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Construction
Keeping
Tabs on the Site with Laser Light
Greater
than 5 percent of the labor costs in a typical construction project
are devoted to monitoring the status of activities such as the
state of excavation, the location of building materials (such
as gravel and structural steel), re-work (fixing things built
wrong) and establishing “as-built” information about
the project.
To relieve this time-consuming and costly burden, NIST researchers
are creating, testing and standardizing methods for tracking activities
about a construction site. Their approaches make use of three-dimensional
laser metrology, wireless communications, interactive web browsers
and a remote time-based project database.
One project under way is the use of a high-speed laser imaging
system that enables users to determine the status of earth-moving
activities. The new tool, called LIDAR (for Light Detection
and Ranging), can scan a construction site and supply off-site
contractors, subcontractors and owners with 3-D information. Among
the types of precise, real-time data derived from LIDAR data would
be cut-and-fill requirements, quantities of material placed or
removed, and rates of material removal.
Linking
all these facets are efforts to develop wireless interoperability
protocols and data standards. Such advances will permit plug-and-play
compatibility among sensors, data gathering systems, machines
and data bases—all keys to successful automation. NIST’s
advanced construction initiatives have drawn industry interest.
Collaborative research projects with U.S. construction companies,
software vendors and hardware manufacturers are planned for 2001.
For more information, contact Geraldine
S. Cheok, (301) 975-6074.
Media
Contact:
John
Blair, (301) 975-4261
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Quality
April
Conference to Showcase 2000 Baldrige Recipients
The
newly
named recipients of the 2000 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award—Dana Corporation-Spicer Driveshaft Division (Toledo,
Ohio), KARLEE Co. Inc. (Garland, Texas), Operations Management
International Inc. (Greenwood Village, Colo.) and Los Alamos National
Bank (Los Alamos, N.M.)—will present details of their exceptional
business and performance practices at the Quest Excellence XIII
conference. OMI is the first water treatment company and LANB
is the first bank to be honored with the award.
Presentations covering all seven categories of the Baldrige Award
criteria will be made by the CEOs and others in the winning companies.
Education and health care sessions also will be offered.
Ninety-five percent of this year’s Quest for Excellence conference
attendees indicated that the information available prepared them
to improve their organizations.
The
conference takes place April 22-25, 2001, at the Marriott Wardman
Park Hotel, Washington, D.C. Registration fee is $895 if submitted
by April 1, 2001. After that date, the fee will be $995. To register,
contact the American Society for Quality and Participation, (800)
733-3310, fax: (513) 381-0070, info@aqp.org.
Further information on the Baldrige Award recipients and the Baldrige
National Quality Program is available by calling (301) 975-2036
or on the World Wide Web at www.quality.nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Jan
Kosko, (301) 975-2767
Physics
Polish
Up Your Gloss Measurements at NIST
The
glossy surface on a shiny new car is more than just eye candy—in
car paints, for example, the quality of the gloss tends to correlate
with the durability of the finish. Shine, or properly “specular
gloss,” is the perception of a mirror-like surface. The glossiness
of a surface is second only to color as the most important attribute
of products such as automotive coatings, textiles and papers.
To help manufacturers monitor and assess specular gloss, the NIST
Physics Laboratory has launched a new Special Test Service to
calibrate gloss reference standards. Gloss measurement is not
straightforward—it is determined relative to a standard,
generally a polished piece of black glass, and depends on experimental
conditions such as spectral distribution of the light, incident
and viewing angles. A variety of standard geometries are used
to determine the specular gloss of materials. These are selected
based on their ability to produce optimum discrimination between
samples and to correlate with visual rankings.
The NIST facility is built around a newly rebuilt reference goniophotometer—an
instrument that measures light flux as a function of angles of
illumination or observation—and a newly created primary gloss
standard (three wedges of highly polished, high-quality optical
glass). The new service offers calibration measurements of industry
working gloss standards at the specular geometries of 20, 60 and
85 degrees, in compliance with ISO 2813 and ASTM D523 documentary
standards.
For details, contact Maria
Nadal, (301) 975-4632. An online index of other NIST calibration
services for optical radiation may be found on the World Wide
Web at http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/230/233/calibration/users/users7.html
Media
Contact:
Michael
Baum, (301) 975-2763
Building
Research
Tests
Certify ‘Smart’ Building Products
Digital
automation and control technologies have been widely available
for more than a decade, yet structures with integrated building
services remain more of a promise than a reality.
That is, until now.
At a recent NIST workshop, testing began for equipment and product
compliance with the BACnet communication standard. BACnet stands
for Building Automation and Control networks.
The standard enables building control systems made by different
vendors to work together and be controlled from a central location.
NIST and its industry partners developed both the standard and
the testing methods and tools for it under the auspices of the
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers.
The partners believe that BACnet integration of control devices
will optimize operations, improve safety and reduce maintenance
costs. The NIST workshop on BACnet compliance test procedures
set the stage for full-scale product compliance tests beginning
in February by the newly established BACnet Manufacturers Association.
The BMA hopes the tests will assure building owners that devices
they purchase from different manufacturers can be integrated.
Products that successfully pass the tests will be able to display
the BMA logo and will be listed on the Association’s web
site, www.bacnetassociation.org.
The draft testing standard—ASHRAE 135.1P, “Method of
Test for Conformance to BACnet”—is open for public review
and comment through Jan. 30, 2001.
For technical information, contact Steven
Bushby, (301) 975-5873.
Media
Contact:
John
Blair, (301) 975-4261
Manufacturing
Indiana
MEP Center Helps Sales of Copter Parts Soar
TTo
steal a line from author Charles Dickens, “It was the best
of times, it was the worst of times.”
Kestler Engineering and Machine Co., an Indianapolis, Ind., manufacturer,
wanted to produce and sell turbine nozzle assemblies for helicopter
engines made from a extremely hard metal, MarM 247. Unfortunately,
the very toughness that made the metal attractive to Kestler’s
customers also made it difficult to machine castings for the assemblies.
To solve the dilemma, Kestler brought in the Indiana Business
Modernization and Technology Corp., an affiliate of the NIST Manufacturing
Extension Partnership nationwide network of
assistance centers for smaller manufacturers. BMT introduced Kestler
to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., who
in turn, arranged a technical assistance agreement between the
two organizations to attack Kestler’s machining problem.
In addition, BMT helped Kestler staff meet government personnel
interested in the company’s products and provided guidance
about the federal contracting process.
The result? Kestler no longer has a manufacturing barrier keeping
its helicopter engine parts from competing with others on the
market. In fact, shortly after the BMT assistance, the company
fulfilled a sizeable contract. And now, with nothing to stop its
success, the sky’s the limit for future sales!
For more information on BMT’s services, contact Guy
Johnson, (800) 877-5182. Small manufacturers elsewhere can
reach their local NIST MEP office by calling (800) MEP-4MFG (637-4634).
Information also is available at www.mep.nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Jan
Kosko,
(301) 975-2767
History
New
Book, Web Site Can Help Media Feature NIST at 100
Consider
some of the economy-building, life-improving advances of the past
100 years—image processing, DNA diagnostic “chips,”
smoke detectors, automated error-correcting software for machine
tools, atomic clocks, the scanning tunneling microscope, pollution-control
technology and high-speed dental drills—and then tell how
they’re all linked together. If you said the National Institute
of Standards and Technology, move to the head of the class.
Founded on March 3, 1901, as the National Bureau of Standards,
NIST was the federal government’s first physical science
research laboratory and has served throughout the century as a
“behind-the-scenes” specialist for industry, science,
government and the public. Its research, measurement tools and
technical services are integrated deeply into many of the systems
and operations that, collectively, drive the economy—manufacturing
cells, satellite systems, communication and transportation networks,
laboratories, factories, hospitals and businesses.
Reporters and editors are encouraged to help NIST celebrate its
centennial year by featuring the agency and first century of service
to America in articles, online stories and broadcast reports.
All of the historical information needed is now available in NIST
at 100: Foundations for Progress, an extensive, illustrated
book. Single printed copies may be requested by fax (301-926-1630)
or e-mail (media@ nist.gov).
A full-color World Wide Web site, www.100.nist.gov,
complements the printed text and provides links to additional
material.
Non-media requests for single copies of NIST at 100: Foundations
for Progress may be faxed to the number above or e-mailed
to inquiries@nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Michael
Newman, (301) 975-3025
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