As is fitting for my first post on the Vision & Sensors’ blog, I will briefly sketch my experience, my tentative guidelines on what may appear, and an ongoing blog dialogue with readers as appropriate.

I develop optical sensing and control systems, which I first did at Bell Labs. Since then I have been developing systems and devices as well as consulting for more than 25 years. It has been my good fortune for me to be on cutting edge projects over a wide range of topics, from biomedical instruments such as DNA assays and endoscopes to real-time on-line inspection systems for products such as bearings for Timken; semiconductor wafers for Perkin Elmer; health and personal care products for J&J, Unilever and Medtronic; to document readers for Wall Street Journal production and the MEI Group; to defense, improving performance of laser guided bombs for the U.S. Air Force and NATO jet planes with Lockheed Martin. See the applications here.

I have developed strategic plans related to technology. I have worked primarily with large companies but relatively small ones have used my services as well. I have been an expert witness on patent infringement cases including those before the International Trade Commission. Learn more here.

It has been productive and fun and a lot of work. The most challenging projects often leave me very uncomfortable at the beginning, but then the fog lifts in a week or so and simple, effective solutions emerge. It still seems like magic to me, but I am grateful for it, and try to structure my approach so that solutions come sooner than later.

So, are you still with me? I hope so.

I will provide basic concepts on project development effectiveness, perspectives on basic optical and sensing technologies, understandable summaries for practical applications of more advanced topics, and personal observations with client names omitted. A good source of publications on optics and applications can be found at www.spie.org - click on Publications.

I invite you to comment, suggest topics and improvements to make these posts interactive. These can be posted as a comment or sent to naxelrod@axelrodassociates.com with the subject “Vision & Sensors Blog” so that I know to give your e-mail the proper attention.

I look forward to this process.