Deployable Tools for Engineering Efficiency

Austin Funk

Introduction

• Systems Engineering Intern managed by Andrew Ward
• Diagnostics R&D
• Software focused projects for Genius Digital Diagnostics instrument

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• Brown University 2025 studying Computer Engineering
• Teaching assistant, music, engineering/computer science clubs
• Saxophone, reading, and being outdoors

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Projects Overview

Overall goal: Build beneficial deployable tools that will save time in the day-to-day for full time engineers

• SQL project
• Problem: Changing entries in the SQL database is time consuming, unintuitive, and can cause major issues.
• Goal: Build a tool that allows easy database access for frequent changes during development and adds another layer of security.
• Camera project
• Problem: Mechanical issues with the Genius that occur overnight in the PEG lab cannot be easily diagnosed.
• Goal: Put together an automatic visual recording system with footage that is easy to navigate, greatly reducing the amount of time engineers spend parsing logs.
• Throughput feature
• Problem: It is currently difficult to quantify throughput time after improvements to the Genius system and software.
• Goal: Add database flags that make logging throughput information easy, making it easier to concretely quantify improvement.

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SQL Project

Project Features

• Easily change settings, allows for continuous testing and improvement
• Favorite settings with default value indicators (new to this tool)
• Import/export current values in multiple formats, allows for multiple set ups

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Process

• Learned C# and WPF
• Build minimum viable product
• Integrate feedback and requested features
• Thank you to Jim, Jeff, and Steve for the constant help and ideas!

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Camera Project

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Project Timeline

• Found camera and video software that fit specifications (OKIOCAM X1, OBS)
• Wrote Python script to continuously record footage and delete old footage
• Use other plugins to make the script and OBS work seamlessly

Final product

• Reduces debugging time for 1.1.1 validation, speeds up verification
• Cameras mounted in four Genius imagers with plans for more
• Video has been almost constantly recording since 7/12 with no issues
• Footage is organized on a laptop based on Genius ID and time of recording
• Videos are time stamped to match with error time stamps from the Genius, easy to locate issues
• Detailed user guides for set up, maintenance, and potential issues with solutions

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Throughput Feature (Still in Development)

Project Progress

• Able to log throughput data, all necessary flags exist and are accessible in the codebase and SQL tool

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Goals

• Provide accurate, reasonable data, including average scan time, transition time, and more
• Feature needs to be easy to use and understand
• Use this feature to increase throughput and ultimately increase customer satisfaction

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Stretch Goals

• Use a separate log from the main imager log
• Provide a UI, either within SAM or as a separate developer facing application, that graphs the data

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Future Projects

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Next Projects

• Development project using computer vision to perform repeatability testing on the gantry
• Quantify CPU hardware changes using my throughput feature

My Experience

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Overall Experience

• Learned a lot, including soft skills
• Great connection with other interns and my manager
• Projects felt like they mattered
• Still nearly four weeks left of the internship
• Very positive experience

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Thank You!

Andrew Ward

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Jim Fox

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Jeff Struven

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Steve Failla

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Grant Van Dyke

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And everyone else at Hologic! Thank you for a great summer!

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