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Biography

Research

• Information Fusion

• Congestion in Facilities Location and Layout

• Facility Layout (Re)Design

• Agile Manufacturing

• Real-Time Visualization

• Sensor Networks

• Facilities Design and Cellular Manufacturing

• Operations of Production Systems

• Variant Design

Teaching

• IE 684: Networks, Routing, and Logistics

• IE 661: Scheduling Theory

• IE 620: Agile Manufacturing

• IE 505: Production Planning and Control

• IE 504: Facilities Design

• IE 500: Special Topics: Logistics and Supply-Chain Management

• IE 327: Facilities Design

• IE 320: Engineering Economy

Professional Activities

National Science Foundation

CISE Research Instrumentation: Establishment of a High Performance Real-Time Visualization Research Laboratory

Description

Design of a Virtual Factory using Single Cluster Analysis: An interactive virtual factory test-bed was developed as a part of a research to explore the applications of Virtual Environments (VE) in the area of manufacturing automation. This fully immersive factory built with special attention to details consists of a set of modular machines that a designer can drag and place in the factory to study issues such as plant layout, clusters and part flow analysis. Several computational issues of developing such factories including the scene graph structures, frame based intersection detection and visual realism for creating a reliable virtual interface was investigated in this project. Finally single cluster analysis algorithm was implemented as an example of applying traditional factory design methods in developing virtual factories of the future. The entire simulation and visualization was possible because of the CISE research instrumentation grant. Development of a driving simulator for evaluating human performance under inclement weather conditions: A virtual reality based driving simulator is under development under funding from the Honda Research Initiation grant (HIG98). This simulator is being developed using the SGI ONYX2 purchased with the CISE Research Initiation Grant. The simulator has been interfaced with a driving console which was integrated with a dynamic bicycle model of an automobile and can simulate realistic driving conditions such as sliding on a icy road, driving under bad weather conditions such as snow and fog etc. Modeling of human abdomen Accurate models of human body tissues and organs have tremendous applications in the medical field. Virtual environments are increasingly being used as research tools in medicine. In this project we are developing a virtual environment model of human abdomen and other internal organs with physically based techniques. These virtual environment simulations will allow researchers to study the behavior of human organs and to develop large databases of organ characteristics. A three-dimensional viewing and interaction capability is also being developed to make it possible for physicians to practice many medical procedures without ever touching a patient. The general goal of this project is to develop a Virtual Reality based diagnostic system for medical examination of the abdomen. We are currently investigating various data structures and real time visualization algorithms. Physically based modeling will enable haptic interface to our environment.

Objectives

Intellectual Merits: Broader Impacts:

Personnel

Investigators: Dr. T. Kesavadas, Associate Professor Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering State University of New York at Buffalo 318 Jarvis Hall Buffalo, NY 14260-2000 U.S.A. Telephone: (716) 645-2593 FAX: (716) 645-3875 E-mail: kesh@eng.buffalo.edu Dr. Raj Acharya, Professor and Head Department of Computer Science and Engineering The Pennsylvania State University 218 Pond Laboratory University Park, PA 16802-6106 U.S.A. Telephone: (814) 865-9505 FAX: (814) 865-3176 E-mail: acharya@eng.buffalo.edu Dr. Chrsitina Bloebaum, Professor Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering State University of New York at Buffalo 318 Jarvis Hall Buffalo, NY 14260-2000 U.S.A. Telephone: (716) 645-2593 FAX: (716) 645-3875 E-mail: clb@eng.buffalo.edu Dr. Rakesh Nagi, Associate Professor Department of Industrial Engineering State University of New York at Buffalo 342 Bell Hall Box 602050 Buffalo, NY 14260-2050 U.S.A. Telephone: (716) 645-2357 FAX: (716) 645-3302 E-mail: nagi@eng.buffalo.edu