Former Brown and Sharpe division unveils metrology applications suite

Manufacturing Engineering, Sep 2001

TECH FRONT

Xygent Inc. (Warwick, RI) is the new name of the former Brown and Sharpe Information Systems, the software development arm of metrology equipment manufacturer Brown and Sharpe (North Kingstown, RI). Xygent announced its launch from its corporate parent earlier this year, coinciding with the release of XactCOM, what it calls a metrology architecture and applications software suite.

Xygent president and CEO Christopher J. Garcia compares XactCOM for metrology devices with the Windows operating system for personal computers. "Xygent's vision is to make our XactCOM the defacto standard on all inspection hardware used in worldwide manufacturing operations," he says. Basically, the metrology software is designed to run with any inspection device that measures, including coordinate measuring machines, noncontact vision systems, CNC machine tools, fixture gage inspection devices, and digitally enabled hand tools.

Additionally, the software architecture and the various programs running within it ultimately can function as an inspection/ measurement standard between end-use customers, OEMs, and tier suppliers. XactMeasure, Xygent's CMM software program, for example, "is just one of several of our programs we believe will begin standardizing the way everyone on a supply chain communicates with one another about measurement," Garcia says. This is because the CMM software includes direct links with all major CAD/CAM systems including ProEngineer, SDRC, CATIA, Unigraphics Solutions, and AutoCAD, and imports IGES, STEP, and VDA files through a translator. Such native file access allows CAD models to be used asis, with no translation on downloading to the measuring system, and no loss of dimensional detail.

As a result, communication is not restricted to measuring devices alone. With such CAD access, design engineers can be linked to machine operators and measurement devices in prototype shops, pilot lines, and production operations anywhere with Internet access. "This software creates a bridge between design and manufacturing through a common implementation of design tolerances, and between manufacturing and design through online and on-demand process information," Garcia says. "Inherent accuracy, combined with flexibility and ease of use, facilitates the inspection process, and will allow manufacturers to dominate their design and production processes."

In addition to open communications, the XactMeasure CMM software delivers a number of inspection and measurement advantages as well, including a fail-safe tolerance editor, database accessibility through Visual Basic for Applications, probe and scan path display, and automatic jumps over voids. Complete measurement routine simulation is also available with full machine kinematics and point-and-click alignment.

In the noncontact measuring arena, Xygent has announced that its XactVision software for noncontact inspection successfully integrates with the Pinnacle and Summit noncontract metrology systems from View Engineering (Simi Valley, CA), including implementing a patent-pending capability the company is calling CAD Camera for offline programming. "Before we teamed up with View Engineering to develop CAD Camera, programming a vision system to measure a part required significant planning time, including online tryout," says Garcia. "Thanks to the effort we've pursued on the Pinnacle and Summit machines, offline video system programming is now a viable solution. Manufacturers of any size can have access to camera images created entirely from the CAD model offline."

For more on Xygent Inc., the XactCOM metrology architecture, and application software products, Circle 322.