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Locating and Refueling Satellites
NASA worked with Optikos to develop a system to characterize visible wavelength lenses used in the RESTORE-L payload. Optikos delivered a unique quality measurement station designed to characterize the image quality of lens systems used on the NASA Restore-L Satellite Service Robots. These lenses … [Read more...]
Carterra® LSA Platform Accelerates Lifesaving Antibody Drug Development
Carterra® is a leading provider of pharmaceutical R&D instruments that accelerate the discovery of novel therapeutic antibody candidates. Carterra’s founder and leaders of engineering and research contacted Optikos with a revolutionary idea that would dramatically improve the efficiency of … [Read more...]
Measuring Folded Optics
Technology is constantly evolving, and as it does, the strain and need for cutting-edge optics grows. As manufacturers strive to make infrared cameras smaller and smaller, they often employ a folded optical system in which the optical axis of the front of the lens is not on the same line as the … [Read more...]
Optics And Design for Fluorescent Imaging
Our client was creating a highly sensitive fluorescent imaging system for biomedical use, and Optikos was contacted to develop the mechanical design. The client had already selected their lens supplier, but did not have specific experience in this type of vendor selection and optical testing results … [Read more...]
Infrared Automotive Lenses
Optics for the Road Ahead Leading automotive manufacturers are relying heavily on infrared cameras to improve vehicle performance and safety, especially in challenging environments such as night time, heavy fog, and snowy conditions with reduced visible illumination. Because the performance of … [Read more...]
Large Area Optics
MATERION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS "The technical expertise and skills of the Large Optics Equipment Development Team enabled our success. These included Materion technical oversight provided by Ian Tribick. Dale L’Hussier managed the day-to-day activities and planning of the construction project. Steve … [Read more...]
Optics Help Treat Cancer
Optikos is working with Lumicell on the optical-mechanical design and testing of a handheld imaging system that helps improve patient outcomes by identifying cancer cells “left behind on tumor cavity walls.” The company’s lead product, the Lumicell System “features an investigational … [Read more...]
Superior Imaging and Control during Surgery
Platform Imaging approached Optikos during the prototype design phase of their Visibot™ Visualization System, a device that is being commercialized for minimally invasive surgery. It includes two main components, connected by a small tether: 1) An insertable camera module with high definition … [Read more...]
Ensuring Image Quality for Tracking Telescopes
ITT Corporation was responsible for five NASA Space Shuttle tracking telescope systems at the launch site in Cape Canaveral Florida. These telescopes, called ATOTS, MIGOR, and DOAMS, were used for various types of downrange imaging of shuttle launches. The telescopes were … [Read more...]
Competitive Benchmarking for Surgical Microscopes
Our client wanted to develop a competitive benchmark of a sampling of available surgical microscopes and relate it to a subjective evaluation by physicians. Optikos developed a test plan that included both radiometric and image quality metrics that captured the relevant imaging performance … [Read more...]
3D Imager for Minimally Invasive Surgery
Our client had a unique design for a surgical system, but needed a stereoscopic camera system designed for manufacture and 510K FDA clearance. The Optikos team of optical and mechanical engineers reviewed several issues with the client’s development team to streamline the design for future … [Read more...]
Meeting Specs for Navigational Lighting
Our client had taken on a contract to produce a new type of navigational lighting for marine applications. Initial testing of their design indicated that it did not satisfy US Coast Guard brightness and angular visibility requirements. Optikos engineers worked with the client to identify … [Read more...]
A New ViewMaster® Meets Cost and Quality Goals
When Fisher-Price procured the legendary ViewMaster® product line, they wanted to bring additional play value to the product. The challenge was to rejuvenate an optically-based consumer product for the toy market while providing excellent viewing quality and meeting aggressive … [Read more...]
Single-use Digital Imaging for Colonoscopy
Boston Scientific wanted to develop a single-use digital imaging system that would be cost competitive with conventional colonoscopy imaging. In the late 1990’s, they approached Optikos to design the entire electro-optical imaging chain for this type of product. Optikos recognized that the … [Read more...]
Production Testing of Guidance Systems
Our defense client is a high volume manufacturer of defense electro-optical systems and wanted to develop a flexible test station that would provide an automated capability to test a variety of guidance systems with a broad range of performance requirements and a very unique physical … [Read more...]
Lens Redesign and Alignment to Meet Specs
Our client brought a prototype anamorphic lens to our facility that did not satisfy its MTF specification. They had been to numerous optical facilities across the country and had been unable to improve its performance. Optikos reviewed the system requirements and the details of the … [Read more...]
Programming Spectral Content in Microscopy
Our client required a microscopy system with the unique capability of programming the spectral content of the illumination. The primary application for this instrument was research and development of diseased tissue pathology. Optikos invented a high-speed, electronically programmable light … [Read more...]
A Custom Solution for MWIR In-Situ Optical Testing
Our defense client produced Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) infrared optical systems that required in-situ testing of the assemblies. This requirement called for delivery of an interferometric test beam into the large focal plane pod-mounted or fixture-mounted electro-optical … [Read more...]
Identifying a Problem Lens before Fabrication
Our client was awarded a contract to build 100+ LWIR optic modules, but did not have experience with the alignment and testing of optical assemblies. They subcontracted Optikos to assemble, align, and test the LWIR optic modules. Optikos reviewed the documentation package and determined that the … [Read more...]
Benchmarking for Process and Cost Improvements
Our client wanted to benchmark their internal production costs against industry competitors. Optikos was provided with a set of desired manufacturing optical tolerances and an optical model of a baseline lens system. Optikos used the optical model and the tolerances to generate tolerance lens … [Read more...]
Cardioport Prototype for Open-Heart Surgery
Dr. del Nido and Dr. Vasilyev at Boston Children’s Hospital developed a novel, prototype cardioport for beating heart, image-guided intracardiac surgery for pediatric patients. The device incorporated an endoscope and a prototype viewing window, but the design of the prototype window … [Read more...]
Modifying Design for Accurate Barcode Scanning
Our client’s new product was released to manufacturing and the initial builds did not perform satisfactorily. Optikos reviewed the product specification and design. We inspected vendor supplied piece parts and discovered that the radiometry of the design and the optical performance were … [Read more...]
Heads-Up Display Testing with Multi-Sensor Fusion
Our client designed and fabricated multi-spectral heads-up data fusion displays for visual guidance of aircraft. Unfortunately, they did not have the in-house capability for testing the assembled unit. Optikos reviewed the technical specification and quickly assembled the fixturing and metrology … [Read more...]
Affordable Night Vision Consumer Product
In the late 1990s, Optikos engineers anticipated the coming wave of low-cost CMOS images and associated displays, and developed and patented a low-cost night vision consumer product. Working with Gamma Millennium Technologies, SpyNet was licensed to two major toy manufacturers: Jakks, Inc. and … [Read more...]
Gene Sequencing System Alignment and Integration
Our client developed a flow cell based genome sequencing instrument intended for medium volume production. The Electro-Optical subsystems included: • Illumination—Multiple Lasers with complex beam shaping were used to evenly illuminate the object plane of a TIRFM (Total Internal Reflection … [Read more...]
Identifying Issues in Lens Design
Our client had sourced a lens that satisfied its written specification, but it did not result in satisfactory imaging, and they were unable to identify what was the source of the problem or describe to their supplier how the lens needed to be improved. Optikos reviewed the system requirements and … [Read more...]
Low-Cost 7X Binocular
Optikos developed and licensed technology for a very low cost 7X binocular. Incorporating glass mirrors and injection molded lenses utilizing aspheric surfaces, the BNOX binoculars achieved performance equivalent to glass prism binoculars at a price point that was a fraction of conventional … [Read more...]