3D Digitization System: Request for Proposal

The Western Sustainable Archaeology facility, a CFI funded project, is seeking bids from vendors for the supply and install of lasers/imagery equipmet for a 3D Digitization System. The Request for Proposals has been published on the WEsternBUYs website (see UWORFPSR-01205) and MERX. Please direct all comments/questions through the Senior Buyer for this proposal, Mr. Scott Roth - sroth6 @ uwo.ca. Proposals close at noon EST on 26 March 2012.

Laser scanning equipment trials

It looks like February is going to be an exciting month at Sustainable Archaeology. Things started off with a bang last Friday when we attended a 3D laser scanner demonstration. The scanners were able to fully capture the artifacts in a matter of minutes, and in incredible detail - picking out all the ridges and grooves on a projectile point, and the subtle colour variation on the surface of a ceramic pot. Every aspect of an artifact can be captured with multiple scans, including rounded edges and interior surfaces, giving a full 360 degree view of an object. Sustainable Archaeology plans to have several scanners working at once, converting archaeological artifacts into digital data that will be added to our database system, allowing researchers to remotely interact with and study archaeological collections. 3D printers will also be used to create replicas of diagnostic artifacts that can be used for testing and study purposes.

RFID readers

 

The RFID scanning hardware from OCR has been installed. You can see the scanners mounted here above the doorways. All boxes will be equipped with an RFID tag that will allow us to track and locate artifacts. The scanners will read when a box has entered a room within the facility or exited the building. All artifacts logged into the database will include the RFID number of the box the artifact is packed into.This will allow us to pinpoint where any given artifact is within the facility at any given time. If a researcher sitting at a computer in Ottawa is looking at a belt buckle in the artifact database, and they'd like to come to the facility and take a closer look at that belt buckle - this system assures that they will be able to find it when they get here. Given that there will be over 54,000 boxes of artifacts in the UWO facility when it is at full capacity, the ability to find one artifact in one box within the midst is a remarkable capability. McMaster will have a compatible system, so we will know if the box an artifact belongs to is located at our facility or at McMaster's.

Winter Wonderland

 

We've had the first significant snow fall of the season to start off our New Year. This is the view out towards the ravine from our Visualization Gallery. 

The new year has also started out in more than just a flurry of snow. We've already been busy with our furniture purchase. We should know how our facility will be networked to UWO this month, so that we can proceed with purchasing our computer/server/network equipment. The RFID hardware has been installed, and is in the process of being installed at the McMaster SA facility as well. The shelving has also started to go up at McMaster, and they are on track to start purchasing the bulk of their equipment by spring.

Season's Greetings

 

Wishing one and all a safe and happy holiday season and all the best in the new year. 2012 will see significant changes at Sustainable Archaeology, as we populate the new building at UWO with equipment and complete renovations at the McMaster facility.Our database will be fully functional by early next year and we'll start receiving collections by spring.

Object to Information Conversion & Wet Lab

 

The Object to Information Lab is a lonely place right now. But in a few months, this is where our data-input crew will be sitting, as they enter raw data about the artifacts submitted to the facility into the digital database. The room will house 3-5 workstations that we expect will be kept busy. The wet lab is for processing ceramic and petrographic thin sections of archaeological and geological material, and we anticipate our research associates at HD Analytical Solutions will be making good use of the space to process their microscopic slides.

Database development

Work has been steadily progressing on the digital relational database. The database developer has produced a beta version of the platform and data entry forms, which will be revised and polished over the next several months. The aim of the database is to provide a digital record for each of the artifacts that will be stored in the facilities. Some records will include 2D photographs, others 3D images. All diagnostic artifacts will have their own DM code that will be used for both tracing the artifact to its location with the SA facilities and accessing its file within the database from a hand-held scanning device.