FOSDIGUM

Manufacturing of complex optical systems in a digitized production environment

 

Duration:

01.05.2020 – 30.04.2023

Optical components and systems of current product generations are characterized by a tremendous performance. However, this is also reflected in the challenges of production technology. A particular challenge lies in the length of the manufacturing process chain of optical components and systems. A highquality result of this production chain requires extremely tight tolerances within the individual production steps, which makes them move on the verge of technical and physical feasibility.
In the context of the digitization of entire production lines, it is also possible for optics production to address this problem. Through the use of intelligent sensors and cross-systems of data management and data analysis, mutual dependencies between the parameters of the process and the characteristics of the product can be identified across different production steps. The detailed evaluation of the current component status enables a component-individual utilization of precisely these correlations in further manufacturing steps.
The aim of the project FOSDIGUM is to make the potentials of a digitized production environment applicable for the production of optical components and systems. For this purpose, an adaptive feedforward is used beyond a conventional feedback. In addition to iterative improvements of process steps that have already been carried out, the component-specific adaptation of still outstanding production steps, depending on the current component status, becomes a central element of the production sequence. Thus, tolerance management can be installed across the boundaries of individual process steps, which adapts the remaining production steps to the properties of the component to be produced.
 

project website (external link)

 

Project partners:

 

Funding:

The “FOSDIGUM” research project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the “Internationalization of Leading-Edge Clusters, Future Projects and Similar Networks” (funding number: 03INT701CE).