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A self-engineering (SE) system is an ability designed and built into a system which allows it to respond to functionality lost automatically and restore it fully or partially to maintain its availability. Examples include self-healing, self-repair, self-reconfiguring, built-in redundancy and self-adapting systems. SE systems aim to increase products useful life and extend its use phase. In previous research a complexity framework for identifying complexity of SE system was outlined; this paper builds on this research and investigates the impact complexity on all stages of the lifecycle of SE systems. The key stages of the lifecycle of SE systems is evaluated to identify additional complexity factors which should be considered. With the increase in the development of SE technologies, it is important to understand the lifecycle of these systems and the effect of complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of advanced, innovative and complex engineered systems has established new technologies that are far more superior and perform well even in harsh environments. It is well established that such next generation systems need to be maintained regularly to prevent any catastrophic failure as a result of regular wear and tear. Non-destructive and structural monitoring technologies have been supporting maintenance activities for over a century and industries still continue to rely on such technologies for effective degradation assessment. Maintenance ‘in-situ’ has been adopted for decades where the health of system or component needs to be inspected in its natural environment, especially those safety critical systems that need in-field inspection to determine its health. This paper presents selective case studies adopted in the area of damage assessment that qualify for both field and ‘in-situ’ inspection. The future directions in the applicability of traditional and advanced inspection techniques to inspect multiple materials and in the area of inaccessible area degradation assessment have also been presented as part of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented Reality (AR) technology for maintenance aims to improve human performances by providing relevant information regarding both corrective and preventive maintenance. The development of an AR system involves the choice of a hardware, a development software and a visualisation method. These selections are challenging due to the wide choice of services and options available which result in fragmentation: different development processes and different user experiences. In order to ease the selection of an AR system for supporting maintenance operations, this paper proposes an innovative process. It guides the reader to identify the requirements and the constraints for any specific application through a number of questions developed in this study to help with the selection. This results in suggestions for the selection of the hardware, the development software and the visualisation method. The process is built based on a literature study, grey documents and experts interviews. Future works includes the validation of the selection process proposed in this project. It could be done by comparing the choices made using the proposed process with the choices made by experts for the same case study. Moreover, the decisional process could be extended to face the economical and ergonomics aspects related with the selection of an AR system. It could be done expanding the literature research including studies which investigate into the economical and ergonomics consequences of the application or AR for maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the Internet of Things (IoT) interaction between objects becomes possible in a way we have never seen before. With the advent of IoT and its introduction into almost all aspects of life, safety and security of IoT devices has to be considered for their whole life cycle. This concerns not only the large amounts of data that needs to be exchanged securely but also the design of the hardware of the devices themselves. Security has to be designed right from the start into IoT devices rather than added on later. This paper will introduce a global strategy for secure Design for IoT which includes: • Safe solutions for environments with rich information • Guarantee that the devices are functioning as intended by the manufacturer and are not damaged • Life cycle security across devices, networks and data centers • Support for industry standards and interoperability of devices • Ability to solve the challenges of the information link • Secure Clouds for traditional systems. This paper lays the foundation for the creation of a safe remote monitoring system for machine tools through IoT devices and analyses the critical issues focusing on the manufacturing environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brake disc is considered a safety critical components in vehicles, hence the growing concern on its service life performance. Brake disc performance is measured by several criteria of which prominent amongst these criteria is fatigue life and disc thermal deflection. This study considers the influence of geometric design features of a vented brake disc on its fatigue life at particular sections of the brake disc which are considered critical and its deflection due to thermal inputs. A parametric study is carried out with CAE/FEA using Taguchi design of experiment. The study identified the geometric design features that significantly influence the studied performance measures. Sensitivity plots were also obtained to show the manner these design factors affect the fatigue life at these points as well as the disc thermal deflection. Two design features, the inboard plate thickness and the length of the effective offset are observed to contribute majorly to the fatigue life of the brake disc as well as its thermal deflection. Hence, design effort should be concentrated on these features for optimal fatigue life design at these points of interest in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]