David Jones

David Jones BSc MSc

David is a Research Associate at the University of Bristol Design and Manufacturing Futures Lab. With a background in Space Science and Robotics (BSc Aberystwyth University) and Intelligent Autonomous Systems (MSc Aberystwyth University), David Joined the DMF Lab as a PhD researcher in 2013. Working with the Airbus Group’s Knowledge Management team and tasked with improving information access and knowledge discovery, David developed Model Based Information Navigation, a means of navigating document collections via a web-based three-dimensional representation of the product. As a Research Associate, David worked with Aluity Solutions to develop novel user interfaces for building asset management, The Language of Collaborative Manufacture to explore data visualisation via three-dimensional product representations and Digital – Physical Twinning on the integration of the physical and digital prototypes generated in design.

Outside of academia, in 2012 David has worked as a Database/Business Intelligence Developer at the Ford Motor Company implementing a global reporting system based on SQL Server, Teradata data warehouse and Microsoft Reporting Services. Prior to this David worked with Cardiff University and the Ford Motor Company’s engine manufacturing plant in Bridgend, South Wales on site specific data analysis and reporting.

Research Interests

• Engineering Informatics and Knowledge Management
• Machine Learning/Data Mining/Information Management/Information Retrieval and Search Systems
• Information Visualisation and Virtual Environments
• Human Computer Interaction
• Mobile Robotics and Autonomous Navigation

Publications

Industrial Collaborations

• Altuity Solutions
• The Airbus Group
• The Ford Motor Company

Projects

• Digital – Physical Twinning: Integrating digital / physical toolchains for engineering prototyping.
• The Language of Collaborative Manufacture: Developing cutting-edge analytics for real-time, automatic monitoring of large-scale engineering processes and projects.
• Model Based Information Navigation: Navigating document collections via a web-based, three-dimensional representation of the product.
• Mixed Media Building Asset Management: Novel user interfaces for building asset management.

Recent Posts

• New journal paper: Model-Based Information Navigation for Engineering Documents - I've finally gotten around to publishing my PhD work in the Computers in Industry journal: https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0166361520304887 Model-based information navigation provides a three-dimensional user interface (based on the product CAD model) as an interface to a search engine. Given engineers think visually and functionally and search engines are traditionally text based,… Read More
• New Publication Alert! Characterising the Digital Twin: A systematic literature review - Some of the work undertaken as part of the protoTwinning project involved an in depth understanding of the Digital Twin such that the project could determine the appropriateness of the paradigm to early stage design and prototyping activities. The paper is the result of a systematic literature review into existing… Read More
• NTNU Troll Labs Visit - We started March 2020 with a quick visit the guys at Troll Labs at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. It was a massively productive visit. Troll Labs have a number of past and present research projects that align nicely to the DMF-Lab and the protoTwinning… Read More
• Lee takes CityBlocks to the Bristol Housing Festival - Building on the success of last year, Lee has rolled out the next generation of CityBlocks at the Bristol Housing Festival, with support from Arup . This year tasked with enabling community input to the redevelopment of Spike Island, Bristol. Lee jumped to the challenge. Spike Island, Bristol Now armed… Read More
• Measure me this! Evaluating metrology solutions for the digital capture of evolving prototypes. - by David Jones and Owen Freeman Gebler As part of the ProtoTwinning project (https://gow.epsrc.ukri.org/NGBOViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/R032696/1), we are evaluating metrology methods for digitally capturing evolving prototypes. We are currently experimenting with the Einscan Pro+ (https://www.einscan.com/handheld-scanner/einscan-pro-plus/), photogrammetry using Agisoft MetaShape (https://www.agisoft.com/), and the FARO Arm (https://www.faro.com/en-gb/products/). It's early days but see below for… Read More
• Altuity blog on the commercial side of the project - Our industrial partners on the project, Altuity, have recently blogged about the product delevoped on the back of the project. The blog is available here: https://www.altuity.com/blog/2018/06/19/bim-photospheres-and-augmented-reality-for-facilities-management/ Read More
• New paper – Mixed Reality Tools as an Enabler for Improving Operation and Maintenance in Small and Medium Enterprises - Harry Whiskard, a former Research Assistant at the DMF Lab will be presenting the Lab's work with Altuity Solutions Ltd at the 15th International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management on the 1-4 July 2018, Torino, Italy. The paper discusses the emerging mixed reality tools and their applicability in the operation… Read More
• New paper – The Design of Visual Information Objects in Three-Dimensional Virtual Environments for Engineering Information Navigation - Presented at the DESIGN 2018 15th International Design Conference in Croatia, the latest paper from the Model-Based Information Navigation project described the design of a number of Visual Information Objects – markers that identify the presence of information within the three-dimensional virtual environment. Below are a number of animated gifs… Read More