Apollo: Use of Data Glasses in Measurement Technology

24. May 2019

The need to have information always and everywhere available has increased in recent years. Especially in industry there are various scenarios in which the direct provision of information such as measured variables, circuit diagrams or documents seems to make sense. It is particularly interesting if this information can be displayed directly in the user’s field of vision. With the help of AR technology (Augmented Reality), such concepts can be realized.

This allows mobile phone testers to display their results directly in the field of vision of the measurement engineer and supply him with the current measurement data. Or during maintenance work on a car control unit, for example, the pin assignment of a connector can be displayed in order to easily find the required pin and to have the corresponding measurement parameters available for the measurement. The range of scenarios can be extended as required.

TSEP has been producing software in the technical field since 1988, with a focus on measurement technology and automation, and is now active worldwide with approx. 30 employees. In 2018, TSEP began to develop a solution for such AR scenarios in measurement technology and automation, which was finally introduced in 2019 as TSEP Apollo. TSEP Apollo does not rely on a fixed hardware configuration, but uses the OpenVR standard. Thus, all AR glasses that support this standard can be used. All major manufacturers like Google or Meta support this standard. Thus, TSEP Apollo is well prepared for the next generation of AR hardware. Data glasses such as the Toshiba “dynaEdge” can also be used for simple visualizations. It is characterized by an optimal wearing comfort and moderate price.

Not only the visualization of the data, but also the simple operation was one of the system requirements. Since TSEP Apollo is intended for work use, it was not possible to control the software using a keyboard, mouse or gestures. TSEP therefore opted for voice control. This allows the user to operate TSEP Apollo quickly and efficiently during the measurement. In addition, it was important for the voice control that it runs directly on the TSEP Apollo hardware and therefore does not require any Internet connections.

The customer response was correspondingly high, so that TSEP can now offer the first customer solutions with the TSEP Apollo product. In the field of measurement technology, TSEP Apollo can be used to display any measurement device with a data interface (SCPI Interface, Scripting Interface), data, states or measured values for the user in his field of vision. Application examples are the measurement of parameters on complex DUTs or in an environment where the device is not in the user’s field of vision. The user guidance for complex calibration and configuration tasks can also be significantly simplified for the user with a user-guided AR application. The possible applications in the field of measurement technology are manifold.

In the maintenance area, measurement parameters, circuit diagrams or pin assignments can be displayed directly during maintenance work. The selection can be made directly via the voice interface or, for example, via barcode or QR code recognition. Thus all necessary information is simply available to the service employee.

TSEP Apollo has been designed and implemented as an open platform for implementing customer applications.

Reference: http://www.all-about-test.info

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