Industrial Test & Control Systems

Custom test and control systems for factory, field and subsea applications.

Bespoke test and control systems for factory, field and subsea use — durability rigs, inline spectral and vision inspection, line qualification and acoustic target simulation, with the software to run them.

Through alliances with suppliers of industrial test equipment and software solutions, we have created test equipment for use in factories, in the field, and even underwater. Many of these solutions are still working many years later.

Hydraulic Test Machinery

Through partnership with one of the largest hydraulic component manufacturers, we have designed hydraulic test equipment and software for testing the durability of hosepipes, carpet, fuel filters, and motors for excavators.

Dye-Sublimation Ribbon Testing

Using the unique capabilities of our spectrometer to synchronise spectrum capture to the high-speed motion of a film on a production line, we helped a major chemical manufacturer control the process for manufacturing their CMYK thermal-transfer ribbons. Taking hundreds of spectra a second, the density of ink deposited on the film could be monitored continuously.

Production-Line Visual Inspection

We have created visual inspection systems for factory production lines, checking the quality of everything from potatoes and cutlery to vinyl flooring and casino chips. Combining our expertise in optics, lighting-controller design, machine vision, and the spectrometers we also design, we are confident we can help with your application.

Portable DSL Line Tester

We designed a portable test-telephone handset for technicians installing and maintaining copper telephone lines. Line-powered, it measures line impedance, noise, and baseband and FFT analysis to assess frequency and pulse transmission capability and verify installation quality for DSL. At the time, this demanded significant research into low-power yet high-throughput digital signal processing. The product earned a reputation for robustness and is still considered one of the standards in this field.

Underwater Sonar Target Simulators

We developed the electronics and software for a series of hydrophone and speaker arrays used to simulate targets at sea. These arrays reproduce the noise pattern created by a target ship or submarine, but also listen for incoming sonar interrogation signals and generate the realistic response, using a phased array of speakers to direct the reply in the same way the real craft would. Our systems are considered an industry standard and are still used to train sonar operators and develop military solutions.

Core Capabilities

End-to-end test and control systems — purpose-built hardware plus the control and data software to run long, repeatable programmes.

• Durability test rigs — Hydraulic endurance testing for hoses, fuel filters and excavator motors, with integrated control and data software.
• Inline spectral process control — Motion-synchronised spectroscopy monitors coating density at hundreds of spectra per second on a moving line.
• Production-line visual inspection — Machine-vision quality inspection spanning food, components, flooring and gaming products.
• Field line qualification — Line-powered copper/DSL test handsets measuring impedance, noise and FFT response.
• Subsea acoustic simulation — Hydrophone and speaker arrays that emulate ship and submarine sonar signatures for training and development.
• Factory → subsea — Operating environments covered
• 100s/sec — Spectra captured for inline process control

How it works

Requirements & feasibility

We pin down what must be measured or controlled, the environment and the accuracy required, and de-risk the hard engineering before significant budget is committed.

Rig & sensor design

We design the test hardware, sensors and signal chains — from hydraulic endurance rigs to line-powered handsets and hydrophone arrays — for the conditions they must survive.

Control & data software

We build the software that sequences tests, captures and analyses data, and integrates with production lines and existing equipment.

Deployment & long-term support

We support installation and commissioning in the factory or field, and keep systems running for the long service lives our customers expect.