1. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved. APM Automation Solutions Ltd. 11 APM Customer Support Technical Training Part 1 Technology

2. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.2  Company Introduction  3DLevelScanner video  Acoustic mapping technology  Inherent tradeoffs in Acoustics  Level measurement – Narrow beam solutions  Surface mapping with a wide angle beam  Advance Radar Signal Processing  Multi Beams, Multi Frequency, Challenges  Self Cleaning  Volume Accuracy  Product Line  Summary Agenda

3. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.3 Company Profile Privately held company Specializing in developing technologically innovative, effective and economical non-contact 3D level measurement instruments for a range of industrial applications. APM's headquarters and state-of-the-art R&D and manufacturing facilities are located in Israel Sales and support are provided by a network of distributors in the US and over 30 countries worldwide

4. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.4 What is the 3DLevelScanner?  The only device presently available that delivers accurate measurement of bulk solids and powders to achieve an unrivalled degree of process measurement and inventory control  Patented algorithm  Considering the type of material, product characteristics, type and size of storage (silo, open bin and stock pile)  Suitable for harshness installation environment  Incorporates unique dust-penetrating technology  Self-cleaning Click on image for 3DLevelScanner II video

5. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.5  Beam angle Vs. Frequency  θ - Beam opening angle  λ - Wavelength  D - Antenna size Inherent tradeoffs in Acoustics D Low frequency => Wide Beam

6. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.6 Beam angle Vs. Frequency F = 2.5KHz λ = 13cm θ = 108 ⁰ D = 7.5cm

7. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.7 Beam angle Vs. Frequency F = 4.5KHz λ = 7.5cm θ = 60 ⁰ D = 7.5cm

8. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.8 Beam angle Vs. Frequency F = 10KHz λ = 3.4cm θ = 27 ⁰ D = 7.5cm

9. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.9 Beam angle Vs. Frequency F = 20KHz λ = 1.7cm θ = 13 ⁰ D = 7.5cm Narrow beam requires Ultrasonic Frequency

10. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.10  Sound is a pressure wave  Dust particles and humidity in the air attenuate the wave energy  Attenuation grow sharply over 5KHz Inherent tradeoffs in Acoustics Animation courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Kettering University Low freq. => Effective dust penetration

11. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.11 Acoustic wave attenuation Very high attenuation at ultrasonic frequencies

12. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.12 Acoustic wave attenuation Effective penetration at lower frequencies

13. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.13  Goal: Measure the distance to a single, well defined point on the material surface  Point measurement requires narrow beam  Narrow  Ultrasonic  poor dust penetration  Distance measurement  Traveling twice the distance  C~340 Meter per Second  Measuring the time of flight Level measurement with narrow beam

14. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.14  Goal: Multipoint (X, Y, Z) measurement of the surface  Large coverage  Transmit a Wide angle pulse  Wide beam  Low freq.  Effective dust penetration  Multiple reflected echoes coming from  Large surfaces and Extremum points  Material and Silo’s wall interface  Silo Walls – False echo to be filtered  Separated by Time of Arrival Surface mapping - wide angle beam

15. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.15  Example: one dimensional Array processing  Wave propagation at angle – θ  Speed of sound – C  Spacing between antenna’s elements – d  Time of Arrival (TOA) is different  Wave Path difference between antennas ΔP=d*Cos θ  Therefore, time of arrival difference: ΔT =ΔP /C= d* Cos θ/C Direction of Arrival (DOA) - Array processing Path difference => TOA difference => θ

16. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.16 Multiple Antennas Enable Mapping R3,θ3R3,θ3 R1,θ1R1,θ1 R2,θ2R2,θ2 R2R2 R1R1 R3R3 Single antenna device Multiple antennas device Distance and direction Distance measurement

17. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.17 3 Dimensional Surface Reconstruction  2 Dimensional Array of 3 Antennas  Distance (R)  Azimuth (Ф) and elevation (Θ) angles  Convert R, Ф, Θ to Silo X, Y, Z coordinates  Optimal 3D surface reconstruction  Extremum and boundary points  Assume maximal material slope Surface integral is Volume

18. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.18 Advance Radar Signal Processing  Range resolution – Key figure – the minimal distance between two echo sources that are still separable  Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): Required for the detection of small echo  Long pulse  higher energy  better SNR  It is a challenge to create pulses that excel in both range resolution and SNR  A very active research topic for military radars

19. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.19 Advance Radar Signal Processing (2) Long pulse ( 7M ) - modulated sine wave, rectangular envelope After match filter – Very poor range resolution – limited to 7 Meter !

20. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.20 Advance Radar Signal Processing (3) State of the art – Chen and Cantrell 2002 After match filter – 50cm resolution, 1/13 side lobes

21. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.21 Advance Radar Signal Processing (4) APM Propriety – Patent pending After detection: Significantly improved resolution, virtually no side lobes!

22. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.22 Advance Radar Signal Processing (5) 3 targets: The importance of resolution and low side lobs More points  Better mapping State of the artAPM

23. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.23 Advance Radar Signal Processing (6)  APM propriety algorithm combines  The resolution in detection of a short pulse  The energy of a long pulse  Using relatively small bandwidth, optimized for the application  Virtually no side lobes  Applicable for the entire scanning range  Maintain constant resolution across the scanning range  The longer the distance – the higher the pulse energy  Very efficient numerical implementation

24. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.24 Beam steering technology  Beam direction can be tilted by modifying the signal phase in the antennas  Significantly improve false echo separation and the investigation of complex surfaces by:  Looking at the same point through several beam tilts to solve symmetry problems (i.e. dual echo at ±10 degrees)  Pointing null to suspicious point to verify null reception  Allowing high SNR at much larger sphere

25. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.25  Gather information from different perspectives  Beam angle - Interaction with silos wall  Interaction with material, specular vs. scattering reflections Multi frequency technology  Different multipath trajectories  Different dust penetration capabilities  Improved robustness to acoustic noise sources

26. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.26  Automatic mapping of false echo from silo structure  Multipath between the walls and ceiling of the silo and the topography of the material  Filtering analysis based on  Distance and Direction measurement  Information from other frequencies  Information from other beams  Silo geometry Directional False echo filtering

27. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.27 Self Cleaning Self Cleaning due to acoustic energy vibration

28. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.28  Accuracy is less than 3%  Accuracy estimation considerations  Surface topography scenarios – typically, a complex surface yields more points!  Direction of arrival accuracy  Distance measurement accuracy  Silo geometry  Beams coverage – MVL for very large silos Volume Accuracy

29. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved. APM Automation Solutions Ltd. 29 Product Line

30. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.30 3DLevelScanner Model S  30 º opening beam angle – covers more area than other traditional level measurement devices  Low frequency – dust penetrating  Fast response – suitable for small silos or fast-changing process silos requiring fast tracking  Provides average Distance/Level  Provides % Volume (4-20 mA)  Linear mode enabled (for non standard and segmented silos)  Suitable for small and narrow silos

31. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.31 3DLevelScanner model M  70 º opening beam angle – covers wide surface area  Low frequency – dust penetrating  Suitable for large silos that require high accuracy and inventory control  Provides minimum/maximum and average measurements of distance / level  Provides % volume (4-20 mA)  Visualization disabled

32. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.32 3DLevelScanner Model MV  70 º opening beam angle - covers wide surface area  Low frequency – dust penetrating  Suitable for large silos that require high accuracy and inventory control  Provides minimum/maximum and average measurements of distance / level  Provides % volume (4-20 mA)  3D Visualization of material shape is enabled

33. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.33 3DLevelScanner MVL System  Combines the capabilities of model MV in a connection of more then one scanner  Using the 3DVision software to synchronize between the scanners and to make a combined calculations  Suitable for large silos that require high accuracy and inventory control  Provides % volume (4-20 mA), PLC/DCS can be connected to any of the scanners  3D Visualization of material shape is enabled including the scanners location

34. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.34 3DLevelManager  PC software that allows the configuration of any of the 3DLevelScanner models  Provides easy to use monitoring for process and inventory control  Allow advance configuration and fine tuning for installers and customer support  Generate log files and graphs that can be viewed any time from any date the scanner was connected to the computer  Compatible with Windows XP and 7

35. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.35 3DVision / 3DMultiVision  Advanced Server-Client application, based on MS.NET Framework 3.5  Using an easy-to-use graphical interface  Provides an immediate view over all vessels connected  Hierarchy organized: Sites – Vessels – Scanners  Synchronize MVL scanners  3DVision limited to a single vessel (no limitation on the amount of scanners)  3DMultiVision has not limitations  Unlimited number of clients connected to a single server  Report generation  Compatible with Windows XP and 7

36. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.36 3DLinkPro – Remote Communication  The 3DLinkPro is used for remote connection and allows immediate support and assistance  Requires SIM card with SMS (Text) and GPRS enabled (preferred with static IP)  Auto power reset when losing cellular signal  Enable remote FW upgrade and continuous monitoring  Modem Wizard application for advanced configuration

37. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.37 Accessories  Neck Extension  Head-Body separation  USB-RS-485 converter  TCP/IP-RS-485 converter  DN250 and DN200 Flanges

38. © 2010 APM Automation Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.38 Summery  Technology  Radar  Mapping  Echoes  Volume  Advantages  Accuracy  Self cleaning  Products  Questions?