A MACHINE VISION SYSTEM FOR THRUST STAND MOTION VISUALIZATION

THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES A PROJECT TO DEVELOP AN INSTRUMENT WHICH MEASURES AND DISPLAYS THE RELATIVE MOTION OF STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS OF A THRUST STAND AND TURBINE ENGINE. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY ARE TO DEFINE THE MEASUREMENT PROBLEM CONSTRAINTS, DESIGN A METHODOLOGY FOR MAKING THE MEASUREMENTS, STUDY THE ACCURACY OF THE PROPOSED MEASURING SYSTEM, DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT A PROTOTYPE MACHINE VISION SYSTEM AND PROTOTYPE TARGET, AND DETERMINE THE BANDWIDTH OF POSITION MEASURMENTS USING A PROTOTYPE SYSTEM. THE PROPOSED MEASUREMENT SYSTEM CONSISTS OF A SOLID STATE VIDEO CAMERA, MULTIPLE TARGETS WHICH ARE PLACED ON THE VARIOUS STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS BEING MEASURED, AND IMAGE PROCESSING HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE. THE DESIGN FEASIBILITY AND DESIGN PARAMETERS OF THE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM WILL BE STUDIED THROUGH A PROBABILISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE ACCURAY OF MEASUREMENTS MADE FROM DISCRETE ARRAY SENSORS (SOLID STATE VIDEO CAMERAS). A LABORATORY PROTOTYPE SENSOR AND TARGET WILL BE DEVELOPED AND TESTED TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL SYSTEM DESIGN DATA.