Professor Stephen Pierce
Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Personal statement
Professor Gareth Pierce leads a multidisciplinary team at Strathclyde University comprising Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Mathematicians, Physicists and Bioengineers. He promotes collaborative research through an international network of academic partners and promotes impact though relationships with multi sector industry partners and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Centres in the UK. His leadership values strive to embrace a person-centred approach.
As Co-Director of the Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering, the focus of his work is robotics and autonomous systems for inspection, including non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E) for manufacture, and structural health monitoring (SHM) for asset inspection. The multidisciplinary nature of his work brings together robotics, instrumentation and interfacing, applied optics, ultrasonics, 3D metrology and machine learning based data management. These themes resonate closely with the fundamental concepts of Industry 4.
Notable achievements and responsibilities include:
- Robotics & Autonomous Systems Lead Co-ordinator at Strathclyde University
- Co-director Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering
- Founder and Director of applied NDT technology transfer laboratory (SEARCH – Sensor Enabled Automation, Robotics & Control Hub) with £37M project portfolio
- Holds Spirt Aerosystems/ Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair “In –process inspection of composites”
- Research Strategy Lead RCNDE (www.rcnde.ac.uk)
- Member BSi AMT/8 Additive Manufacturing Standards Committee
- SRPe Robotics and Autonomous Systems Thematic Leadership Group https://www.srpe.ac.uk/robotics-autonomous-systems
- Visiting Professorship – Production Technology Centre, Högskolan Väst, Sweden
- Proven capability to migrate university research into industry
Area of Expertise
- Robotics and autonomous systems
- Non-destructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT&E)
- Ultrasonics
- Applied sensing/ instrumentation
- Machine learning/ pattern recognition
- Psychotherapy & Counselling
Prize And Awards
- Anne Birt Award 2023 - recognising significant contributions to technology innovation, technology transfer or technology strategy in the field of NDT over a period of at least 5-10 years
- Recipient
- 4/9/2024
- The BINDT Annual Conference Award
- Recipient
- 5/9/2019
- Knowledge Exchange Award
- Recipient
- 2016
- The John Grimwade Medal
- Recipient
- 1/1/2015
Qualifications
BSc (Hons) 1st Class, Pure and Applied Physics 1989, Department of Physics, University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology, UMIST.
PhD,“Development of Fibre-Optic Interferometers for the Measurement Of Laser-Generated Ultrasound” 1993, Department of Instrumentation and Analytical Science (DIAS), UMIST.
City & Guilds 2381, Electrical Installations, Requirement for IEE Regulations (BS7671), July 2008
City & Guilds 2391, Inspection, Testing and Certification of Electrical Installations, July 2009
PGDip Psychological Wellbeing, Counselling & Psychotherapy, Nov 2021, University of Aberdeen
Publications
- Advancing carbon fiber composite inspection : deep learning-enabled defect localization and sizing via 3-Dimensional U-Net segmentation of ultrasonic data
- McKnight Shaun, Tunukovic Vedran, Pierce S Gareth, Mohseni Ehsan, Pyle Richard, MacLeod Charles N, O’Hare Tom
- IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Vol 71, pp. 1106-1119 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1109/tuffc.2024.3408314
- Inspection of wind turbine bolted connections using the Ultrasonic Phased Array system
- Mills Brandon, Javadi Yashar, Abad Farhad, Lotfian Saeid, MacLeod Charles, Mehmanparast Ali, Pierce Gareth, Gachagan Anthony
- Heliyon Vol 10 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e34579
- Towards an in-process ultrasonic phased array inspection method for narrow-gap welds
- Nicolson Ewan, Mohseni Ehsan, Lines David, Tant Katherine MM, Pierce Gareth, MacLeod Charles N
- NDT and E International Vol 144 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2024.103074
- A study of machine learning object detection performance for phased array ultrasonic testing of carbon fibre reinforced plastics
- Tunukovic Vedran, McKnight Shaun, Mohseni Ehsan, Pierce S Gareth, Pyle Richard, Duernberger Euan, Loukas Charalampos, Vithanage Randika KW, Lines David, Dobie Gordon, MacLeod Charles N, Cochran Sandy, O'Hare Tom
- NDT and E International Vol 144 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2024.103094
- Unsupervised machine learning for flaw detection in automated ultrasonic testing of carbon fibre reinforced plastic composites
- Tunukovic Vedran, McKnight Shaun, Pyle Richard, Wang Zhiming, Mohseni Ehsan, Pierce S Gareth, Vithanage Randika K W, Dobie Gordon, MacLeod Charles N, Cochran Sandy, O'Hare Tom
- Ultrasonics Vol 140 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107313
- Enhancing additive friction stir deposition through comprehensive ultrasonic defect detection and process optimisation
- Germano Elmergue, Walker Joseph, Mills Brandon, Javadi Yashar, Buffa Gianluca, MacLeod Charles Norman, Gachagan Anthony, Pierce Gareth, Mineo Carmelo, Tamimi Saeed, Mohseni Ehsan, Lam Kwok Ho
- UK & IRELAND IEEE ULTRASONICS, FERROELECTRICS AND FREQUENCY CONTROL CHAPTER (2024)
Teaching
I am course organiser for EE312, Instrumentation & Microcontrollers which provides a challenging mix of measurement techniques, analogue and digital electronics, combined with computer programming and interfacing. I also contribute as project co-ordinator and assessor for EM502 Advanced Systems Engineering as well as supervising, mentoring and grading students engaged in EEE, EME and CES individual and group projects.
Research Interests
To address tomorrow’s technology challenges, it is essential to be building new research capability in the next generation robotics and automation platforms that typically employ a radical shift in human-machine interactions. Working closely with robotics manufacturers, integrators and supply chains is essential to turn underpinning advances in science, into new innovative products and services. In parallel to such industrial engagement, the development of new robot programming and sensor interfacing paradigms feeds directly into a contemporary framework for teaching and training with a range of education stakeholders (undergraduate, postgraduate, continued professional development). Measurement and instrumentation systems play a key role in enabling this capability, allowing sensory perception of the environment, and adaptive behaviour from automation systems allowing operation in unstructured and dynamic environments. Processing the data from such measurement systems demands new approaches in signal conditioning and interpretation, employing the latest developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide real-time adaptive response to measurement data. A current focus for this framework of sensor enabled automation lies in materials and structural quality assurance, through non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E), and structural health monitoring (SHM). These traditionally separate disciplines have moved closer over the past decade, allowing a more holistic approach to through life structure performance to be realised, from manufacture, through service-life operation, and finally through to decommissioning and remanufacture/ recycling.
My central research interest is in robotic and automated technologies for Non-Destructive Testing & Evaluation (NDT&E) - encompassing both traditional fixed industrial robotics, and mobile vehicle technologies (including UAVs) for applications in engineering inspection. Increasingly the automation of NDT is increasingly utilised in manufacturing, this includes ultrasonic, visual and electromagnetic testing. Modern additive manufacturing techniques in particular bring new challenges to both the measurement sensors employed, and real time deployment and feedback into manufacturing processes.
My research embraces the concepts of through-life asset management where the boundaries between NDT&E and conventional Structual Health and Condition Monitoring (SHM) are increasingly being broken down; so my research also covers wider aspects of structural integrity in sectors including aerospace, energy, oil and gas, nuclear and healthcare.
Positioning technologies have been identified as an obstacle to the effective uptake of robotic NDT technologies, and to this end I have initiated research into a fully probabilistic basis for the challenging problems involving robot location, data fusion between multiple sensors, and mapping problems. This naturally extends into work for full 3D metrology systems where my work is closely linked into metrology at NPL to understand how technology can be translated into the challenging manufacturing environment to support new automated systems working safely with humans.
The £37M SEARCH hub encompasses my inspection work across the manufacturing and asset management applications spaces, involving automation and robotics. My expertise in Non Destructive Evaluation (spanning 30 years) and in-process robotic inspection (>12 years) are key differentiators, allowing me to focus around Sensor Enabled Automation.
SEARCH comprises a laboratory in Royal College R2.41 which focusses on manufacturing applications (Composites Inspection, Metal Additive Manufacturing inspection, and In-Process Welding Inspection), and the Technology Innovation Centre TIC 7.14 focused on asset management applications (Crawler and UAV Inspection for Nuclear, Oil & Gas, Energy and Renewables).
Research activities in SEARCH fall between the 3 themes of:
- Physical Sensors (transduction/ measurement)
- Sensor Deployment (robotics)
- Data Interpretation (machine learning/ statistical methods)
http://search.eee.strath.ac.uk
Professional Activities
- 61st Annual Conference of the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing
- Participant
- 3/9/2024
- 61st Annual Conference of the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing
- Participant
- 3/9/2024
- University of Birmingham External PhD Examiner
- Examiner
- 19/8/2024
- NEWAM Final Industry Day
- Organiser
- 18/6/2024
- RCNDE
- Host
- 22/5/2024
- UK & Ireland IEEE UFFC Chapter Annual Meeting 2024
- Participant
- 14/5/2024
Projects
- RAICo - Next Generation Remote Inspection of Confined Spaces
- Dobie, Gordon (Principal Investigator) Pierce, Gareth (Co-investigator)
- 01-Mar-2024 - 28-Feb-2025
- DTP 2224 University of Strathclyde | Moos, Rebecca Faith
- Wathavana Vithanage, Randika Kosala (Principal Investigator) Pierce, Gareth (Co-investigator) Moos, Rebecca Faith (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2024 - 01-Jul-2027
- Robotic laser ultrasonic inspection system for integration with a WAAM cell (Royce Industrial Collaboration Programme)
- Stratoudaki, Theodosia (Principal Investigator) MacLeod, Charles Norman (Co-investigator) Pierce, Gareth (Co-investigator)
- 01-Nov-2023 - 31-Mar-2024
- Hybrid Robotics for Future Reconfigurable Manufacturing
- Wathavana Vithanage, Randika Kosala (Principal Investigator) Pierce, Gareth (Co-investigator)
- 01-Oct-2023 - 31-Mar-2027
- DTP 2224 University of Strathclyde | Calistru, Cristian
- Mohseni, Ehsan (Principal Investigator) Pierce, Gareth (Co-investigator) Calistru, Cristian (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Oct-2023 - 01-Apr-2027
- EPSRC Vacation Internship - Zhiming Wang
- Mohseni, Ehsan (Principal Investigator) Pierce, Gareth (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jun-2023 - 11-Aug-2023
Contact
Professor
Stephen
Pierce
Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Email: s.g.pierce@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 2617