Metamodel-Based Measurement, Control, and Optimization of Engineered Surfaces

这项建议的研究为开发有效的测量、控制和优化制造产品表面的方法提供了资金。由于剖面具有非平稳性和空间相关性的复杂性，该问题具有挑战性。某些类型的表面测量非常耗时，使得在线控制不可行，而另一些类型的表面测量（如基于图像的表面测量）提供了大量数据，使得模型的估计难以计算。为了优化和自适应控制，需要对制造过程变量进行建模，这使得该问题更具挑战性。本项目通过提出一种新的易于评估的元模型（称为核和回归/插值）和开发高效的工程驱动采样和建模策略来解决这些挑战。如果成功，这项研究的结果将有助于提高许多制成品的质量和功能。所提出的研究的应用并不局限于工程表面。这种新的元建模方法可以应用于地质、环境建模和天文学等领域。新的采样策略也适用于其他领域，如大规模的计算机和模拟实验，这将其应用于产品设计和制造中的各种问题。该研究的影响还可以超越制造应用，例如改善太阳能电池的表面特性以更好地转换能量，改善髋关节/牙科植入物的精确表面特性，从而提高生活质量并降低医疗保健成本。

This proposed research provides funding for the development of efficient methods for measurement, control, and optimization of surfaces of manufactured products. The problem is challenging due to the complex nature of the profiles that exhibit nonstationarity and spatial correlation. Some type of surface measurements are time consuming making the online control infeasible, whereas some other types of surface measurements such as those based on images provide huge amounts of data making the estimation of the models computationally intractable. The need of modeling the manufacturing process variables for the purpose of optimization and adaptive control makes the problem even more challenging. These challenges are addressed in this project by proposing a novel easy-to-evaluate metamodel known as kernel-sum regression/interpolation and developing efficient engineering-driven sampling and modeling strategies. If successful, the results of this research will help improve the quality and functionality of many manufactured products. The applications of the proposed research are not limited to engineered surfaces. The new metamodeling method can be applied in areas such as geology, environmental modeling, and astronomy. The new sampling strategies are also applicable in other areas such as in the large-scale computer and simulation experiments, which open its applications to a wide variety of problems in product design and manufacturing. The impacts of the research can also go beyond the manufacturing applications, such as improving the surface characteristics of solar cell for better energy conversion and improving the precise surface characteristics of hip/dental implants leading to better quality of life and the reduction of healthcare cost.