Neptec: Rapid laser-guided cameras
On an unassuming industrial campus in an Ottawa suburb there is a hi-tech company with the motto, "More Information, Less Data". Acronym: MILD. An outsider might assume that the building is populated by cerebral thinkers, perhaps working on advanced software for the computer industry.
It's unlikely the passerby would think of space ships.
And yet that company, Neptec, has been a prime NASA contractor for sixteen years. Its systems of "machine vision" (robotic devices with rapid laser-guided cameras acting as "eyes") helped to build the International Space Station.
In 2004 it responded to NASA requirements after the destruction of the Columbia space shuttle by designing a robotic Laser Camera System, so that future shuttle crews could spot a crack less than a millimetre wide on the exterior of the ship without going outside. In 2009 it created an elegant Automated Rendezvous and Docking system to guide the delicate ballet of a shuttle docking at a space station.
All that and more, from a company with a mere 100 employees. They are almost all scientists, engineers and technologists. "We specialize in sensors and robotics, and three-dimensional data exploitation," says CEO Iain Christie, who coined the company motto because of his belief that we live in a world of too much random data, and not enough useful information. "As a company of scientists and engineers, we're good at solving customers' problems. Especially the really hard ones."
For that and other achievements, in February Neptec became the first non-American company to win NASA's award for excellence. Previous winners include technology titans Lockheed Martin and Pratt and Whitney.
Five years ago, however, Neptec learned that NASA would wind down its space station program. Christie had been Neptec's man at the Johnson Space Centre since 1991, but he set aside nostalgia and looked to the future. The outer space challenge had made Neptec's intelligent, three-dimensional camera systems the best technology in the world for taking a mass of visual data and turning it into useful information. How could it best be sold in the commercial marketplace?
When a rolling, pitching space shuttle attaches itself to a moving space station, it's because Neptec's robotic docking system has "machine vision": it's receiving three dimensional data in real time. "We're a leader (in real-time imaging), if not the leader," he observes.
So the Neptec team "got out pencil sharpeners" and identified new opportunities in defense, industry, and, yes, space exploration (one of its new projects is a lunar rover vehicle).
For the defense industry, it sees promise in a machine vision system called OPAL, which can help battlefield pilots to "see" through sandstorms and blizzards. A helicopter pilot landing in dusty or whiteout conditions, for example, would use OPAL's specialized laser pulses to pick out dangerous objects, such as a steel reinforcing rod or a fencepost, which can't be seen with other technologies.
The same technology also has industrial uses. The oil industry, Christie points out, has "a lot of infrastructure below the waterline in the Gulf of Mexico or off the coast of Newfoundland. Some of it is pretty hard to get to." Vision systems designed for the rigour of outer space could be attached to small submarines for inspecting oil platforms and oil wells drilled into the ocean floor. Such a submersible vehicle might have led to a quicker shutting-off of the Louisiana oil spill last year.
Finally, there is a host of general industrial applications that would profit from the extreme precision of Neptec engineering. Its advanced vision systems could be adapted to inspect industrial machinery, as well as to verify that parts have been milled to the correct dimensions without having to detach, lift, or move them.
But all these new uses, says Christie, must meet the rigorous standards set for outer space work. "From our NASA experience we know the value of being prudent."
For Neptec personnel, the thrill is to tackle difficult problems. "I've had the great joy, in my career, of seeing systems I worked on get loaded on the space shuttle, be launched into orbit, and actually work. It's that kind of experience that gets me, and the rest of the staff at Neptec, out of bed every day."
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It's unlikely the passerby would think of space ships.
And yet that company, Neptec, has been a prime NASA contractor for sixteen years. Its systems of "machine vision" (robotic devices with rapid laser-guided cameras acting as "eyes") helped to build the International Space Station.
In 2004 it responded to NASA requirements after the destruction of the Columbia space shuttle by designing a robotic Laser Camera System, so that future shuttle crews could spot a crack less than a millimetre wide on the exterior of the ship without going outside. In 2009 it created an elegant Automated Rendezvous and Docking system to guide the delicate ballet of a shuttle docking at a space station.
For that and other achievements, in February Neptec became the first non-American company to win NASA's award for excellence. Previous winners include technology titans Lockheed Martin and Pratt and Whitney.
Five years ago, however, Neptec learned that NASA would wind down its space station program. Christie had been Neptec's man at the Johnson Space Centre since 1991, but he set aside nostalgia and looked to the future. The outer space challenge had made Neptec's intelligent, three-dimensional camera systems the best technology in the world for taking a mass of visual data and turning it into useful information. How could it best be sold in the commercial marketplace?
When a rolling, pitching space shuttle attaches itself to a moving space station, it's because Neptec's robotic docking system has "machine vision": it's receiving three dimensional data in real time. "We're a leader (in real-time imaging), if not the leader," he observes.
So the Neptec team "got out pencil sharpeners" and identified new opportunities in defense, industry, and, yes, space exploration (one of its new projects is a lunar rover vehicle).
The same technology also has industrial uses. The oil industry, Christie points out, has "a lot of infrastructure below the waterline in the Gulf of Mexico or off the coast of Newfoundland. Some of it is pretty hard to get to." Vision systems designed for the rigour of outer space could be attached to small submarines for inspecting oil platforms and oil wells drilled into the ocean floor. Such a submersible vehicle might have led to a quicker shutting-off of the Louisiana oil spill last year.
But all these new uses, says Christie, must meet the rigorous standards set for outer space work. "From our NASA experience we know the value of being prudent."
For Neptec personnel, the thrill is to tackle difficult problems. "I've had the great joy, in my career, of seeing systems I worked on get loaded on the space shuttle, be launched into orbit, and actually work. It's that kind of experience that gets me, and the rest of the staff at Neptec, out of bed every day."
Aerospace in Ontario
Ontario’s aerospace industry includes more than 350 companies. Sales top $6.5 billion annually with more than 70% of it generated by exports. Niche market capabilities include: