Advances in measurement technology and intelligent instruments for manufacturing engineering

Abstract

The requirements for high precision and high quality components and devices in meeting the needs of modern industry and society in many disciplines such as semiconductors, optics, nanotechnology, MEMS, manufacturing, biomedical, and environmental engineering, make measurement technology and intelligent instruments, which sense, measure, and report, more important than ever and necessary for the rapid development of information technology. Papers published in this special issue were selected and updated from those presented at the 8th International Symposium on Measurement Technology and Intelligent Instruments (ISMTII 2007; http://www.ismtii2007.mech. tohoku.ac.jp/) held at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, during 24–27 September 2007. ISMTII 2007 was organized by the International Committee on Measurements and Instrumentation (ICMI; http:// ihome.ust.hk/∼meygao/ICMI/), Japan Society for Precision Engineering (JSPE, Technical Committee of Intelligent Measurement with Nanoscale), Korean Society for Precision Engineering (KSPE), Chinese Society for Measurement (CSM), and Tohoku University. The symposium was also supported by Center for Precision Metrology of UNC at Charlotte and Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology. Based on the review and recommendations by the Publication Committee of ISMTII 2007 (http://www. ismtii2007.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/conference_committees.htm), the guest editors selected and organized journal level review of papers by 4–5 reviewers for each paper. The review has been seen as an extensive process concentrating on originality and quality. While emphasizing the practical techniques to improve precision and efficiency, theoretical examinations of measurement processes and systems were also considered. The guest editors finally recommended publication of ten updated and/or revised versions of some of the best ISMTII 2007 papers, including one which received Best Papers Award of Poster Presentation (http://ihome.ust.hk/∼meygao/ ICMI/ISMTII/2007/ReportISMTII2007v3.pdf), while most of the papers were accepted papers of Invited Sessions at Y. Gao (*) Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China e-mail: meygao@ust.hk