Monthly Highlights 1999

September 1999

The Open Modular Architecture Control (OMAC) UsersŐ Group comprises some 150 large users of machine tools and manufacturers of machine tool controllers. Co-chaired by Boeing and General Motors, this industry organization grew out of the Next Generation Controller project that the Air Force sponsored early in this decade. NIST played a critical role in forming the Air Force project, which specified the NIST RCS architecture, and has provided continuing technical support to the follow-on OMAC. NIST, working in collaboration with other labs and leading companies, has provided the key Application Programming Interface standard adopted by OMAC and is now supporting development of standard tests for real-time PC operating systems including multiple real-time versions of Windows NT, Windows CE, and Linux.

Contact: Fred Proctor, frederick.proctor@nist.gov

July 1999

The design and performance of a NIST-developed microstage was presented at the quarterly meeting of the Advanced Technology Program funded Precision Optoelectronic Assembly Consortium (POAC), held in Corning, New York. The microstage is being developed as a joint project between the MEL's Intelligent Systems and the Precision Engineering divisions. The objective of POAC is to develop an inexpensive, robust stage that will operate with three to six degrees of freedom over a 100 micrometer cubed volume with 0.1 micrometer resolution. The NIST microstage is a piezoceramic driven flexure stage designed with the objective of minimizing cross-talk and motion errors. The aim is to demonstrate the possibility of reducing cost by making a deterministic stage, thus eliminating the need for output metrology.

April 1999

The NIST-developed Real-time Control System (RCS) has been successfully commercialized as a machine tool controller by a Maryland company, Advanced Technology and Research Corporation. Some 100 systems have been shipped to customers and their machine tool control system was highlighted at the Microsoft booth at the Embedded Systems Exposition in Chicago earlier this year.

Contact: Fred Proctor, frederick.proctor@nist.gov

March 1999

Automatic generation of cutting paths for machine tools has been commercially available as a proprietary part of specific CAD/CAM systems for some time. Such systems are not standardized and do not work in real time. NIST has demonstrated real time generative part programming from part models represented using standard STEP data, and has additionally demonstrated the generation of standard commands for a coordinate measuring machine to inspect the resulting part. A great deal of industry interest in using STEP data as direct input to machine tool controls is developing; NIST has represented US interests in ISO deliberations on STEP NC and has turned around a European proposal in favor of US interests, coordinating inputs from OMAC, NCMS, and CAM-I committees.

Contact: Fred Proctor, frederick.proctor@nist.gov

January 1999

Parallel kinematics machine tools are a new class of tools being developed by manufacturers around the world. Three Divisions of MEL have collaborated in characterizing the performance of one of these new machines and have demonstrated an eight-fold improvement in accuracy through the use of error mapping and improved kinematic calibration techniques. Accuracy is expected to improve even further when enhanced strut length metrology systems are installed next year. The test methods developed under this program will be submitted for consideration as formal standards by the appropriate ANSI committee, and the results are already being used by industry to evaluate and improve the performance of current and future designs.

Contact: Al Wavering, albert.wavering@nist.gov

Monthly Highlights for 2003

Monthly Highlights for 2002

Monthly Highlights for 2001

Monthly Highlights for 2000

Date created: 4/16/2003
Last updated: 4/16/2003