Marcos Eduardo Orchard Concha (Ph.D.)

e-mail: morchard@ing.uchile.cl

Associate Professor

Department of Electrical Engineering

Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

 

Associate Researcher

Advanced Mining Technology Center

Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

 

Past-President

Chilean Association of Automatic Control (ACCA)

Chilean NMO of IFAC

BookCover

Dr. Marcos E. Orchard is Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering at Universidad de Chile, Associate Researcher at the Advanced Mining Technology Center, and Project Leader at the Lithium Innovation Center. His current research interest is the design, implementation and testing of real-time frameworks for fault diagnosis and failure prognosis, with applications to battery management systems, mining industry, and finance. His fields of expertise include statistical process monitoring, parametric/non-parametric modeling, and system identification. His research work at the Georgia Institute of Technology was the foundation of novel real-time fault diagnosis and failure prognosis approaches based on particle filtering algorithms. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from The Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, in 2005 and 2007, respectively. He received his B.S. degree (1999) and a Civil Industrial Engineering degree with Electrical Major (2001) from Catholic University of Chile. Dr. Orchard is an internationally recognized expert in the field of fault diagnosis and prognosis, Bayesian filtering in dynamic non-linear systems, stochastic processes and sequential Monte Carlo methods.

Research Lines:

My research interests include system identification, fault detection and isolation (FDI), failure prognosis, and statistical process control. Amongst the techniques and approaches that I am familiar with I can mention sequential Monte Carlo methods (Particle Filtering), Kalman filtering, multivariate statistical analysis (PCA and PLS), wavelet analysis, fuzzy expert systems, fuzzy predictive control, neural networks. At the moment, I am focused on the study of uncertainty representation and management in FDI/prognosis frameworks using sequential Monte Carlo methods (particle filters) in nonlinear, time-varying, and non-Gaussian systems. More information may be found in my publications.

  • Fault Diagnosis and Failure Prognosis in Nonlinear Dynamic Systems: Particle-filtering-based RUL estimation

  • State Estimation in Non-Gaussian Dynamic Systems

  • Automated Contingency Management Systems (Reconfigurable Control Systems)

 

Research Experience

  • Innova-Chile CORFO Project 11IDL1-10409: “Enfoque Probabilístico Basado en Modelos para la Estimación en Línea del Estado-de-Salud/Estado-de-Carga y Caracterización del Perfil de Uso de Baterías de Ion-Litio” PI: Marcos Orchard (U.Ch.). Faculty of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Department of Electrical Engineering. Universidad de Chile (2012).

  • FONDECYT Project 1110070: “Risk-Sensitive Particle Filtering Framework for Failure Prognosis and uncertainty Representation in Nonlinear Systems with High-Impact/Low-Likelihood Events”. PI: Marcos Orchard (U.Ch). Faculty of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Department of Electrical Engineering. Universidad de Chile (2011-2013).

  • FONDECYT Project 11070022: “Sequential Monte Carlo Methods and Feedback Concepts Applied to Fault Diagnosis and Failure Prognosis in Nonlinear, Non-Gaussian Dynamic Systems”. PI: Marcos Orchard (U.Ch). Faculty of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Department of Electrical Engineering. Universidad de Chile (2007-2009).

  • FONDECYT Project 1020741: “Fault Detection and Diagnosis in Dynamic Non Linear Time Varying Systems”. PI: Aldo Cipriano (P.U.C.) y Guillermo Gonzalez (U.Ch). Faculty of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Department of Electrical Engineering. Universidad de Chile (2002).

  • “Model-Based Fuzzy Predictive Control for Grinding Plants”. PI: Aldo Cipriano. Faculty of Civil Engineering. Department of Electrical Engineering. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2001).

  • “A Full Compensating System for General Loads, Based on a Combination of Thyristor Binary Compensator and a PWM-IGBT Active Power Filter”.  PI: Juan Dixon. Faculty of Civil Engineering. Department of Electrical Engineering. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2000).

  • INCO-PROQUS “Advanced Model Based Process and Quality Supervision in Steel Production. Expert system for real time supervision”. PI: Aldo Cipriano. Faculty of Civil Engineering. Department of Electrical Engineering. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (1999-2000).

 

Teaching:

  • Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Universidad de Chile.

    EL7014 "Diagnóstico y Pronóstico de Fallas" (Fault Diagnosis and Failure Prognosis)

    EL5205 "Laboratorio de Control Avanzado" (Advanced Control Systems Laboratory)

    EL4105 "Control Avanzado de Sistemas" (Advanced Control Systems)

    EL650 "Control Avanzado de Sistemas" (Advanced Control Systems)

    EL42D "Control de Sistemas" (Control Systems)

    EL4003 "Señales y Sistemas II" (Signals and Systems II)

    EL32D "Análisis y Modelación de Sistemas Dinámicos" (Modeling and Analysis of Dynamic Systems)

    EL32C "Análisis de Circuitos II" (Network Analysis II)

  • Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

    ECE 4562 "Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic in Control"

 

Journal Publications:

  • Orchard, M., Hevia-Koch, P., Zhang, B., and Tang, L., “Risk Measures for Particle-Filtering-Based State-of-Charge Prognosis in Lithium-Ion Batteries,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (accepted).

  • Olivares, B., Cerda, M., Orchard, M., and Jorge F. Silva, “Particle-filtering-based Prognosis Framework for Energy Storage Devices with a Statistical Characterization of State-of-Health Regeneration Phenomena,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 62, Issue 2, pp. 364‑376, February 2013.

  • Orchard, M., Cerda, M., Olivares, B., and Silva, J., "Sequential Monte Carlo Methods for Discharge Time Prognosis in Lithium-Ion Batteries," International Journal of Prognostics and Health Management, Vol. 3, Issue 2 (010), pp. 1-12, 2012. (pdf)

  • Chen, C., Brown, D., Sconyers, C., Zhang, B., Vachtsevanos, G., and Orchard, M., “An integrated architecture for fault diagnosis and failure prognosis of complex engineering systems,” Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 39, Issue 10, pp. 9031‑9040, August 2012.

  • Chen, C., Vachtsevanos, G., Orchard, M., "Machine Remaining Useful Life Prediction: an Integrated Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy and High-Order Particle Filtering Approach," Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 28, pp. 597-607, April 2012.

  • Tobar, F. and Orchard, M., "Study of Financial Systems Volatility Using Suboptimal Estimation Algorithms," Studies in Informatics and Control, vol. 21, Issue 1, pp. 59‑66, March 2012.

  • Chen, C., Vachtsevanos, G., Orchard, M., “Machine Condition Prediction Based on Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy and High-Order Particle Filtering," IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 58, no. 9, pp. 4353-4364, September 2011.

  • Mascaró, M., Cabello, F., Parra, S.I., Vallejos, P., Guerrero, P., Ehrenfeld, A., Acuña, A., Ruiz del Solar, J., and Orchard, M., “Instrumentación, Actuación e Implementación de Control Difuso de Bajo Nivel en Vehículo Terrestre Autónomo de Escala Real,” Anales del Instituto de Ingenieros de Chile, Vol. 123, no. 2, pp.53-61, Aug. 2011.

  • Zhang, B., Sconyers, C., Byington, C., Patrick, R., Orchard, M., and Vachtsevanos, G., “A Probabilistic Fault Detection Approach: Application to Bearing Fault Detection,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 58, no. 5, pp. 2011-2018, May 2011.

  • Orchard, M., Tang, L., Saha, B., Goebel, K., and Vachtsevanos, G., “Risk-Sensitive Particle-Filtering-based Prognosis Framework for Estimation of Remaining Useful Life in Energy Storage Devices,” Studies in Informatics and Control, vol. 19, Issue 3, pp. 209-218, September 2010.

  • Zhang, B., Khawaja, T., Patrick, R., Vachtsevanos, G., Orchard, M., and Saxena, A., "A Novel Blind Deconvolution De-Noising Scheme in Failure Prognosis," Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control, vol. 32, Issue 1, pp. 3-30, February 2010. (pdf)

  • Orchard, M., Tobar, F., and Vachtsevanos, G., “Outer Feedback Correction Loops in Particle Filtering-based Prognostic Algorithms: Statistical Performance Comparison,” Studies in Informatics and Control, vol. 18, Issue 4, pp. 295-304, December 2009.

  • Orchard, M. and Vachtsevanos, G., “A Particle Filtering Approach for On-Line Fault Diagnosis and Failure Prognosis,” Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control, vol. 31, no. 3-4, pp. 221-246, June 2009. (pdf)

  • Zhang, B., Khawaja, T., Patrick, R., Vachtsevanos, G., Orchard, M., and Saxena, A., “Application of Blind Deconvolution Denoising in Failure Prognosis,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 303-310, February 2009. (pdf)

  • Orchard, M., and Vachtsevanos, G., “A Particle Filtering Approach for On-Line Failure Prognosis in a Planetary Carrier Plate,” International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 221-227, 2007.

  • Gonzalez G.D., Orchard, M., Cerda J.L., Casali A. and Vallebuona, G., “Local models for soft-sensors in a rougher flotation bank," Minerals Engineering, vol. 16, no.5, pp. 441-453, 2003.

  • Dixon, J., del Valle, Y., Orchard, M., Ortúzar, M., Morán, L., and Maffrand C., “A Full Compensating System for General Loads, Based on a Combination of Thyristor Binary Compensator, and a PWM-IGBT Active Power Filter,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 982-989, 2003.

 

Books and Chapters:

  • Orchard, M., “On-line Fault Diagnosis and Failure Prognosis Using Particle Filters. Theoretical Framework and Case Studies”, Publisher: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, April 2009, 108 pages.

  • Orchard, M., Kacprzynski, G., Goebel, K., Saha, B., and Vachtsevanos, G., "Applications of Intelligent Control to Engineering Systems. In Honour of Dr. G. J. Vachtsevanos", Ed. Kimon P. Valavanis; Chapter Title: "Advances in Uncertainty Representation and Management for Particle Filtering Applied to Prognostics", Publisher: Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, June 2009, pp. 23-35

  • Zhang, B., Khawaja, T., Patrick, R., Vachtsevanos, G., Orchard, M., and Saxena, A., "Applications of Intelligent Control to Engineering Systems. In Honour of Dr. G. J. Vachtsevanos", Ed. Kimon P. Valavanis; Chapter Title: "A Novel Blind Deconvolution De-Noising Scheme in Failure Prognosis", Publisher: Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, June 2009, pp. 37-64
  • Orchard, M., Vachtsevanos, G., and Goebel, K., “Machine Learning and Knowledge Discovery for Engineering Systems Health Management”, Ed. Srivastava, A. and Han, J.; Chapter Title: “A Combined Model-Based and Data-Driven Prognostic Approach for Aircraft System Life Management”, Publisher: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, United States, 2012, pp. 363-394.

 

Awards and Distinctions

2011             Best Lecturer. Department of Electrical Engineering. Universidad de Chile.

2011             A SAGE 2010 most downloaded article.

2010             Best Paper Award: Annual Conference of the PHM Society 2010.

2009-2011   President of the “Chilean Association of Automatic Control”-ACCA. Chilean NMO of IFAC.

2003-2006   "President of the Republic" Scholarship: Graduate Studies Abroad. Ministry of Planning (MIDEPLAN), Santiago, Chile.

2003-2005   Fulbright Grant. Graduate Studies. Fulbright-Chile, Santiago, Chile.

2002            "Roberto Ovalle Aguirre" Award. Best National Thesis Work. Chilean Institute of Engineers, Santiago, Chile.

2001             Best Senior Student. Department of Electrical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

 

Presentations at National/International Conferences:

  • Orchard, M., Olivares, B., Cerda, M. and Silva, J., “Anomaly Detection Based on Information-Theoretic Measures and Particle Filtering Algorithms,” Annual Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management Society 2012, September 23th‑27th 2012, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

  • Moreno, G., Sáez, D., and Orchard, M., "A New Method for Identification of Fuzzy Models based on Evolutionary Algorithms and its Application to the Modeling of a Wind Turbine," 9th International Conference on Control and Automation - ICCA 2011, December 19th-21th 2011, Santiago, Chile.  

  • Cabello, F., Acuña, A., Vallejos, P., Orchard, M., and Ruiz del Solar, J., "Design and Validation of a Fuzzy Longitudinal Controller Based on a Vehicle Dynamic Simulator," 9th International Conference on Control and Automation - ICCA 2011, December 19th-21th 2011, Santiago, Chile.

  • Orchard, M., Silva, J., and Tang, L., “A Probabilistic Approach for Online Model-based Estimation of SOH/SOC and use profile characterization for Li-Ion Batteries,” Battery Management Workshop, Annual Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management Society 2011, September 25th-29th 2011, Montreal, QB, Canada.

  • Orchard, M., Tang, L. and Vachtsevanos, G., “A Combined Anomaly Detection and Failure Prognosis Approach for Estimation of Remaining Useful Life in Energy Storage Devices,” Annual Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management Society 2011, September 25th-29th 2011, Montreal, QB, Canada.

  • Tobar, F., Yacher, L., Paredes, R. and Orchard, M., "Anomaly Detection in Power Generation Plants using Similarity-based Modeling and Multivariate Analysis," 2011 American Control Conference - ACC2011, June 29-July 1 2011, San Francisco, CA, USA.

  • Tang, L and Orchard, M., Goebel, K., and Vachtsevanos, G., "Novel Metrics and Methodologies for the Verification and Validation of Prognostic Algorithms," 2011 IEEE Aerospace Conference, March 5-12, 2011, Big Sky, Montana, USA.

  • Edwards, D., Orchard, M., Tang, L., Goebel, K., and Vachtsevanos, G., “Impact of Input Uncertainty on Failure Prognostic Algorithms: Extending the Remaining Useful Life of Nonlinear Systems,” Annual Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management Society 2010, October 10th-14th 2010, Portland, OR, USA. (Best Paper Award)

  • Chen, C., Brown, D., Sconyers, C., Vachtsevanos, G., Zhang, B., and Orchard, M., “A .NET Framework for an Integrated Fault Diagnosis and Failure Prognosis Architecture,” IEEE AUTOTESTCON 2010, September 13th‑16th 2010, Orlando, FL, USA.

  • Tobar, F., and Orchard, M., “Study of Financial Systems Volatilty Using Suboptimal Algorithms,” XIV Congreso Latinoamericano de Control Automático, August 24th-27th 2010, Santiago, Chile.

  • Acuña, A., and Orchard, M., “Diagnóstico de Fallas en Válvulas de Flujo en Simulador de Planta Evaporadora de dos Etapas,” XIV Congreso Latinoamericano de Control Automático, August 24th-27th 2010, Santiago, Chile.

  • Zhang, B., Sconyers, C., Orchard, M., Patrick, R., and Vachtsevanos, G., “Fault Progression Modeling: An Application to Bearing Diagnosis and Prognosis,” 2010 American Control Conference–ACC2010, June 30th-July 2nd 2010, Baltimore, MD, USA.

  • Orchard, M., Tang, L., Goebel, K., and Vachtsevanos, G., “A Novel RSPF Approach to Prediction of High-Risk, Low-Probability Failure Events,” First Annual Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management Society, 2009, San Diego, CA, USA. (pdf)

  • Brown, D., Georgoulas, G., Bole, B., Pei, H-L, Orchard, M., Tang, L., Saha, B., Abhinav Saxena, A., Goebel, K., and Vachtsevanos, G., “Prognostics Enhanced Reconfigurable Control of Electro-Mechanical Actuators,” First Annual Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management Society, 2009, San Diego, CA, USA.

  • Orchard, M., Kacprzynski, G., Goebel, K., Saha, B., and Vachtsevanos, G., “Advances in Uncertainty Representation and Management for Particle Filtering Applied to Prognostics,” 1st International Conference on Prognostics and Health Management – PHM08, October 6-9, Denver, CO, USA.

  • Zhang, B., Sconyers, C., Byington, C., Patrick, R., Orchard, M., and Vachtsevanos, G., “Anomaly detection: A robust approach to detection of unanticipated faults,” 1st International Conference on Prognostics and Health Management – PHM08, Denver, CO, USA, October 6-9, 2008.

  • Zhang, B., Georgoulas, G., Orchard, M., Saxena, A., Brown, D., Vachtsevanos, G., and Liang, S., “Rolling Element Bearing Feature Extraction and Anomaly Detection Based on Vibration Monitoring,” 16th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation – MED’08, June 25-27, 2008, Congress Centre, Ajaccio, Corsica, France.

  • Tang, L., Kacprzynski, G., Goebel, K., Reimann, J., Orchard, M., Saxena, A., and Saha, B., “Prognostics in the Control Loop,” Proceedings of the 2007 AAAI Fall Symposium on Artificial Intelligence for Prognostics, November 9-11, 2007, Arlington, VA.

  • Patrick R., Orchard, M., Zhang, B., Koelemay, M., Kacprzynski, G., Ferri, A., Vachtsevanos, G., “An Integrated Approach to Helicopter Planetary Gear Fault Diagnosis and Failure Prognosis,” 42nd annual Systems Readiness Technology Conference, AUTOTESTCON 2007, Baltimore, USA, Sept. 2007.

  • Zhang, B., Khawaja, T., Patrick R., Vachtsevanos, G., Orchard, M., Saxena, A., “Use of Blind Deconvolution De-Noising Scheme in Failure Prognosis,” 42nd annual Systems Readiness Technology Conference, AUTOTESTCON 2007, Baltimore, USA, Sept. 2007.

  • Orchard, M., and Vachtsevanos, G., “A Particle Filtering-based Framework for Real-time Fault Diagnosis and Failure Prognosis in a Turbine Engine,” 15th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation – MED’07, Athens, Greece, 2007.

  • Abbas, M., Ferri, A., Orchard, M., Vachtsevanos, G., “An Intelligent Diagnostic/Prognostic Framework for Automotive Electrical System,” 2007 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium-IV'07, Istanbul, Turkey, June 13-15, 2007.

  • Tang, L., Saxena, A., Orchard, M., Kacprzynski, G., Vachtsevanos, G., and Patterson-Hine, A., “Simulation-based Design and Validation of Automated Contingency Management for Propulsion Systems,” IEEE Aerospace Conference 2007. Big Sky, Montana, March 03-10, 2007.

  • Saxena, A., Orchard, M., Zhang, B., Vachtsevanos, G., Tang, L., Lee, Y., and Wardi, Y., “Automated Contingency Management for Propulsion Systems,” Proceedings of the 2007 European Control Conference ECC2007 Kos, Greece, July 2- 5, 2007.

  • Orchard, M., Wu, B., and Vachtsevanos, G., “A Particle Filter Framework for Failure Prognosis,” Proceedings of WTC2005 World Tribology Congress III. Washington D.C., USA, Sept. 12-16, 2005.

  • Yacher, L., and Orchard, M., “Statistical Multivariate Analysis and Dynamics Monitoring for Plant Supervision Improvement,” Copper International Conference 2003. Nov. 2003, Santiago, Chile.

  • Romero F. and Orchard M. “Statistical Multivariable Analysis for Improved Plant Control”. 2003 SME Annual Meeting & Exhibit, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Feb. 2003.

  • Del Valle, Orchard, Dixon, Morán. “Control system for a Thyristor Binary Compensator (TBC)”. XV Congreso Chileno de Control Automático, ACCA 2002. Santiago, Chile, 2002.

  • Alexei Lisounkin, Gerhard Schreck, Jonas Paiuk, Franco Muratori, Mariana Viale, Andrés Vigliocco, Aldo Z. Cipriano, Marcos C. Orchard, Benjamin Kuchen, Andrés Lage, Francisco Rossomando, Hans-Werner Schmidt, Ramón Galán, Agustin Jimenez. “Advanced Model Based Process Supervision in Hot Steel Milling”. 15th Triennial World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), 21st - 26th July, 2002, Barcelona, Spain.

  • Marcos Orchard, Carlos Muñoz, Aldo Cipriano. "Predictive Control with Fuzzy Characterization of Percentage of solids, particle size and power demand for grinding sections".  Congreso CCA/ISIC 2001. Mexico City, Sept. 5-7, 2001

  • Marcos Orchard C., A. Flores, C. Muñoz, A. Cipriano. “Model-based predictive control with fuzzy characterization of goals and constraints, applied to the dynamic optimization of grinding plants”. FUZZ-IEEE 2001. Melbourne, Australia. Dec. 2001.

  • Marcos Orchard C., Aldo Cipriano M., Aldo Cipriano Z., Mariana Viale, Andrés Vigliocco. “A model based fault detection and diagnosis system for rolling mill equipments”. European Control Conference. Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto. Instituto de Sistemas e  Robótica. Porto, Portugal. Sept. 2001.

  • Juan Dixon, Yamille del Valle, Marcos Orchard, Micah Ortúzar, Luis Morán, Carlos Maffrand. “A Full Compensating System for General Loads, Based on a Combination of Thyristor Binary Compensator, and a PWM-IGBT Active Power Filter”. Industrial Electronics Conference IECON'01. Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. Noviembre 29 a Dec. 2, 2001

  • Marcos Orchard C., Aldo Cipriano M., Aldo Cipriano Z., Mariana Viale, Andrés Vigliocco. “Design of a model based fault detection and diagnosis system for rolling mill equipments”. XIV Congreso Chileno de Control Automático. Universidad del Bío Bío, Concepción, Chile. Oct. 2000.

  • Dixon, Del Valle, Orchard, Maffrand, Morán. “Nueva Topología para un Compensador de Reactivos Libre de Armónicos Usando Válvulas Unidireccionales”. XIII Congreso de Ingeniería Eléctrica. Universidad de Santiago de Chile. Nov. 1999.

 

Dissemination and Transfer

  • Guest Editor, Studies in Informatics and Control (2011).

  • Program Chair, IEEE 9th International Conference on Control and Automation - ICCA 2011

  • Orchard. M., “Anomaly Detection and Remaining Useful Life Prediction of Equipment based on Data Mining and Probabilistic Models”. X Encuentro de Gestión de Activos Físicos, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, June 2011.

  • Conference Chair, XIV Latin American Congress of Automatic Control, August 2010.

  • Orchard, M., “VI Escuela de Verano Latinoamericana en Inteligencia Computacional” and “III Escuela de Verano Latinoamericana en Robótica” EVIC 2009 (15th -18th December 2009, Santiago, Chile). Keynote Speaker “Data Mining and Virtual Sensors: Application to Anomaly Detection and Failure Prognosis”.

  • Orchard, M., “XVIII Congreso de la Asociación Chilena de Control Automático” ACCA 2008 (10th -12th December 2008, Santiago, Chile). Keynote Speaker “Fault Diagnosis for Reconfigurable Control”.

  • Yacher L. and Orchard M., “Pattern analysis for process deviations early alert and cause-effect relationships evaluation”. 2003 OSISoft Users Conference. San Francisco, California, USA, May 2003.