not worn." Results: The median (interquartile range) number of valid wear days using either visual inspection or log was 7 (7-7). For rater 1, the sensitivity and specificity of visual inspection was 99.7% (95% confidence interval, 99.2%-99.9%) and 97.2% (95.2%-98.6%), respectively; for rater 2, the sensitivity and specificity of visual inspection was 99.7% (99.2%-99.9%) and 97.0% (94.9%-98.4%), respectively. Interrater agreement was 99.5%. Conclusions: Visual inspection of accelerometer data is a valid alternative to missing participant wear logs when determining wear days in mail study designs

Design and Control of MIRA: A Lightweight Climbing Robot for Ship Inspection

Abstract: The inspection of marine vessels is currently per-formed manually. Inspectors use tools (e.g. cameras and devices for non-destructive testing) to detect damaged areas, cracks, and corrosion in large cargo holds, tanks, and other parts of a ship. Due to the size and complex geometry of most ships, ship inspection is time-consuming and expensive. The EU-funded project INCASS develops concepts for a marine inspection robotic assistant system to improve and automate ship inspections. In this paper, we introduce our magnetic wall–climbing robot: Marine Inspection Robotic Assistant (MIRA). This semi-autonomous lightweight system is able to climb a vessels steel frame to deliver on-line visual inspection data. In addition, we describe the design of the robot and its building subsystems as well as its hardware and software components.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) as a support to visual inspections of concrete dams

Abstract: Some signals of deterioration and cracking of dams can only be identified by visual inspections. For this reason, visual inspections are irreplaceable in the control of the safety of dams. Concerning the exterior walls, and sometimes also the crest, as there is no direct access to most of these areas, it is used cameras and/or binoculars to perform the inspection work, which is usually done from the banks of the river. In the last few years it has appeared new aerial mini aircrafts – airplanes and helicopters and multirotors, remotely piloted, commonly called drones – that can carry digital cameras and can be flown near to the structures. For this reason they can acquire high quality images, at a very low price, from points of view that were never used before. This paper presents the results of a photographic survey of a small area on the downstream face and of the central spillway of Bouçã dam, in Portugal. The photographs were taken by a digital camera mounted under a octocopter drone. Besides the interest of the photographs, since one can easily see all the features of the surface of the dam, the images were gathered and it was created an orthomosaic from the area surveyed on downstream face, a cartographic product that can be used as a support to other photographic surveys, and a point cloud of the spillway.

Fuzzy Similarity Approach for Ranking and Health Assessment of Towers Based on Visual Inspection

Abstract: The most common way for the health assessment of existing telecommunication towers is through visual inspection. However, the results of the visual inspection are highly subjective and are merely based on perception which may differ grossly from one expert to another. One of the best ways to normalize human perception and reasoning in decision making is through fuzzy logic. This paper presents a fuzzy approach towards health assessment and ranking of telecommunication towers based on visual inspection. The health assessment of tower is treated as a group multicriteria decision making (MCDM) problem in which the towers are rated by expert group based on different criteria. The model used in the paper is a modified version of fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The modified version rank the towers based on similarity with fuzzy positive ideal solution (FPIS) rather than the distance from fuzzy positive and negative ideal solutions. The model also provides critical ...

Detailed inspection of metal implants.

Abstract: Detailed visual inspection of metal hips is the first step in retrieval analysis. In this study a systematic visual inspection protocol was developed to quantify bearing surface changes and their a...

A Low-Cost Robotic System for the Efficient Visual Inspection of Tunnels

Abstract: We introduce a low-cost robotic system designed to enable the safe, objective and efficient visual inspection of tunnels The system captures high resolution images and processes them to produce maps of tunnel linings that are suitable for detailed inspection It is unique in that the total cost of hardware is an order of magnitude less than most existing systems while producing an equivalent or higher quality of output The device makes use of consumer-grade digital cameras and high-power LEDs in a rotating rig, carried by a lightweight aluminium frame which is designed to reduce vibrations during data capture It is portable and installable by hand and has a modular design, making it possible to adapt to different types of carriage units, tunnels and sensors Within the paper, we share insight into features of the device's design, including lessons learned from trials of earlier prototypes and comparisons with alternative systems Using field data gathered from a 2km utility tunnel, we demonstrate the use of our system as a means of visualising tunnel conditions through image mosaicing, cataloguing tunnel segments using barcode detection and improving the objectivity of visual condition surveys over time by the detection of sub-mm crack growth We believe that our device is the first to provide comprehensive survey-quality data at such a low cost, making it very attractive as a tool for the improved visual monitoring of tunnels

Visual inspection of cervix with acetic acid: a good alternative to pap smear for cervical cancer screening in resource-limited setting.

Abstract: Objective To determine the diagnostic accuracy of visual inspection of cervix using 3% acetic acid as a screening test for early detection of cervical cancer taking histopathology as the gold standard Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted at Civil Hospital Karachi from July 1 to December 31, 2012 and comprised all sexually active women aged 19-60 years During speculum examination 3% acetic acid was applied over the cervix with the help of cotton swab The observations were noted as positive or negative on visual inspection of the cervix after acetic acid application according to acetowhite changes Colposcopy-guided cervical biopsy was done in patients with positive or abnormal looking cervix Colposcopic-directed biopsy was taken as the gold standard to assess visual inspection readings SPSS 17 was used for statistical analysis Results There were 500 subjects with a mean age of 3574 ± 964 years Sensitivity, specifically, positive predicted value, negative predicted value of visual inspection of the cervix after acetic acid application was 935%, 958%, 763%, 99%, and the diagnostic accuracy was 956% Conclusion Visual inspection of the cervix after acetic acid application is an effective method of detecting pre-invasive phase of cervical cancer and a good alternative to cytological screening for cervical cancer in resource-poor setting like Pakistan and can reduce maternal morbidity and mortality

Leakage monitoring method for building in steel-frame structure based on BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology

Abstract: The invention relates to a leakage monitoring method for a building in a steel-frame structure based on a BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology. The method comprises the following steps: 1, building a hardware detection structure including an inspection terminal, a router, a server and a display terminal, wherein the inspection terminal contains M terminal inspection hosts, each terminal inspection host contains N leakage inspection sensors, all leakage inspection sensors are respectively arranged at all positions in the building in the steel-frame structure, and the terminal inspection hosts are connected with the server through the router; 2, transmitting leakage status data inspected to the server through the terminal inspection hosts; 3, combining the leakage status data with an BIM model stored in the server to complete model positioning of the leakage after the server obtains the leakage status data; 4, displaying a positioning result by a display terminal. According to the monitoring method provided by the invention, the visual inspection of leakage in the building in the steel-frame structure can be realized, and the long-time monitoring and multi-point simultaneous precise positioning can be realized.

Improvement of Corrosion Detection Using Vision System for Pipeline Inspection

Abstract: Nowadays, the utilization of cameras as an inspection tool has been increasing. The flexibility functions of camera fits to get different kind of information. This research is focusing on developing a robust visual inspection system for corrosion detection that is able to detect corrosion in any environment, and the corrosion detection will be using visual data as primary tools. A review on current pipeline inspection would give a brief detail on the improvement of the proposed inspection system. Furthermore, the inadequacies of the proposed visual corrosion detection are identified and discussed from the reviewing process on existing researches and analysis on preliminary data obtained. It is expected that the output of the proposed system will be a new method of corrosion detection and pioneer for the inspection system on robust environment.

Building Diagnostic Techniques and Building Diagnosis: The Way Forward

Abstract: As buildings become old, their structural conditions deteriorate, causing concerns of irreparable damage and structural safety. To address these concerns of aged buildings, regular inspection and condition assessment for the purpose of building diagnosis are required. The inspection may consist of visual inspection, crack mapping, deflection measurement, settlement measurement, and observations of signs of water leakage and steel corrosion, whereas the condition assessment generally comprises of taking samples for materials testing, in situ measurement of temperature, moisture, half-cell electrical potential, vibration and delamination, and occasionally even continuous monitoring. However, in Hong Kong, not all of the test and measurement methods are accredited and often different laboratories/personnel follow different practices. Finally, building diagnosis has to be performed to make a judgment on the overall structural condition in terms of expected residual life and the repair needed. This requires good knowledge of structural engineering, materials and testing. Hence, building diagnosticians should be recognised as professionals of a special discipline, but this is not happening yet.

Automated object counting for visual inspection applications

Abstract: Object counting is a popular operation in computer vision. It is also useful for visual inspection. When counting objects for visual inspection count of objects with similar features is calculated. In object counting feature extraction from input image is done and count is calculated by comparing these features values with cutoff values. These cutoff values are statically specified and used for particular application. In this paper an automatic counting method is proposed which requires only tolerance to be specified to calculate count of object. The proposed method calculates cutoff values at runtime and therefore it can be easily applied to different applications. The object count generated by proposed method is useful for visual inspection of input samples. The proposed method has basic four steps as Input image, Preprocessing, Segmentation and Counting. In fourth step ‘Counting’ cutoff values are calculated to generate final object count. Proposed automatic counting method is tested on two applications and it shows high accuracy.

Forecasting deterioration of bridge components from visual inspection data

Abstract: In order to extract the optimal output in the form of good management decisions with least resources, a bridge management system or BMS in short, is an essential part for every road transport authority. In a BMS, decisions regarding frequency of maintenance, conducting repairs and rehabilitation are based on inspection data collected for the bridges by trained inspectors following a condition rating method developed by the authority. The road authorities are constantly trying to convert these condition monitoring data to a meaningful practical decision supporting tool. To address this need, a study has been conducted to forecast deterioration of reinforced concrete bridge elements using Markov process. The aim of the research work is to identify the future maintenance needs utilizing the visual inspection data. Visual inspection data has been sourced from Victoria, Australia and transition matrices have been derived using Bayesian optimisation techniques of Markov chain model to predict the future condition of bridge components. Clustering of data with respect to input parameters such as era of construction, exposure conditions, annual average daily traffic and percentage of heavy vehicles can provide an improved deterioration model for bridge Engineers. Deterioration trends for three major structural components are presented in this paper.

Automated visual inspection of an airplane exterior

Abstract: This paper deals with the inspection of an airplane using a Pan-Tilt-Zoom camera mounted on a mobile robot moving around the airplane. We present image processing methods for detection and inspection of four different types of items on the airplane exterior. Our detection approach is focused on the regular shapes such as rounded corner rectangles and ellipses, while inspection relies on clues such as uniformity of isolated image regions, convexity of segmented shapes and periodicity of the image intensity signal. The initial results are promising and demonstrate the feasibility of the envisioned robotic system.

Patrol inspection system and method for single-phase-to-earth fault points of power distribution line

Abstract: The invention discloses a patrol inspection system and method for single-phase-to-earth fault points of a power distribution line S signals are injected in a three-phase line through a signal source, the S signals are detected by a high-voltage tong type ammeter, actual S detection signals are obtained by the calculation of the terminal of a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and fault points are further correctly positioned; because the distributed capacitance of the three-phase line is basically balanced, the patrol inspection system and method disclosed by the invention greatly avoids the influence of distributed capacitance of the line on the injected S signals, overcomes the defects of tramegger line detection and visual inspection of lines by persons climbing poles step by step, and effectively deals with failures, such as high-resistance grounding of long lines The patrol inspection system disclosed by the invention is convenient to operate and simple in structure, the requirements for the patrol inspection experiences of patrol inspection staff are low, and the time for patrol inspection and maintenance is shortened