REDMOND, Washington, April 24, 2013 -- Radiant Zemax, a leading provider of light and color test and measurement systems and optical and illumination design software, today announced the next generation of its industry-leading PM-KB™ Illuminated Keyboard Test System with new optical character recognition (OCR) capability. PM-KB is widely deployed for testing color and luminance in illuminated keyboards, and with new OCR capability it can now also validate keycap placement and orientation. Traditionally this step required a dedicated machine vision system or human visual inspection station as part of the manufacturing test process.

“Adding optical character recognition capability to our PM-KB system is major step forward enabling our customers to save time and money by improving quality and streamlining their manufacturing test process,” said Ron Rykowski, Chief Technology Officer, Measurement Products at Radiant Zemax. “With PM-KB, our customers will be able to ensure consistent quality across their product lines with properly placed keys and  uniform appearance to the human eye, all while reducing test stations on the manufacturing line.”

High Speed, High Flexibility for Production Environments
A member of the Radiant Zemax TrueTest™ family of automated visual inspection solutions, the PM-KB system is designed specifically for use in keyboard production environments. It combines application-specific software and a ProMetric® Imaging Colorimeter to perform rapid, automated visual inspection of back-illuminated keyboards and keypads for character luminance and chromaticity, and overall keyboard luminance and color uniformity. PM-KB is a dedicated testing system, and is easy to set-up and operate.

Packaging and Availability
PM-KB systems can be configured with any ProMetric Imaging Colorimeter or Photometer, providing multiple options to achieve the pixel resolution, dynamic range, and cost required for the application. Supported by Radiant Zemax' global support staff and distributor network, PM-KB is field-proven and has been used to test millions of illuminated keyboards and keypads.

About Radiant Zemax

World leaders in optics, lighting and display devices turn to Radiant Zemax for high value design, test and measurement systems that reduce costs, lower risk and shorten time-to-innovation.  Radiant Zemax product lines include Zemax optical and illumination design software, TrueTest automated visual inspection for display systems, and ProMetric imaging colorimeters, photometers and light source measurement systems. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, Radiant Zemax delivers optics, light and color technology leadership, service and support to clients around the world.