Prototyping a Future of “Hands Free” Testing

September 24, 2019 / General, Installation and testing, Upgrading and troubleshooting

Sometimes, it seems like you need an extra hand when you’re testing. For example, when using our FI-3000 FiberInspector Pro MPO camera, you need a hand to hold the connector, a second to hold the camera, and a third to run the phone or Versiv unit and view the images. Most of the time, it’s not a big deal – for example, once you get the cable connected to the camera, you’ve got a free hand to operate the phone or Versiv. But it could help productivity in some cases if you had that third hand. Since we’re not in the prosthetics business, we looked for an alternative to additional extremities. The result is a prototype of an idea we’ll demonstrating at Fall BICSI in Las Vegas September 30 through October 2.

Fluke Networks has teamed up with RealWear of Vancouver, WA to demonstrate a “hands free” solution for fiber endface inspection using the RealWear HMT-1 wearable rugged Android tablet. The demonstration will pair the Fluke Networks FI-3000 FiberInspector™ Pro camera with the HMT-1, allowing the inspection of Multiple Push-On (MPO) fiber optic connectors to ensure error-free communications.

We’ll assume you’re familiar with the FI-3000, the camera that lets you get a grip on more efficient MPO inspection. If not, check out the details here

But what is an “HMT-1 wearable rugged Android tablet”? It’s actually a head-mounted Android device, with a high-resolution micro display that fits just below your line of sight and views like a 7” tablet. That allows you to look down at the display and look up to see what you’re working on. It features advanced voice recognition with four microphones for control even in noisy environments. And since it operates from -20 to +50 ºC, is dust, water and drop resistant, it can work nearly anywhere you can. (With abilities like that, it’s surprising that it’s not a Fluke product!) More detail can be found here:

The demonstration allows customers to control the FI-3000 through the HMT-1’s advanced voice recognition command system using the Android version of the FI-IN application. Users can focus the camera manually or automatically, and initiate an optional Autotest which scans the fibers on the endface and then presents a PASS/FAIL result indicating whether the endface is clean as per IEC61300-3-35 standards. The user can then see the endface in the head-mounted display and use the voice commands to zoom in and then pan across the entire endface by simply moving his or her head.

At this point, we’re demonstrating this limited capability in order to get feedback from our users to see if there is enough interest to pursue this as a fully developed product for fiber inspection or other applications. If you can’t make it to BICSI, but own or are interested in the FI-3000 and have a need for a “hands free” solution, reach out to me at mark.mullins@flukenetworks.com.