SPONSORSHIP AWARD: A network on integrated approaches to X-Ray tomographic image processing
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Aberdeen
Department Name: Engineering
Abstract
This proposal is to fund the establishment of a small network of early-career researchers and established academic mentors. The aim of this network is to investigate the current challenges in 3D X-Ray image processing and to develop the professional links of the early-career researchers with existing academic groups and industrial partners in this field.
Planned Impact
The proposed network is focussed around the challenges and opportunities in the development of an integrated workflow for processing 3d X-ray data sets. To build a case for further support in the network's area, best practices will be investigated and a proof-of-concept 'data pipeline' will be constructed. The results of these exploratory studies will support scientific impact through joint publication and the development and distribution of new software tools.
As the techniques to be developed in the proposed research are 'material agnostic', the research will have an immediately impact on the broad user community for X-ray imaging facilities regardless of the application or scale under investigation. This includes applications in catalysis, electrochemical devices such as batteries or fuel cells, and nanotechnology. The research will also facilitate beamline scientists at large-scale capital investments in maximising the value extracted from these national resources, such as Diamond. These stakeholders will be engaged during the proposed site visits to national light sources, such as Diamond and SSRL, and through networking events in the proposed workshops.
The network will also work alongside X-ray instrument manufacturers, including Zeiss X-ray microscopy, to integrate our new analysis approaches with new developments in instrumentation and hardware. This will be facilitated through a site visit to explore and discuss mutual development opportunities.
As the techniques to be developed in the proposed research are 'material agnostic', the research will have an immediately impact on the broad user community for X-ray imaging facilities regardless of the application or scale under investigation. This includes applications in catalysis, electrochemical devices such as batteries or fuel cells, and nanotechnology. The research will also facilitate beamline scientists at large-scale capital investments in maximising the value extracted from these national resources, such as Diamond. These stakeholders will be engaged during the proposed site visits to national light sources, such as Diamond and SSRL, and through networking events in the proposed workshops.
The network will also work alongside X-ray instrument manufacturers, including Zeiss X-ray microscopy, to integrate our new analysis approaches with new developments in instrumentation and hardware. This will be facilitated through a site visit to explore and discuss mutual development opportunities.
Organisations
| Description | The sponsorship award achieved its goals of establishing a network of academics on X-Ray tomographic image processing and accelerated the career development of the investigators through a series of workshop events, site visits, and engagement with senior academics/mentors. A new integrated approach to image-processing and image-based simulation of tomographic data sets has been scoped out with initial proof of concept work completed. This has been released as part of the visualisation package of DynamO, an open source simulation tool. The development of this code has allowed the investigators to develop the basis of a case for further funding to continue the research component of the network's activities. |
| Exploitation Route | The code developed for the visualisation pipeline is freely available in beta form on GitHub, as part of the DynamO project, and released under an open source (GPL) licence. This allows other researchers to access the techniques scoped out as part of this proof of concept study. |
| Sectors | Energy,Environment,Other |
| Description | The sponsorship award accelerated the career development of both the investigators and the wider participants in the network's activities. Workshops were hosted at each of the investigators institutions across the country which engaged the investigators with established research contacts outside of their particular field of expertise, as well as students working within the local research groups of the team. Site visits to the Diamond light source, Zeiss microscopy, and the SSRL allowed the investigators to build a global network and present their proposed research to future industrial partners. Dr Campbell Bannerman has also developed industrial partnerships around volumetric data processing in the upstream Oil & Gas industry. Starting with a successful innovation voucher, further applications for OGTC and KTP projects have followed. These industry supported projects are developing new services and software products with a global market. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Energy |
| Description | Interface voucher GlobalDI LTD |
| Amount | £5,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | CO10448-10 |
| Organisation | Interface: the knowledge connection for business |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2019 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| Title | DynamO |
| Description | DynamO is an open-source event-driven molecular or granular particle dynamics package. This tool can be used to simulate key and fundamental models of particle systems and is the only publicly available code of its type. Currently it is mainly used to expand and test theoretical understanding of particle systems; however, DynamO also acts as a platform to drive the development of new models and algorithms which should revolutionise simulations of applied systems, particularly in solids handling and processing. A more recent development of the DynamO project is an open-source scientific data visualisation tool, called Coil. This has broader application than particle simulation and can be used to create scientific and immersive VR renderings of data sets. This is the tool used to create the visualisations of DynamO simulations, but it is also used in tomographic visualisation (e.g., MRI, X-ray tomography, and seismic rendering). This development was supported by EPSRC grant EP/L026716/1. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2008 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | The software is in use by research groups across the world, and results obtained from the software have been published in several of the highest-impact journals for their fields (including Nature communication, Phys. Rev. Lett.). |
| URL | http://dynamomd.org |
| Description | Aberdeen Sponsorship award workshop, August 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The workshop on "Integrated approaches to X-Ray tomographic image processing" was held to network the investigators with researchers working in and around Aberdeen on relevant fields of study. This also allowed the Investigators to present their own work to a regional audience, and engage with postgraduate students working in the Aberdeen. A meeting with the mentors of the network was also held separate to the workshop, where the mentors provided advice on the future activities of the network and also gave career development advice to the investigators. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://abdn.ac.uk/engineering/events/5752/ |
| Description | Science Scotland article |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a popular science article written on the visualisation aspects of my research as well as my passion for the integration of programming into all aspects of undergraduate engineering programmes. Afterwards, several readers who work in local industry around Aberdeen contacted me to discuss opportunities for collaboration on visualisation projects. These has lead to Innovation voucher applications to perform feasibility studies on applying the visualisation techniques described to their industry (construction and geophysical/seismic exploration). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.sciencescotland.org/feature.php?id=258 |
| Description | Site visit to Zeiss Microscopy, May 2015, California |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A presentation on the activities of the Network was presented to Zeiss Microscopy in California, who are a major manufacturer of x-ray tomographic instruments. This led to feedback on the activities of the network in how the proposed integrated pipeline should be developed and how this development might be supported by industry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Site visit to the Stanford SSRL, May 2015, California |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A visit was carried out to the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) to meet with beam-line scientists responsible for collecting tomographic data at scale. These are the target end-users for the integrated pipeline proposed as part of the activities of the grant. The group was able to guide the network in discussion of existing approaches and technical challenges and provided significant insight into the target audience for the outcomes of future research in this area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Site visit to the diamond light source, research complex at Harwell, and mentor engagement, September 2015 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The primary investigator, Dr Marcus Bannerman, presented research at the research complex at Harwell while visiting to Prof. Peter Lee, who is a mentor of the Network, and toured the Diamond light source. As part of the visit a brief talk was given on the activities of the network as part of a quick developmental seminar for the researchers at the research complex. This led to active discussions of research activities with the team at Harwell both on research topics as well as career developments and opportunities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Tomo-and-Coffee Session: Image-Based Simulation of Diffusion and Flows (Sept 2014) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This presentation communicated the activities of the network to the tomographic community, in particular the use of tomographic images as a computational domain for direct simulation. This was also video streamed to other sites, such as the Daresbury lab, and resulted in a lively debate on the merits of this approach for extracting additional value from tomographic datasets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | https://eventbooking.stfc.ac.uk/news-events/3d-volume-data-visualisation-sep14 |
| Description | UCL Sponsorship award workshop: September 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The workshop at UCL allowed the investigators to present their work to the local team at UCL and engage with researchers outside of the network. This workshop focussed on the interpretation and analysis of the tomographic data in engineering applications, particularly in the area of batteries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |