SBIR Phase I: Fractal-Based Packing and Tiling Algorithms in Surface Metrology

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将测试下一代规模敏感、基于分形的平铺和打包算法的技术、科学和商业可行性。 这些算法将用于开发软件，可用于改善从工程表面获得的地形数据的特性。 众所周知，表面的形貌或粗糙度影响其性能或行为，并且受到制造或创建过程的影响，尽管这些关系的量化取决于先进的表面计量。 改进的表征将促进表面形貌、其性能和其制造之间更好的功能关联，这将支持表面形貌的并行工程设计。 这些算法将被应用到地形数据采集的几种仪器，最近开发的：原子探针显微镜，干涉显微镜，共焦显微镜，扫描激光显微镜和数字图像的立体重建，以及传统的配置设备。 这类设备的市场每年有数百个，并以每年10-20%的速度增长。 目前，有几个软件包用于不太复杂的尺度敏感分形分析，每个软件包的价格约为1万美元。 该奖项由小企业创新研究计划和刺激竞争力研究实验计划（EPSCoR）支持。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will test the technical, scientific and commercial feasibility of the next generation of scale-sensitive, fractal-based tiling and packing algorithms. These algorithms will be used to develop software that can be used to improve the characterization of topographic data acquired from engineering surfaces. It is well known that the topography or roughness of a surface influences its performance or behavior, and is influenced by the manufacturing or creation processes, although quantification of these relationships depends on advancing surface metrology. The improved characterization will promote better functional correlations between the topography of a surface, its performance and its manufacture, which will support concurrent engineering design of surfaces topography. These algorithms will be applied to topographic data acquired by several kinds of instruments which have been recently developed: atomic probe microscopes, interferometric microscopes, confocal microscopes, scanning laser microscopes and stereo reconstruction of digital images, as well as conventional profiling devices. The market for these kinds of devices is several hundred per year and growing at 10-20% per year. Currently several software packages are in use for less sophisticated scale-sensitive fractal analyses which have sold to industry for about $ 10,000 apiece. This award is supported by the Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).