SBIR Phase II: Real-time Camera Analysis and Process Tracking (ReCAPT)

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目将开发和测试实时过程监控系统，以支持微型数码相机的制造。手机和消费品数码相机单位体积的快速增长已经超过了行业？S制造过程监控技术。除了简单的合格/不合格出厂质量测试外，大容量相机制造商缺乏任何系统来在线实时监控导致低产量、高生产成本和推迟新产品推出的生产错误。实时摄像机分析和过程跟踪算法Recapt与现有生产设备集成，可在产品质量受到影响之前识别制造错误和趋势。Recapt利用传出的QC数据以及新颖的设计感知算法来识别组装和制造错误，并改进制造工艺。第二阶段的目标包括优化数据采集硬件和预处理软件，实现算法初始化的自动化和通用化，并通过改进算法的S健壮性将Recapt集成到生产环境中。有了关键的商业化合作伙伴，Recapt将在实际生产环境中进行多次测试，潜在客户将审查结果。结果将决定可实现的生产效率的提高，并量化Recapt？S对数码相机制造商的经济价值。该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力包括提高微型相机镜头的产量。随着手机和其他移动消费电子产品的爆炸性增长，每年生产的微型数码相机超过10亿台。对降低成本的追求导致了晶片级制造的发展，在这种制造中，数千个相机镜头同时制造，贴在一个图像传感器晶片上，然后切成丁块？潜在地消除了对单个组件组装的需要。通过提高产量和降低成本，Recapt将能够快速采用晶圆级和其他自动化、资本密集型相机制造技术。更广泛的影响是依赖自动化和精密工程而不是手工劳动的制造技术的发展，使美国公司能够在不断增长的150亿美元的年数码相机市场获得牵引力。Recapt提供的统计制造过程数据可实现制造的实时控制，降低新产品风险，并允许更积极地开发创新的相机技术。作为现有自动化制造设备的增强而出售的Recapt软件产品将增加零部件制造商的利润，改善消费品制造商的产品性能和性能一致性。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and test real-time process monitoring systems to support manufacturing of miniature digital cameras. Rapid growth in unit volume of digital cameras for cellphones and consumer goods has outpaced the industry?s manufacturing process monitoring technology. Except for simple pass/fail outgoing quality tests, high volume camera manufacturers lack any system for in-line, real-time monitoring of production errors that cause low yields, high production costs, and delay new product introduction. The Real-time Camera Analysis and Process Tracking algorithm, ReCAPT, integrates with existing production equipment to identify manufacturing errors and trends before product quality is compromised. ReCAPT leverages outgoing QC data, along with novel design-aware algorithms to identify assembly and fabrication errors and improve the manufacturing process. The Phase II objectives include optimizing the data collection hardware and pre-processing software, automating and generalizing the algorithm initialization, and integrating ReCAPT into the production environment through improvements to the algorithm?s robustness. With a key commercialization partner, ReCAPT will be tested multiple times in actual production environments with potential customers reviewing the results. The results will determine the achievable improvement in production efficiency, and quantify ReCAPT?s economic value to manufacturers of digital cameras.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project involves improving yields in the production of miniature camera lenses. Over one billion miniature digital cameras produced annually supply the explosive growth in cell phones and other mobile consumer electronics. The pursuit of cost reduction has led to development of wafer-level manufacturing where thousands of camera lenses are simultaneously fabricated, affixed to a wafer of image sensors and then diced ? potentially eliminating the need for individual component assembly. By improving yields and lowering costs, ReCAPT will enable the rapid adoption of wafer-level and other automated, capital intensive camera manufacturing technologies. The broader impact is the development of manufacturing technologies that rely on automation and precision engineering instead of manual labor, enabling US companies to gain traction in the growing $15 Billion annual digital camera market. The statistical manufacturing process data supplied by ReCAPT enables real-time control of manufacturing, reduces new product risk, and allows more aggressive development of innovative camera technology. Sold as an enhancement to existing automated manufacturing equipment, the ReCAPT software product will increase profit for component manufacturers, improve product performance and performance consistency for consumer goods manufacturers.