Kevin G. Harding
President & CTO at Optical Metrology Solutions LLC
SPIE Involvement:
Conference Chair | Track Chair | Author | Editor | Instructor
Area of Expertise:
Optical Metrology , 3D Metrology , Interferometry , Holography
Profile Summary

Kevin Harding is a cofounder of Optical Metrology Solutions LLC were he provides consulting and product development assistance. Previously at GE R&D center he lead the activity in Optical Metrology and provided guidance to a wide range of optical technology projects, doing work for the many businesses of GE. Before joining GE, as Director of the Electro-Optics Lab at the Industrial Technology Institute for 14 years, Kevin built the electro-optics business doing over 200 projects and spinning off a number (6) of commercial products. Within the technical community for over 45 years, he developed and chaired new technical conferences and workshops including the industry recognized Optics and Lighting for Machine Vision which he taught for over 15 years. Kevin Harding is internationally recognized for his expertise in 3D measurement technology, and has been recognized for this work by many organizations including:
Society of Manufacturing Engineers Outstanding Young Engineer Award 1989
Engineering Society of Detroit Leadership Award 1990
Automated Imaging Association, Leadership Award, 1994
SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers) Eli Whitney Productivity Award 1997
SPIE President's award 2010

Kevin. Harding has published over 150 technical papers, taught over 60 short courses and tutorials to industrial and academic audiences, as well as an NTU video course on Optical Metrology, Authored/Edited 2 books (including SPIE Practical Optical Metrology) contributed sections to 7 other books, and received over 88 patents leading to 12 past and present products. He has served on industrial advisory committees, society Committee chair and conference chair for over 25 years working with the SPIE, LIA, ESD, SME, and OSA. Kevin was the Chair of the Machine Vision Association (1991), chair of the SME Publications Committee (1993-4) and 2008 President of SPIE-the International Society for Optics and Photinics as well as a fellow of the SPIE.
Publications (113)

Proceedings Article | 4 October 2023 Presentation + Paper
Proceedings Volume 12672, 126720B (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2675054
KEYWORDS: Light emitting diodes, Speckle, Semiconductor lasers, Light sources, Physical coherence, Optical metrology, Modulation, Metrology, Distance measurement, Diffraction

Proceedings Article | 4 October 2023 Presentation + Paper
Proceedings Volume 12671, 1267105 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2675053
KEYWORDS: Industry, Mirrors, Mirror surfaces, Metrology, Reflection, Deflectometry, Specular reflections, Metals, Displays, Industrial applications

Proceedings Article | 16 June 2023 Presentation + Paper
Proceedings Volume 12524, 125240D (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2665901
KEYWORDS: Light emitting diodes, Speckle, Aluminum, Semiconductor lasers, Cameras, Optical surfaces, Multimode fibers, Light sources and illumination, Reflection, Liquid crystal lasers

Proceedings Article | 31 May 2022 Presentation + Paper
Kevin Harding, Gianni Pucillo, Robert Tait
Proceedings Volume 12098, 1209806 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2619251
KEYWORDS: Speckle, Metrology, Distance measurement, Signal detection, Wavelets, Smoothing, Sensors, Phase shifts, Phase shifting, Laser optics

Proceedings Article | 5 August 2021 Presentation + Paper
Proceedings Volume 11817, 1181702 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2593533
KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Capacitance, Confocal microscopy, Optical components, Temperature metrology, Sensors, Interference (communication), Thermal effects

Showing 5 of 113 publications
Proceedings Volume Editor (31)

Showing 5 of 31 publications
Conference Committee Involvement (48)
Dimensional Optical Metrology and Inspection for Practical Applications XIII
24 April 2024 | National Harbor, Maryland, United States
Applied Optical Metrology V
22 August 2023 | San Diego, California, United States
Advances in Solar Energy: Heliostat Systems Design, Implementation, and Operation
20 August 2023 | San Diego, California, United States
Dimensional Optical Metrology and Inspection for Practical Applications XII
2 May 2023 | Orlando, Florida, United States
Dimensional Optical Metrology and Inspection for Practical Applications XI
5 April 2022 | Orlando, Florida, United States
Showing 5 of 48 Conference Committees
Course Instructor
SC609: Basic Optics for Non-Optics Personnel
This course will provide the technical manager, sales engineering, marketing staff, or other non-optics personnel with a basic, non-mathematical introduction to the terms, specifications, and concepts used in optical technology to facilitate effective communication with optics professionals on a functional level. Topics to be covered include basic concepts such as imaging, interference, diffraction, polarization and aberrations, definitions relating to color and optical quality, and an overview of the basic measures of optical performance such as MTF and wavefront error. The material will be presented with a minimal amount of math, rather emphasizing working concepts, definitions, rules of thumb, and visual interpretation of specifications. Specific applications will include defining basic imaging needs such as magnification, depth-of-field, and MTF as well as the definitions of radiometric terms.
SC583: How to Use Machine Vision In Your Industrial Inspection Application
This course will provide the potential user, developer, or current practitioner with a broad understanding of the tools available for the application of machine vision and optical metrology methods as applied to industrial inspection and measurement needs. Material covered in this course will include the selection of optical components such as lenses, filters, cameras and light sources to achieve specific performance objectives. In addition, this course will review a wide range of standard and specialized methods of lighting, imaging and analyzing industrial parts using current off-the-shelf systems and software packages. Finally, this course will provide case study examples of successful applications and the steps needed to reach such success. Attendees are encouraged to bring their application problems for a hands-on workshop session with actual machine vision hardware and software at the end of the course.
SC1004: 3D Optical Metrology - Hands-on Workshop
The fast moving field of 3D measurement has seen an explosion of commercial systems that border on the capabilities of the "Star Trek" replicator. In this tutorial, the fast moving field of laser based gaging, 3-dimensional measurement, and automated 3-dimensional inspection technology will be presented within a framework of real-life applications to durable goods manufacturing. Examples of currently available systems and applications will be presented along with some of the history and future potential of these technologies. This tutorial will provide the attendee a background on the capabilities of industrial application of optical based measurement and monitoring technology. The technologies that will be discusses in this tutorial include: • moire contouring for tool and die applications • laser triangulation scanners for online measurements • 3D scanners for reverse engineering applications The lecture will be supplemented by a hands-on session using a variety of basic gaging tool and commercial systems. In this hands-on session, the attendees will be split into teams, each with a specific part and measurement task (choosen by the team from a set provided). Each team will evalute the technologies available, and report out to the group on their conclusions. Attendees are welcome to bring their own parts for an open forum discussion at the end of the course.
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