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1 Sep 2004 |
Project TERMES starts in
earnest |
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17 Oct 2004 |
We travel to Namibia to reveal the mound
structure of Macrotermes
michaelseni for the BBC Natural History Unit
who are filming a new David Attenborough 'Life on
Earth' series. While there, we
conduct experiments
examining the moisture and permeability of the
mound structures. Data from these experiments
will go into our model of homeostasis in
Macrotermes michaelseni
mounds.
We are joined by Jo Darlington, Scott
Turner and Eugene Marais to create what must
surely be one of the greatest entomological
experiences a team of engineers could ever hope to
have.
Our trip is hosted by
the teams at the Omatjenne research station and
the National Museum of Namibia and our warmest
thanks go to all of them for making us so welcome
and putting such enormous resources at our
disposal. Without doubt, this project would not
succeed without them. |
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Jan 2005 |
Our
second field trip to Namibia. After the heavy
rains we had to have a complete re-think as to how
we could prepare the mounds with plaster of paris
ready for the scanning machine to begin slicing
later this year. Two mounds were filled in
preparation for the scan experiment which will
capture the Macrotermes michaelseni mound
geometry - mixing and pouring 6 tonnes of plaster
of paris is back breaking work. BPB plc deliver
materials to us from Johannesbourg in South Africa
to Namibia, some 2000Km away, for free - our
thanks go to them for all their help during this
project.
By
tracking weather and rainfall throughout the year
we realise that there are only 2-3 months in
Namibia where both the temperature and rainfall
are low. This is the window we decided to go
for so that we stood a chance of operating the
scanning machine outdoors for so long.
Scanning will be done in 1mm increments and it
will take ten minutes to digitally capture each
slice which means it will take approximately one
month to scan a single mound - and we want to scan
two... |
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Feb 2005 |
The TERMES project was
featured on a BBC3 documentary called "Bionic
Buildings".
We have three months
to to design, build, test and ship the world's
largest mobile scanning machine so that we can
make the June to August window in the
weather. We needed help, and that's when
HelmX stepped in to the driving seat. Brent
and his team began pulling off nothing short of a
miracle of engineering at their Birmingham
facility. |
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April 2005 |
The slice and scan
equipment manufacture begins. Designing the
machine from scratch took just two weeks and HelmX
pulled out all the stops to meet the
deadline. Progress is remarkable and within
another two weeks the steelwork, motors and
controllers arrived at Birmingham |
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May 2005 |
We identified a suitable scanning method,
and with various companies assisting us with the
construction process, we can stay on budget.
Our special thanks must go to RS
Components, Bonfiglioli and Delcam for supporting
us with materials and services - we are indebted
to you. The slice and scan machine begins to
emerge from the ground. It's so big we have to
hire a warehouse to assemble it in. |
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June 2005 |
The machine and all the electronics are in
place and testing begins on the 6th June. We
have one week of testing before the machine has to
be packed and loaded in to a shipping container
ready for shipping to Namibia. This would
normally be a very expensive process because it is
a 'one-off' delivery, but John Good and Sons
stepped in with an offer of financial assistance -
special thanks to them.
Wolf and Eugene Marias organise the
excavation of the foundation in Namibia ready for
our imminent arrival.
The TERMES project was featured with an
interview on BBC Radio 4 "Materials
World". |
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July 2005 |
Scanning begins on the termite mound for 2
months, night and day.
A number of experiments will be undertaken
to determine input and output variables of our CFD
model of a Macrotermes michaelseni mound,
including mound permeability, colony respiration
rate, internal gas concentrations and mound air
velocity experiments which begin to measure
internal and external environmental conditions
including metabolic rates, mound permeability,
respiratory gas concentrations and temperature
profiles. |
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Sept 2005 |
Phase II of the project completed.
Successfully sliced and scanned 2500 images to 1½
metres below ground level. The filling technique
proved remarkably successful, capturing the finest
of details within the mound structure, we were
even able to scan the Royal chamber. It was a 2
month challenge working 24 hours a day in hot and
dusty conditions.
Recorded interviews for the BBC World
Service and BBC Wild In Africa
series. |
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Oct 2005 |
Complete data set safely delivered to the
UK. We then spent a frantic two weeks
cleaning up and normalising the scan images but
struggled to handle the shear size of the data
(going to need some pretty massive computing
capability for this). We managed to produce
'first pass' 3D visualisations for everything
above ground level and also full, low res, 3D
rotations of this stunning structure for release
on Sir David Attenborough's 'Life In The
Undergrowth' launch in mid-November 2005.
Some interesting features immediately jump
out. There's a much finer channel detail
towards the upper sections of the mound and a
rapid transition, in the central part of the
mound, from many channels to just three main
channels leading to the top of the mound.
This may be an effect of the thresholds used for
the low res reconstruction and needs to be
confirmed in better detail - but already questions
being raised as to what it means - we're like
children crowded around our birthday
presents. |
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Dec 2005 |
Sir David Attenborough's new
series 'LIFE IN THE
UNDERGROWTH' is screened on BBC1.
The research is featured in the
'Making Of' documentary at the end of Episode 4 on
14th December, and the filming of the termites
which the BBC film crew did with us in October
2004 is featured in Episode 5 - 'Super Societies',
screened on 21st December 2005. |
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