With rapid development in 5G, AIOT, automotive electronics, and other downstream sectors, the entire supply chain is expected to benefit from this consumer market. As product demand momentum gradually increases, increasing production efficiency and reducing operational costs become the most important issues. In order to meet the needs of customers for various packaging types, Yingwei Technology has been committed to developing highly customized test seats. However, a resulting pain point is the inability to mass-produce and fully automate operations with machines; some tasks still rely on manual execution. In this project, the probe part of the test seat was outsourced in 2021, and under current and future large-scale demands, work hours, costs, supply, and quality are issues Yingwei faces.
The company achieves a defect detection rate of 99.95%, which seems high, but with an average inspector able to inspect 10,000 needles per day, there would still be 5 defective needles. On a test seat that is only 3 cm wide with approximately 1,000 needles, just one defective needle could potentially lead to faulty testing at the customer end. As the current operational mode relies on manual visual inspection, external factors such as fatigue or oversight of personnel, and subjective judgment by inspectors may lead to the outflow of defective products, which necessitates strict quality control of contact components.
We once sought to utilize optical inspections (Rule-based) for controlling the quality of appearances, but the metallic material of the contact components leads to light scattering, background noise interference, background scratches, and material issues that could result in misjudgments. Therefore, we decided to look for AI technology service providers to solve our detection difficulties.
Developments of Dedicated AOI Line Scan Equipment
To meet the needs for inspecting thousands to tens of thousands of probes within our company's IC test seats, traditional surface imaging and individual needle imaging would be too slow to achieve rapid inspection and labor-saving goals. In response, the service provider proposed a trial with an AOI dedicated line scan module solution. Utilizing a width of 6.3mm on the X-axis for reciprocal scanning of all probes on the test seat, the tests allowed for the simultaneous scanning of 8-9 probes, significantly enhancing the future detection efficiency of AOI machines. This project will proceed with the aforementioned innovative Proof of Concept (POC), focusing on the development of the line scanning equipment and performing imaging, learning, and training on both normal and abnormal probes provided by our company, with initial AI model training aimed at preliminary approval.
This project's customized line-scan imaging moduleIdeal future imaging result illustration
A Single AI Technology Solution for Measurement/Detection Needs
Unified use of AI DL CNN learning methods, instead of the current Rule-based system which necessitates defining each defect individually, to meet the needs for abrasion measurement and appearance defect detection of malfunctions/foreign objects. When the same machine uses both measurement and detection technologies, not only does it increase costs, but it also affects the detection speed. Hence, the service provider recommends the use of a line scan device for imaging. Its resolution is sufficient for AI to simultaneously determine appearance defects and assess the condition of needle tip abrasion, as detailed below.
Line scan pixel imaging displaying needle tip abrasion conditions
This AI detection technology meets both measurement and inspection needs for Yingwei, not only bringing more benefits to future probe testing but also introducing an innovative axis in AI technology.
Change the method of human inspection, enhance work efficiency and product quality!
After combining both hardware (line scan) and software (AI model training) approaches, we successfully ventured into new AOI detection applications. Following the AI implementation POC, including the development and validation of a customized line scan module and an initial AI model, the plan is to officially develop the AOI machine next year and integrate it into the IC test seat production line.
Future Prospects
Probe manufacturers upstream and downstream IC factory users both have needs for the AOI inspection machine; upstream can ensure probe quality before leaving the factory, while downstream users can use this machine to regularly inspect the condition of numerous IC test seats in hand. Given the future demands, the AOI machine is poised to have a significant positive impact on the IC testing industry in the foreseeable future.
「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only. Translation date:2024-12-12」
With rapid development in 5G, AIOT, automotive electronics, and other downstream sectors, the entire supply chain is expected to benefit from this consumer market As product demand momentum gradually increases, increasing production efficiency and reducing operational costs become the most important issues In order to meet the needs of customers for various packaging types, Yingwei Technology has been committed to developing highly customized test seats However, a resulting pain point is the inability to mass-produce and fully automate operations with machines some tasks still rely on manual execution In this project, the probe part of the test seat was outsourced in 2021, and under current and future large-scale demands, work hours, costs, supply, and quality are issues Yingwei faces The company achieves a defect detection rate of 9995, which seems high, but with an average inspector able to inspect 10,000 needles per day, there would still be 5 defective needles On a test seat that is only 3 cm wide with approximately 1,000 needles, just one defective needle could potentially lead to faulty testing at the customer end As the current operational mode relies on manual visual inspection, external factors such as fatigue or oversight of personnel, and subjective judgment by inspectors may lead to the outflow of defective products, which necessitates strict quality control of contact components We once sought to utilize optical inspections Rule-based for controlling the quality of appearances, but the metallic material of the contact components leads to light scattering, background noise interference, background scratches, and material issues that could result in misjudgments Therefore, we decided to look for AI technology service providers to solve our detection difficulties Developments of Dedicated AOI Line Scan Equipment To meet the needs for inspecting thousands to tens of thousands of probes within our company's IC test seats, traditional surface imaging and individual needle imaging would be too slow to achieve rapid inspection and labor-saving goals In response, the service provider proposed a trial with an AOI dedicated line scan module solution Utilizing a width of 63mm on the X-axis for reciprocal scanning of all probes on the test seat, the tests allowed for the simultaneous scanning of 8-9 probes, significantly enhancing the future detection efficiency of AOI machines This project will proceed with the aforementioned innovative Proof of Concept POC, focusing on the development of the line scanning equipment and performing imaging, learning, and training on both normal and abnormal probes provided by our company, with initial AI model training aimed at preliminary approval This project's customized line-scan imaging module Ideal future imaging result illustration A Single AI Technology Solution for MeasurementDetection Needs Unified use of AI DL CNN learning methods, instead of the current Rule-based system which necessitates defining each defect individually, to meet the needs for abrasion measurement and appearance defect detection of malfunctionsforeign objects When the same machine uses both measurement and detection technologies, not only does it increase costs, but it also affects the detection speed Hence, the service provider recommends the use of a line scan device for imaging Its resolution is sufficient for AI to simultaneously determine appearance defects and assess the condition of needle tip abrasion, as detailed below Line scan pixel imaging displaying needle tip abrasion conditions This AI detection technology meets both measurement and inspection needs for Yingwei, not only bringing more benefits to future probe testing but also introducing an innovative axis in AI technology Change the method of human inspection, enhance work efficiency and product quality After combining both hardware line scan and software AI model training approaches, we successfully ventured into new AOI detection applications Following the AI implementation POC, including the development and validation of a customized line scan module and an initial AI model, the plan is to officially develop the AOI machine next year and integrate it into the IC test seat production line Future Prospects Probe manufacturers upstream and downstream IC factory users both have needs for the AOI inspection machine upstream can ensure probe quality before leaving the factory, while downstream users can use this machine to regularly inspect the condition of numerous IC test seats in hand Given the future demands, the AOI machine is poised to have a significant positive impact on the IC testing industry in the foreseeable future 「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-12-12」
Although satellite remote sensing images can make all surface objects visible, it still requires a lot of time and manpower to be truly applied to the industry In order to effectively solve the problems that customers face in digesting huge amounts of image data and eliminate technical obstacles for cross-domain users to process satellite remote sensing images, ThinkTron has developed an "AI Analysis Cloud Service Platform for Remote Sensing Big Data" as a new beginning for cross-domain AI applications for spatial information
In recent years, in response to the impact of industrial globalization, Taiwan's agriculture has continued to transition towards technology-based and higher quality, improving the yield and quality of crops by solving problems, such as microclimate impacts and pest and disease control The demand of agriculture on images has expanded endlessly to accurately grasp the growing environment of crops In the early years when UAVs unmanned aerial vehicles were not yet popular, manual field surveys were the most basic but most labor-intensive work With the emergence of UAV drones, aerial photography operations might not be difficult, but the range that can be photographed is limited Furthermore, surveying expertise is required to accurately capture spatial information At this time, the use of satellite remote sensing data may break away from the past imagination of using image data
Taiwan Space Agency TASA ODC data warehouse services
In the past ten years, with the breakthrough of modern satellite remote sensing application technology, Digital Earth has become a new trend in global data collection Countries have developed data cube image storage technology, and the development of smart agriculture has become one of the largest image users Determining planting distribution is the first step in understanding crop yields Free satellite remote sensing images, powerful data warehousing support, and the team's robust image recognition technology are important supports for accelerating agricultural transformation
Using satellite remote sensing image data can accelerate the development of smart agriculture
However, in the past, it was difficult to extract large-area crop distribution through satellite remote sensing images, not to mention the cost If you wanted to use free information, you had to visit all websites of international space agencies, look through the wide variety of satellite specifications, and carefully evaluate the sensor specifications, image resolution, and revisit cycle After finding suitable images, you had to look at them one by one to filter the ones you need Next is downloading dozens of images that are often several hundreds of Megabytes MB each, which might exceed the capacity of your computer
Also, after overcoming image access and preparing data, you must then start to confirm the downloaded image products and which bands you want, because the image you see is not just an image file jpg or png, but rather complex multi-spectral information, attribute fields and coordinate information It takes a lot of effort just to confirm the correct information Facing GIS software packages with complex functions is the start of another trouble The complex image pre-processing process and the inflexible machine learning package greatly reduce the efficiency of analyzing data After finally getting the results of crop identification, you might find that the best time for using map information may have already passed The above-mentioned complex and time-consuming satellite image processing problems are precisely the pain points of the market ThinkTron expanded from traditional machine learning to modern deep learning applications, and developed an "AI Analysis Cloud Service Platform for Remote Sensing Big Data" under the GeoAI framework, breaking through the constraints of details in the spatial information for customers
Differences between the process before and after introducing the AI analysis cloud service platform
ThinkTron said that Taiwan's ODC Open Data Cube system has been completed and began providing services after years of efforts from the Taiwan Space Agency TASA, formally becoming aligned with international trends The powerful warehousing technology allows users to easily capture and use image data of a specific time and spatial range according to their needs The warehouse stores multiple satellite image resources from international space agencies, including the ESA's Sentinel-1 one image every 6 days, Sentinel-2 one image every 6 days, USGS's Landsat-7 one image every 16 days, Landsat-8 one image every 16 days, and the domestic Formosat-2 one image every day and Formosat-5 one image every 2 days
ThinkTron develops satellite image recognition tools based on Python
Breaking free from the limitations of GIS Geographic Information System software packages, ThinkTron integrated GDAL Geospatial Data Abstraction Library based on Python, and considered computing efficiency and parallel processing when developing all tools required for satellite image processing and image recognition modeling, including coordinate system and data format conversion, grid and vector data interaction, and data intra-difference and normalization All of the tools are designed with AI applications in mind, and some commonly used tools are packaged into an open source package under the name TronGisPy to benefit the technical community ThinkTron utilized the team's understanding of satellite remote sensing images and the collected tagged data crop distribution maps to preset the image recognition modeling process, the required training data specifications, and dataset definitions This is imported into the machine learning LightGBM or deep learning CNN framework that was completed in advance, and the entire training process to be performed in the Web GIS interface, providing users with partial flexibility to freely filter images, confirm spatial and temporal ranges, select models, and adjust hyperparameters In addition to the operation of training models, it also provides historical models to output identification results, and finally displays the identification results of crop distribution on the Web GIS map
In fact, agriculture is not the only industry that needs satellite remote sensing applications AI applications of spatial information have also appeared in various fields as companies in different industries aim to enhance their global competitiveness For example, surveying and mapping companies that have a large amount of map data can use the AI analysis cloud service platform to store map data while also accelerating the efficiency of digital mapping Under the severe global climate change and the risk of strong earthquakes, there is a wide variety industrial insurance, agricultural insurance, financial insurance, or disaster insurance are all inseparable from spatial information The use of remote sensing image recognition to understand insurance targets has long been an international trend
AI Analysis Cloud Service Architecture for Remote Sensing Big Data
The Kaohsiung-based Kha Shing Enterprise Co, Ltd was established over 40 years ago, and is Taiwan's largest customized yacht company with customers all over America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, earning Taiwan the reputation of the "Kingdom of Yachts" Current FRP hull inspection still relies on traditional methods, such as visual inspection and knocking sounds, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive Kha Shing has applied PAUT array ultrasonic inspection to hull FRP composite materials for the first time, and combined it with AI to interpret ultrasound images, develop complete intelligent solutions, and create emerging markets for inspection companies
Kha Shing Enterprise Co, Ltd was formerly Kha Shing Wood Industry Co, Ltd, and was a factory specializing in wood import in Kaohsiung Linhai Industrial Park when it was first established It began to design, manufacture, and sell yachts in 1977 After the second-generation successor of the company, President Kung Chun-Hao entered the company, he made a breakthrough in the previous manufacturing model that relied mainly on the skills of master craftsmen, introduced digital manufacturing to accelerate shipbuilding, and began to make larger yachts, ranking in the top 20 manufacturers worldwide among manufacturers of large yachts over 24 feet It also set a record of delivering 94 yachts within one year, earning Taiwan the reputation of "Kingdom of Yachts"
Defect detection ensures yacht quality, using AI to replace humans to achieve higher efficiency
Defect detection is very important to ensuring yacht quality At present, the yacht industry still uses very traditional defect detection methods The hull structure is usually made by hand lay-up or the vacuum infusion process, using visual inspection or knocking and the frequency of the sound to determine defects It requires time-consuming manual inspection If there are any defects, they must be reworked and repaired, and a gel coat subsequently sprayed The hull must be constructed in sections to facilitate inspection For large yachts over 24 meters long, construction in sections is very time-consuming and labor-intensive
To shorten the time of the yacht manufacturing process, Kha Shing Enterprise will first carry out the gel coating process for the hull, and then perform the hand lay-on process The hull manufacturing process has two types of composite material test specimen structures In terms of 54-foot yacht hulls, the hull contains gel coat, core material, fiber and resin, and the total thickness is about 32cmplusmn01cm, which is twice the total thickness of FRP hull without core material of about 16cmplusmn01cm Defects such as incomplete impregnation of glass fiber or residual air bubbles between glass fiber and resin occasionally occur during the manufacturing process The types of defects include insufficient resin, voids, and delamination Once defects occur, the supply of hull materials will be insufficient and yacht delivery will be delayed
Schematic diagram of types of FRP hull
In order to solve this problem, Kha Shing Enterprise has engaged in technical cooperated with the metal materials industry and the AI technology industry, combining the ultrasonic inspection expertise of the metal materials industry with AI technologies developed by the AI technology industry in recent years to help solve issues of Kha Shing Enterprise with defect detection The method uses PAUT on the composite material structure of yachts, conducts FRP ultrasonic evaluation to determine the thickness of the yacht hull and material properties, and evaluates the ultrasonic probe frequency applicable to the hull structure based on professional ultrasonic experience After testing, a frequency of 5MHz and a probe width of 45mm can successfully find the location and size of defects in the simulated defect test specimen
The three parties jointly found defect detection solutions from array ultrasonic evaluation, AI technology model development, and actual application in yachts
The image inspected is an ultrasound image The image displays different colors based on the ultrasonic feedback signal An AI model that automatically identifies defective parts is established through the YOLO algorithm If the amount of abnormal data collected is insufficient for training, the CNN-based Autoencoder algorithm is used to collect normal image data for training and construct an AI model for abnormality detection The object detection YOLO model is trained by inputting image data marked as having defects, while the abnormality detection model is trained by inputting image data without defects
Simulated defective specimen corresponding to PAUT results
Defect detection by and AI system can shorten the construction period by 15 months and speed up determination by 50
After the development of this AI system is completed, it will be validated on actual 54-foot yachts of Kha Shing Enterprise, and can effectively resolve issues with defects The application of AI technology in ultrasonic inspection for intelligent determination is expected to accelerate determination by approximately 50, and will also shortens the construction period by 15 months, effectively improving the speed and quality of the yacht manufacturing process
As Taiwan develops larger and more refined yachts, it will create opportunities for industry optimization and transformation, as well as opportunities for the development of key technologies The application of an AI ultrasonic inspection solution for composite materials is the first of its kind in the yacht industry, and is expected to attract more yacht manufacturers with inspection needs The AI ultrasonic inspection solution for composite materials has three major competitive advantages
1 Professional inspection experience and digital database to facilitate process management and analysis
2 Automatic AI determination and identification quickly identifies defects and provides immediate feedback to process engineers
3 High-efficiency process inspection provides defect repair recommendations, reduces damage rate, and improves the strength and quality of composite materials
The application of AI technology can optimize the yacht manufacturing process, reduce manual inspection, create added value through the application of AI in Taiwanrsquos yacht industry, increase international purchase orders, and allow Taiwan yachts to continue to enjoy a good reputation in the world Furthermore, this business model has also spread to fields of application related to composite materials, increasing cross-sector market usage It is estimated to contribute approximately NT14 to NT2 billion in economic benefits to Taiwan's equipment maintenance and non-destructive testing market
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