The Precarn Universe
Precarn uniquely operates in the juncture of Technology, Applications and a Network of R&D expertise in Canada. 
Technology(iICT)
Precarn supports collaborative R&D and commercialization for a segment of technology we call intelligent information and communications technology (iICT). iICT emulates and enhances the human ability to perceive, reason or act. It enables us to do tasks more efficiently, more safely and faster. iICT comes into our daily lives in many forms smart materials, sensors, software and computers embedded in machines and devices.
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Applications
Two of the goals of Precarn are to help Canadian firms improve productivity and competitiveness and to encourage the diffusion and commercial exploitation of new technologies by Canadian firms. Precarn facilitates these goals by requiring the testing of new technology by end user organizations and by making unrelated industries aware of innovations in one industry that may apply in their's.
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Network
Precarn continuously is building and maintaining a network of stakeholders in the iICT sector, both developers and end users. In fact the Precarn iICT network contains individuals and organizations, researchers and entrepreneurs alike; both from the private and public sector. The Member of the Precarn Network include companies, universities, colleges, institutes, federal, provincial and municipal governments, and capital investment firms. >>Click here to learn more
intelligent
Information&CommunicationsTechnology
iICT, intelligent information and communications techology, emulates and enhances the human ability to perceive, reason or act. It enables us to do tasks more efficiently, more safely and faster. iICT comes into our daily lives in many forms smart materials, sensors, software and computers embedded in machines and devices.
In the broadest sense, iICT Systems are intelligent systems that emulate and actively employ some aspect of human intelligence in performing a task. In the context of the Precarn mandate, this description is focused on what are generally referred to as "high-end " systems, namely - those that demand some combination of sensing, reasoning, activity and human interaction.
iICT Systems-comprised of sensors, software and computers, embedded in machines and other devices-are the tools that bring the power of computing technology into our daily lives and business practices. Together, these technologies emulate, and even enhance, the human ability to perceive, reason, and act. To put this into context, an archetypal intelligent system would allow a machine to autonomously interact with environments that are complex, foreign, hazardous or unpredictable. Intelligent systems emulate the human ability to perceive, reason, make decisions, and act. They enable machines and devices to anticipate requirements and deal with environments that are complex, unknown, and unpredictable. The broad range of technologies includes robotics, sensors, knowledge-based software, and the enabling human-machine interfaces.
Intelligent systems were first developed for use in traditional industries, such as manufacturing, mining, and forestry, enabling the automation of routine or dangerous tasks to improve productivity and quality. Today, there are intelligent systems applications in virtually all sectors of the Canadian economy, including applications such as health care and the environment, where they deliver social as well as economic benefits.
A Profile of Canada's Intelligent Systems Industry
Developed for Precarn Incorporated and Industry Canada by Birkenheier & Associates, March 31, 2003
Canadian Intelligent Systems Companies
2003
Here are some examples of technologies employed in iICT. This list, however, is not meant to be exclusive.
1. Sensing and Vision Systems: Sensors are integral components of many systems, and which support (among others) robotics, process control, vision and other intelligent systems. To illustrate, proximity sensors are used in collision avoidance and to facilitate close-proximity operations of remote manipulators. Tactile sensors, on the other hand, facilitate the manipulative capability of robot arms and end-effectors. Although many of these sensors have a variety of applications, some are more prevalent in specific industries. A variety of sensors (e.g. moisture, pressure, flow and temperature) are widely applied in the manufacturing sector, to both monitor and control processes. Image-capture sensors include those that capture visual data (e.g. CCD cameras) as well as those that are based on lasers, infrared and spectroscopic technologies. These image-capture sensors, having gone through several miniaturization iterations, have broadened the range of many applications; medical testing and surgical procedures, are two examples that readily come to mind.
Remote sensing technologies comprise a variety of techniques that are used for collecting image or other forms of geographic data. Both image- and data-processing are an integral part of remote-sensing systems. Remote sensing has applications within natural resource management and environmental monitoring, and is routinely used by professionals in the fields of, oceanography, geology, agriculture and forestry among others, The intelligent systems community contributes technologies and software that support image collection and analysis, including sensors for image capture and image-processing software.
Machine-Vision Systems integrate electronic components with software systems to imitate a variety of human functions. These range from image acquisition and mathematical analysis, through to higher-level functions including interpretation and decision-making.
The original market for machine vision systems was the automotive industry. Following this, the technology entered the electronics industry, and is now rapidly becoming ubiquitous, as vision systems are routinely used in a variety of industrial applications, including lumber mills, pharmaceutical factories, food processing plants and medical laboratories. Current commercial machine-vision systems are used in a myriad array of different ways: to measure part size, to detect surface flaws, to verify the absence of gross defects, to guide automated vehicles and robots, and to recognize and match patterns for optical character recognition.
2. Computer-Based Intelligent Systems: With its roots in expert systems, Knowledge-Based Systems (KBS) were the first major commercialization of artificial intelligence research. Expert systems contribute to intelligent systems allowing human expertise to be captured and used to aid the decision-making process, and allow for the timely resolution of extremely complex problems. Other KBS technologies include pattern recognition technologies such as statistical pattern recognition, neural networks, case-based reasoning, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, and data mining. This area of research also includes intelligent systems work related to databases, distributed databases and agents, reasoning systems and intelligent agents. Knowledge-based systems have been incorporated into equipment diagnosis, process planning, claims processing, and user identification. The industries benefitting from these systems are as diverse as their applications and cover agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, communications, financial analysis, electric power generation, and health, among others.
Process-control systems make use of intelligent-systems technologies to optimize manufacturing processes. As an example, process-control engineering, more specifically, encompasses both the design and on-line, real-time tuning methods for production and pilot plant operations.
Process control and instrumentation systems rely on the integration of actuators, switches, analyzers, controllers, optical and other sensors, and microcomputers. These intelligent machines monitor and control the operation of process equipment, including heat exchangers, distillation columns, chemical reactors, injection moulding machines, surge tanks, pulp digesters, etc. The control systems measure key operating variables such as temperature, pressure, flow, colour, density, etc., and adjust the operating conditions to optimize efficiency.
Recent efforts have explored how expert systems and neural networks can further contribute to the development of reliable and easy to use advanced control systems-which not only monitor operations, but also diagnose problems. Advanced process-control strategies make use of feed forward, cascade, decoupling, and model predictive control.
3. Robotic Systems: Robotic systems perform physical manipulations loosely based on human abilities. The technologies involved in developing these systems depend on machine vision, sensors, and knowledge-based software.
The first robot systems-as with machine-vision systems-were implemented in the automotive industry. At that time, robots were used primarily to improve quality and productivity. Further, there was the desire to lower production costs. As technologies evolve, robots have become more useful in environments that are unpredictable and dangerous for humans (e.g. high temperature, radiation areas, munitions sites, environmental cleanup) and, ironically, in ultra-clean environments (e.g. microchip and pharmaceutical plants) where humans represent the undesirable element.
The current markets for robots (in decreasing order of maturity) include: materials handling, painting, spot welding, metal working and machining, continuous path welding, electronics assembly, and clean-room manufacturing/semiconductor production.
Robotic systems also include mobile robots, and their component sub-systems, and service robots (with applications, for example, in healthcare or service industries, such as cleaning and security processing).
4. Human-Machine Interfaces for Intelligent Systems: Because intelligent systems complement human abilities, rather than replace them, the human-machine interface is an integral component of many, if not all, of these systems. The interface, which is built around knowledge representation and interactive visualization software, allow operators to interact with intelligent machines by presenting vast quantities of data in formats that make sense to humans. In turn, input-output devices, which transmit and receive position, motion and force data, allow operators to give instructions to machines through movement and force.
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Applications
The application range of Precarn projects is very broad. The enabling technologies generated by these projects deliver economic and social benefits across the Canadian economy.
Here are a few of the application segments Precarn projects have impacted:
>> Healthcare
>> Transportation
>> Infrastructure
>> Security
>> Manufacturing
>> Environment
>> Natural Resources
>> Telecommunications
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The Precarn Network
Precarn is continuously building and maintaining a network of stakeholders in the iICT sector, including researchers, developers and end users. The Precarn iICT network contains individuals and organizations, researchers and entrepeneurs alike; both from the private and public sector. The members of the Precarn Network include companies, universities, colleges, institutes, federal, provincial and municipal governments, and capital investment firms. 
The Precarn Network across Canada with members in every Province. The pie chart to the right demonstrates the relative portions of the members of the Precarn Network that have participated in one or more of the 209 projects (both Precarn and IRIS) conducted under Phases 1, 2 and 3. There are in excess of 700 such project participants.
The Precarn network is continuously growing, at last count the network contains:
- 5000+ individuals and 3000+ graduate students
- 300+ companies, both technology developers and end users
- 20+ Universities and Colleges
- 20+ Federal and Provincial Government labs
To see a graphical representation of the Precarn Network, >>click here for more...
Our Members
Precarn members come from all sectors of the Canadian iICT community: private sector, academic and government.
>>Click to learn more about Precarn Membership
>>Click to see a List of the Precarn Corporate, Alliance and Associate members
Our Partners
Collaboration is the cornerstone of the Precarn Model, hence, it is never far in what we do. Our partners help us in many ways.
Projects:
We consider the participants of the projects we support to be our Project partners. >>Click here to learn more...
Funding:
We consider the government and private sector organizations that provide investment funding for our projects to be our Investment Partners. >>Click here to learn more...
Alliance:
We consider the public and private sector organizations that participate in supporting our projects, identifying projects or project partners, or helping us to market the Precarn Model and services to be our Alliance partners. >>Click here to learn more...
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The Precarn Network Map
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