Reading Direct-Part Marking Data Matrix Code in the Context of Polymer-Based Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

A novel approach to detect and decode direct-part-marked, low-contrast data matrix codes on polymer-based selective laser sintering manufactured parts, which is able to work on lightweight devices, is presented. Direct-part marking is a concept for labeling parts directly, which can be carried out during the additive manufacturing’s design process. Because of low contrast in polymer-based selective laser sintering manufactured parts, it is a challenging task to detect and read codes on unicolored parts. To achieve this, at first, codes are located using a deep-learning-based approach. Afterwards, the calculated regions of interest are passed into an image encoding network in order to compute readable standard data matrix codes. To enhance the training process, rendered images, improved with a generative adversarial network, are used. This process fulfills the traceability task in assembly line production and is suitable for running on mobile devices such as smartphones or cheap sensors placed in the assembly line. The results show that codes can be localized with 97.38% mean average precision, and a readability of 89.36% is achieved.

Timber Traceability and Sustainable Transportation Management: A Review of Technologies and Procedures

“…Capacity and skills: The introduction of innovative technology into a wood harvesting operation and the timber supply chain includes the need for a staff that is technologically skilled and specialised, a workforce that is flexible to new technologies and modifications in conventional operations in the wood supply chain and the risk of bottlenecks in the system [100,130]. On the other hand, high-cost methods such as DNA fingerprinting and isotopic fingerprinting were accurate and safe but required specialist training and an appropriate database.…”