Project Overview

The Center for Non-Destructive Evaluation (CNDE) lab uses scanners for examining and evaluating metals and other materials to determine their safety and suitability for research, development and various applications. using advanced non-destructive testing techniques, the lab identifies cracks, flaws, or other potential defects in materials before they are used in industrial or governmental application.

The lab has few scanning products and has tasked us with building a new one that can be used by the professors and members of the lab. The goal of this project is to build a 3D (XYZ) scanning platform for millimeter wave imaging.

The key design requirements are to build the scanner based on an open-source platform and adapt it for millimeter-wave imaging. The scanner must have an imaging volume of 300 mm x 300 mm x 300 mm or larger and positional accuracy of 0.5 mm. The 3D scanner will utilize stepper motor and belt driven gantry design. We are specifically tasked with assembling both the mechanical and electronics parts of the scanner, upload the firmware of the motion controller and develop a Python based user interface.