ASU Scholarship Showcase

In-process laser heating technique delivers a cost-efficient way to improve mechanical and geometrical properties to nearly isotropic and extremely smooth, respectively. The technique involves the incorperation of a solid-state laser into a commercial off-the-shelf 3D printer, mechanical system to allow controllable laser allumination on desired surfaces, and a gcode postprocesser to proper control of the mechanical system. This process uses laser for local heating, to enhance mass transfer between boundaries or to enhance surface reflow to smooth surface irregularity, to improve mechanical and geometrical properties. Only less than 3 W of laser power (CO2 laser) was used for high temperature material like PEEK and Ultem; less than 1 W (808nm laser) was found to be sufficient for achieving optimal properties for PLA. This technique has the potential for after-market integration into most commercial FFF 3D printers to achieved nearly isotropic and smooth 3D printed objects with various thermoplastic polymers.

The following literature review talks about the driving simulation platforms commercially available for automated vehicle development. It is also a comparison of the simulation packages, their advantages and drawbacks, and an insight into what is missing in the simulators of today. Automated vehicle safety and reliability are the important requirements when developing automated vehicles. These requirements are guaranteed by extensive functional and performance tests. Conducting these tests on real vehicles is extremely expensive and time consuming, and thus it is necessary to develop a simulation platform to perform these tasks. In most cases, it is difficult for system or algorithm developers in the testing process to evaluate the massive design space. To test any algorithm change, developers need to test a functional module alone, and later setting up a whole physical testing environment that consists of several other modules, leading to enormous testing costs. Fortunately, many of the testing tasks can be accomplished by utilizing simulator. The key to the success of a simulation is how accurately the simulator can simulate the physical reality.