Software that writes itself

August 25, 2015 3:28 pm

Eigen Innovations uses FLIR infrared cameras to simplify automation solutions
 Setting up a machine vision system and making all the different parts work smoothly can be hard work. You need to integrate hardware and software and often multiple cameras will be involved. Eigen Innovations, a specialist in realtime monitoring solutions for many industries, has developed a smart hardware module that makes this integration process much easier. And when Eigen installs this module for its customers, the company likes to work exclusively with FLIR cameras.
Eigen Innovations tries to make factories smarter, by offering solutions that can capture realtime data from the factory floor, apply advanced analytics to it, and automatically improve operating processes. This boosts factory productivity and ensures consistent quality, all while reducing operating costs. Scott Everett is the CTO and co-founder of Eigen Innovations. He started the company in 2012 as a university spin-off.
“We started with building software control solutions for manufacturing systems in key markets such as injection moulding, where a variety of sensors are used. Looking at the temperature profile of a part coming out of the machine is a good quality check. One of the issues of doing a quality measurement is that your product has to cool down first, which can take a while. With a thermal camera, being a non-contact sensor, you don’t have to wait anymore. You can monitor quality in real time. We discovered thermal imaging from FLIR at a trade show and we quickly realized that a thermal camera is so much more than a camera: it’s an intelligent feedback sensor for real-time processes,” Scott Everett said.
Cost-effective integration Building a monitoring and alarming system for fixed mounted automation applications can be a tough and expensive process. Since every application is different, custom software solutions are often needed in addition to the sensor, communications and computing hardware. Eigen’s Smart Module (ESM) eliminates this costly step in the process.
“If we wanted to offer our customers a cost-effective monitoring system, it was clear that we needed to find a way to make the integration of the cameras, hardware and software much easier. That’s why we developed our Eigen Smart Module,” says Scott Everett. “In addition, using FLIR cameras has made our job easier as well. Sales cycles for industrial solutions like ours tend to be very long, but when we can present a thermal image and show our customer what it says about a production process, it can get the ball rolling for us.”
Eigen smart module The Eigen Smart Module is a robust GigE Vision thermal camera module with monitoring and alarming capabilities for fixed mounted automation applications. The module allows for easy configuration of temperature thresholds and enables PLC communications. The Smart Module has been designed to enable rapid deployment of fixed mounted thermal cameras for monitoring and alarming applications, eliminating the need for custom integration. The module communicates with GigE Vision thermal cameras and performs temperature based calculations on designated regions-of-interest.
The Eigen Smart Module is also a self-learning system. It can be used as a standalone solution, but as part of a larger architecture and for more complex processing the module collects training data from the thermal camera, trains the data in the cloud, and pushes it back into the module. In effect, the software writes itself. The module can be used for a variety of automation applications, including parts manufacturing, pulp and paper, food processing, fire prevention and condition monitoring. And of course, Eigen Innovations is always on the lookout for new applications.
Built around FLIR The first release of Eigen’s Smart Module is completely geared towards GigE Vision standards and FLIR’s A-Series cameras.

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