Contact Dr Thomas Kissinger
- Email: t.kissinger@cranfield.ac.uk
Areas of expertise
- Instrumentation, Sensors and Measurement Science
- Sensor Technologies
- Welding and Laser Processing
Background
Thomas is a Lecturer in Optical Instrumentation at the Centre for Engineering Photonics at ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ and holder of a 5-year Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship (2018-2023) with a project entitled "Doppler-enhanced lidar system using range-resolved interferometry". Thomas is a trained physicist (Dipl.-Phys.) and electrical engineer (B.Sc) and has previously worked in the optical metrology industry. He has been with the Centre for Engineering Photonics, first as a PhD student and then as a Research Fellow since 2011. His PhD in area of range-resolved interferometric signal processing for fibre sensing applications won the 2016 Lord Kings Norton prize for the best overall PhD thesis across ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥.
Current activities
Thomas's main research areas are the applications of interferometric and other optical measurement techniques to engineering problems in areas such as:
3D Imaging and Lidar
Precision Optical Interferometry and Vibrometry
Optical Fibre Sensing, in particular Fibre Optic Shape Sensing
Manufacturing Instrumentation
Optical Gas Sensing
He has recently been awarded a 5-year Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship (2018-2023), which investigates a new type of interferometric 'Doppler-enhanced' 3D imaging (lidar) system that can simultaneously measure high-quality velocity and acceleration data in addition to 3D images and could be of great benefit for many applications, including manufacturing, robotics, autonomous vehicles and healthcare.
He was a Researcher Co-Investigator on the three year Engineering and Physical Research Council (EPSRC) grant 'Novel optical instrumentation for robotic manufacturing' (2015-2018) and he is heavily involved with the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) funded project BladeSense (2015-2019). Both projects are partially based on applying the range-resolved interferometry technique developed developed during his PhD project to real-world problems in manufacturing and aerospace.Also his Royal Society Paul Instrument Fund project (2016-2019) "Self-referencing multi-surface precision interferometer" is looking to extend the usefulness of the range-reselved interferometry technique to precision optical meterology.
In addition to this he works with Oxford Instruments Nanoscience on the application of displacement and vibration measurements to their products and is collaborates with ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥'s Welding Engineering Research Centre on the application of novel interferometric sensors to laser based welding and additive manufacturing.
Clients
- Welding Engineering and Laser Processing Centre
- National Physical Laboratory
- Oxford Instruments PLC
- QinetiQ Group PLC
- Airbus SE
