F-35 Automated Optical Measurement System

Inspecting transparencies for optical defects to strict specifications is both time consuming and prone to error. The Automated Optical Measurement System project sought to replace manual inspectors with highly specialized optical measurement equipment coupled with advanced analytical algorithms.

This Composites Manufacturing Technology Center (CMTC) project had two primary technical goals. The first was to develop and demonstrate equipment and methods that would reliably detect and characterize all categories of minor optical defects. This includes the tooling and fixturing required to accurately position the F-35 Lightning II transparency such that inspection is reliable, repeatable, and safe. The second technical goal was to develop and demonstrate programming capable of processing and applying accept / reject criteria based on the acceptance criteria in the acceptance test plan. The system is required to operate at a confidence level such that GKN, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics (LM-Aero), the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office (JPO), and Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) all are willing to rely on the inspection cell for part acceptance.

By implementing an automated optical measurement system, significant labor hours could be saved by reducing manual inspection and documentation for the appropriate application. Capabilities of the system in its current configuration include Repeatable and reproducible inspection results; Reliable detection of opaque and semi-transparent foreign object defects (FOD, nicks / cuts, runs, disturbances, etc.); Documentation of inspection results including a detailed summary, a defect map showing defect locations, and a table summarizing defect size and location ; Inspection results stored in database (electronic format) and available for back-up / archiving ; Elimination of inspector-to-inspector measurement variability; and Minimal inspector training required to perform inspection with vision system compared to manual inspection.

There are no future plans to implement the Automated Optical Measurement System into the GKN Garden Grove facility or the F-35 Lightning II Transparency production line due to system gaps to the objectives outlined above. These system gaps include its inability to detect no / low contrast defects , evaluate and size defects from pilot’s eye, detect and identify the defect layer of outer mold line (OML), inner mold line(IML), interlayer, or acrylic, and determine whether a defect is visible under NEST (Natural, Environment, Sky Terrain) conditions.

*Prepared under ONR Contract N00014-21-D-7001 as part of the Navy ManTech Program.

*DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. DCN# 2024-11-6-309; Approval Date: 11/14/2024