An early stage company developing chemical and nanotechnology methods needed prototypes of a simple, robust, and inexpensive spectrophotometer for detection of small particles in a variety of liquids using chemistry and nanotechnology methodology. As the chemistry side of this R&D progressed, IMI worked hand in hand with the client to provide rapid prototypes of the detection instrumentation. The client used these prototypes in demonstrating its technology to investors and potential partners. The many evolving versions of the detection software for this project were written in LabVIEW.

The California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) needed prototypes for a CAN bus architecture used for automation of a steering-assist system for drivers of public transportation vehicles. The communication architecture required a redundancy to ensure rapid failure detection and avoidance. After selecting from among several design options, and choosing hardware, IMI developed the platform and assisted in retrofitting a bus to perform necessary tests.

A manufacturer needed to retrofit one of its asphalt cutting vehicles to be semi-automated. IMI designed the embedded system architecture for this vehicle to control the retrofitted servo valve, and to actuate the cutter as a function of distance traveled. The embedded system had to survive repeated industrial cleanings and harsh weather conditions.

A mobile communications company needed to replace tedious manual test procedures for a large portion of their acoustic testing with a reliable and automated system. IMI designed and developed a test fixture and an easy-to-use software package to meet the customer’s needs. IMI's unique design for the mechanical system allowed for further modifications and expansions in degrees of freedom, and the software design allowed for easy implementation of these further expansions. LabVIEW and MATLAB were used simultaneously in this software package to develop drivers to control the motors, making it easy for the customer to create complicated testing algorithms.