Metrology Assisted Assembly & Automated Inspection - Leica ...

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A “Front End” Software Independent SolutionSoftware with an Advanced Internal ScriptinglanguageSoftware with an SDK based External ScriptinglanguageThere are two main concepts on how to integrate ametrology based software solution into an automatedassembly cell. The first and most common, is to usethe metrology software as the Measurement ProcessManager. In this scenario the metrology software isresponsible to interface with all of the needed productsi.e. measurement sensors, databases, positioningsystems, etc…The second concept is to use an independent MeasurementProcess Manager that wraps around the actualmeasurement software. In this configuration the measurementsoftware package doesn’t need to be able tointerface to every required device. The measurementsoftware can talk to the measurement sensor(s), whilethe Measurement Process Manager is responsible forthe communication between the measurement software,external positioning systems, databases, etc…Measurement SoftwareGraphical User InterfaceApplication ProcessManagerMeasurement ProcessManagerTriggerMeasurementDatum PointsDev.Assembly Process ManagerJig- and Tool Controller(Actuators)Measurement Process ManagerMeasurementSoftwareGraphical User InterfaceApplication Process ManagerTriggerMeasurementAssembly Process ManagerJig- and Tool Controller(Actuators)Tracker 1NominalActualDatum PointsDev.Tracker 2Tracker xDatabaseTracker 1NominalActualTracker 2Tracker xDatabaseThis process has been used on a number of automationinstallations due to its ease of integration. In this setupthe Assembly Process Manager provides the correctionparameters from measurement software to the jig andtool controllers (actuators). In this case, the measurementsoftware package needs to be very advanced,and must include native interfaces to any of the controldevices, and have a highly customizable internal macrolanguage. An example of this type of solution would beeither Spatial Analyzer, or Metrologic. We will not gointo too much detail on this type of integration sinceit is well accepted in most industries. Currently wehave interfaces to an extensive list of these advancedmetrology packages, all of which maintain state of theart interfaces to our hardware through our embeddedsystem control (emScon) SDK.The advantages of this type of solution have beenclearly identified on some of our most recent integrationprojects. The Measurement Process Manager, orMPM, controls all of the functions related to the actualmetrology measurements, and can then be controlledby any independent Application Process Manager, orintegrated Human Machine Interface. This could bedemonstrated in a recent project where multiple LaserTrackers were bundled together, oriented to a singlestation location, and then controlled by a very simpleVisualbasic application. This not only allows you toseparate the software front end, but also (as shown inthis example) allows you to then send the measuredresults to any addition software package for furtheranalysis.6 A “Front End” Software Independant Solution
Let’s look at how this concept could be used in a standardmeasurement process as it would relate to a 3Dpoint based wing to body assembly. In the first threesteps listed below, the Laser Tracker needs to be initialized,the nominal points need to be read in from theglobal database, and the reference points need to bemeasured. In the last three steps the multiple stationsare bundled together using the reference points andare then aligned directly to the fuselage. Once the stationsare aligned to each other and to the fuselage, thepoints on the wings can be measured sequentially. TheMPM takes Page 7 of 15 control of this complete processby allowing all of the measurements to be stored,bundled, and best-fit with only a handful of commandsrequired by the controlling application. This removesthe need for the integration company to have an indepthknowledge of metrology to be able to achieve thedesired results very quickly through a simple SDK.Step 1: Initialize Measurement ProcessStep 2: Read in Nominal from DatabaseStep 3: Mesure Reference PointsStep 4: Bundle StationsStep 5: Align Stations Setup to FuselageStep 6: Mesure Actual Wing PositionNow let’s take this process a step further. Traditionallythe Laser Tracker measures a series of fixed pointson the wing and body respectively; the measurementsoftware (e.g. Spatial Analyzer) then calculates themovement deltas and writes the results to a centraldatabase. The Assembly Process Manager can readthose values and move the actuators incrementally inan iterative process between measuring, moving, stop-ping, measuring, moving, stopping, etc… until the wingis in its final assembly location. The iterations requirethe object to be stationary while being measured andthis can be a tedious and time consuming process. Tospeed this process up we could use the Leica Geosystems6DoF MAP System that allows the wing to betracked in real-time with an automated feedback loopdirectly to the Assembly Process Manager from theMPM.YesStep 1: Initialize Measurement ProcessStep 2: Read in Nominal from DatabaseStep 9: Measure T-Mac Position Calc deviation of actual Datum Point positionAbove specified Safety GapThe MPM would not only control all of the measurementsand their mathematics, but would also communicatedirectly with the Assembly Process Manager forthe control loop between the 6DoF measurements andthe actuators. This would allow for a system integratorto use the core measurement technology in the mostbeneficial way, without the need to constantly worryabout whether the Human Machine Interface or theanalysis package can control all of the requested functionsin the measurement hardware.Send Deviations toAssembly ProcessA “Front End” Software Independant Solution 7
Page 1 and 2: Leica Geosystems Laser TrackerMetro
Page 3: IntroductionThe Metrology division
Page 8 and 9: Application Specific Measurement Pr
Page 10: In this case it would be possible t
Page 13 and 14: Extension of Leica T-Mac by non-con

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