Back in 1963, the International Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation (NDTE) of Wood Symposium Series started in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Since its initiation, the forum has been held in various countries around the world.
From September 24-27 2019, the 21st International Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation of Wood Symposium was hosted by the Forest Research Institute Baden-Württemberg (FVA) at the Katholische Akademie Freiburg, Germany. This year's edition aimed to bring together experts involved in nondestructive testing and evaluation of wood, wood-based products, and structures. The objective was to give them an insight into the present results of the latest studies and technology transfer activities and to make these results available to scientists and engineers from all over the world.
After the opening ceremony, Microtec’s CEO Federico Giudiceandrea held the first lecture of the General Session. His speech was followed by a series of talks on topics such as inspection of historic structures, use of NDE in industrial environments, and application of NDE around the world. Among these, also Enrico Ursella and Francesco Fontanini of Microtec presented the results of some of the company’s disruptive innovations.
Microtec’s CEO Federico Giudiceandrea showed how, by integrating the innovative Microtec’s solutions CT Log, Logeye Fingerprint, Truespin, and Goldeneye 900 in the sawmill of the future, the gapless traceability from a log to the boards can be guaranteed. By implementing AI (artificial intelligence) in the production processes of sawmills, the final product value can be determined before the breakdown process. This translates into immediate cost savings and increased added value to the final product, which leads to an impressive return on investment.
Enrico Ursella presented the results of the study "Improving Knot Segmentation Using Deep Learning Techniques" conducted together with four other Microtec colleagues and the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Padova. In the context of Computed Tomography scanning of logs, accurate detection of knots is key for delivering a successful product. Using deep learning techniques, now Microtec can recognize the internal defects of logs in real-time in the production chain without having to cut it first. Therefore, Microtec is now able to optimize even more the output of the production chain on each client’s requirements.
Francesco Fontanini spoke about the research he carried out together with Martin Bacher about the automatic sweep measurement as used for payment of logs in Sweden. Since straightness is one of the basic quality requirements for saw-logs, precise and reliable measures of sweep play a key role in the development and optimization of automatic grading techniques to assign an appropriate price to every single piece. The measurement of the sweep of a log in Sweden is traditionally performed by means of visual evaluation. A method for the automatic assessment of sweep has now been implemented in the 3D true-shape log scanner Logeye.
The 21st Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation of Wood Symposium gave ample opportunity to the participants for networking. Furthermore, it has fostered new collaborations and has encouraged the implementation of non-destructive testing technologies.
Back in 2008, the prototype of the CT Log computer tomograph was developed for being implemented in the sawmill industry. The tomograph was presented and installed at the Forstliche Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt BW (FVA) in Freiburg for research purposes on 19 June of the same year. Since then, the FVA has been carrying out intensive research in this field.