Our Direct Fiber Positioning System (DFPS) uses the slight bending of a piezo-electric cylinder to displace an optical fiber at the end of a tube. Each fiber positioner consists of a cylindrical, piezo-electric actuator, a hollow tube that acts as a mast, and two or more optical fibers held in a ferrule at the tip of the mask. Accompanying the positioner are controller electronics that generate the actuator's ±250-V electrode voltages. One of the fibers is a guide fiber, which we use to determine the location of the mast tip. The remaining fibers are detector fibers, which we use to collect light from celestial objects. The DFPS provides one fiber positioner per 5 mm × 5 mm square area. The control electronics for each positioner fits beneath its 25 mm2 footprint. All positioners can be adjusted independently and simultaneously with no increase in power consumption. We can construct an array of eighty thousand positioners using the same fundamental design as we would use to construct an array of eighty fibers. Positioners share power and serial communication with their neighbors, so the number of electrical connections required by a large array of positioners remains small. Read more about the DFPS!
The Blood Pressure Monitor (A3051, BPM) is a new implantable telemetry sensor currently in development at OSI. We have prototype circuits working and ready for encapculation. We hope the first devices will be implanted for trials in Spring of 2025. Read more about the BPM
Our Contactless Position Measurement System (CPMS) measures the position and orientation of highly-reflecting components during assembly in a clean room. The target application for this instrument is the Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) string assembly for particle accelerators. The CPMS measures the position of components that are to be fastened together, and robots move the parts into contact and screw them together, without any human having to handle the components. Read more about the CPMS.
The Function Generator (A3052, LWFG) is a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), two-channel, programmable signal generator. The proposed A3052A generator provides sinusoidal output from 1 mHz to 5 MHz with dynamic range of ±10 V into a high-impedance load and ±5 V into a 50-Ω load. We connect the generator to our local area network (LAN) with a PoE switch. It provides a TCPIP interface identical to that of our LWDAQ Servers. It listens at its own IP address and port, waiting for a client connection. The function generator contains two signal sources, each of with its own 8-KByte waveform memory, 13-bit waveform length, 32-bit clock divisor, 8-bit digital-to-analog converter, variable low-pass filter, variable attenuator, power amplifier, and 50-Ω output. You can learn more about the on-going development of the A3052 at the A3052 Development page.