Stepping towards the industrial 6th Sense

We, human beings, acquire information from our surroundings through our sensory receptors of vision, sound, smell, touch and taste -the five senses. The sensory stimulus is converted to electrical signals as nerve impulse data communicated with our brain. What is really intriguing is the communication network. When one or more senses fail (impairment), we are able to reestablish communication and improve our other senses to protect us from incoming dangers. Furthermore, we have developed the mechanism of "reasoning", effectively analyzing the present data and generating a vision of the future, which we might call our 6th Sense (6S). Is it possible to develop a 6S technology to predict a catastrophic disaster? Industrial processes are already equipped with five senses: "hearing" from acoustic sensors, "smelling" from gas and liquid sensors, "seeing" from camera, "touching" from vibration sensors and "tasting" from composition monitors. 6S could be achieved by forming a sensing network which is self-adaptive and self-repairing, carrying out deep-thinking analysis with even limited data, and predicting the sequence of events via integrated system modelling. This project is the first step towards developing a 6S technology for industrial processes by bringing together research expertise in process systems engineering, wireless communication network, robotic and autonomous systems. The 6S technology developed in this project could be further explored to a wide range of industrial and manufacturing processes.

This project is highly multi-disciplinary by bringing together research expertise in process system engineering, wireless communication network, robotic and autonomous systems and cyber security. The 6th Sense technology is driven by a self-management sensor network and will be applicable to many industrial processes. We have selected two most challenging industrial cases for 6S technology, namely oil refineries and nuclear power plants which represent the most complexity for chemical and manufacturing processes. By overcoming those challenges, 6S will be in a good position to be explored to a wider range of industrial sectors. The UK oil and gas sector is one of the biggest contributor to UK tax revenues and paid £2.2 billion in production tax in 2014/15. Also, nuclear power is expected to play a significant role in the energy mix over the coming decades to realise Government's Carbon plan to reduce UK's greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% (from the 1990 baseline) by 2050. The 6S will enable smart operation of energy plants and will be highly beneficial in delivering a secure, sustainable and low-carbon energy future. The EPSRC "Delivery Plan 2016-2020" also highlighted, business innovation via digital transformation, capitalising on the Internet of Things, reliable infrastructure and better solutions to acute threats as some of the priority areas for strategic programmes. This research will have direct impact on the existing energy and digital technology research programmes in the UK. The rich experience from each investigator working with industry and policy makers will help the project outcomes to achieve the large impact they deserve.