Optical component and test-and-measurement company Santec has acquired HM Solution Co. (HMS). The acquisition gives Santec the ability to conduct automated inspection of cable assemblies while they are being manufactured and still inside fiber polishing fixtures. When announcing the acquisition Santec pointed out, “Rather than requiring operators to remove and individually load connectors into separate inspection and interferometry systems, HMS technology enables multiple connectors to be automatically positioned, inspected, and measured while remaining in the polishing fixture. This approach can significantly reduce operator handling and measurement time while improving consistency and traceability in high-volume fiber-optic cable assembly production.”

Santec’s existing portfolio includes insertion loss (IL) and return loss (RL) measurement, optical power measurement, optical switching, stabilized light sources, reflectometry, and fiber inspection. Adding automated connector inspection and interferometric metrology bolsters the company’s portfolio of offerings to cable assembly manufacturers.

Because lead times for fiber-optic cable assemblies have lengthened, in line with lead times for virtually all fiber-optic componentry and systems, any activity that shortens lead time is advantageous. Santec California Corporation’s chief executive officer Chris Heisler commented, “By combining Santec’s optical performance measurement technologies with HMS’s automated inspection and interferometric metrology capabilities, we can address more of the production workflow while helping customers improve automation, throughput, consistency, and traceability.”

The acquisition will speed up Santec’s development of its Automated Inspection and Metrology (AIM) platform. “AIM is designed to automatically inspect and measure connections directly in the polishing fixture, combining automated positioning, 2D endface inspection, scratch and defect analysis, and 3D interferometric measurements in a single platform,” the company said. “The system is designed to support both single-fiber and multifiber connector manufacturing and a variety of industry-standard polishing fixtures.”