Significant Optical Manufacturing Advancement (SOMA) Process

The Significant Optical Manufacturing Advancement (SOMA) program will capture the principles of Design for Assembly (DFA) and apply them to the fabrication of precision optical systems. This will provide the Navy with the ability to design optical systems that can be assembled efficiently for much lower costs. We will use the DFA discipline of axiomatic design coupled with optical design equations to establish a mathematical underpinning for our designs. Another emphasis in our designs will be their scalability from doing prototype assembly to fully automated assembly without major changes. A key to achieving these objectives will be kinematic mounting. Kinematic mounting techniques can take a variety of forms. We will systematically explore the methods that are best suited for use in optical systems. Proper mounting for optical systems requires the alignment of the optics. We will focus on creating designs that are “decoupled”, meaning the alignment of an element will not affect elements already aligned. The option in the SOMA Phase II program extends the optics DFA principles and production capability to include component and assembly automation. Our interest here is to use flexible, dual use, automated assembly lines to build defense systems.