SenseAir — Production Test & Characterization Systems

Multi-year engineering partnership with a world-leading gas sensor manufacturer. Automated test stations, hardware interface layers, SPC, calibration management, and reporting — systems still running in production today.

Customer Projects
300%
Test capacity increase
99.9%
System uptime
50%
Calibration downtime reduced
7
Systems delivered

The Customer

SenseAir, now part of Asahi Kasei Microdevices, is a world-leading manufacturer of CO₂ and gas sensors with production in Delsbo, Hälsingland, Sweden. Their sensors are used globally in ventilation, indoor climate control, safety, and industrial measurement — applications where measurement accuracy and reliability are critical.

The SenseAir project is one of CargoBeacon's most significant customer engineering projects. Over several years, we developed a complete ecosystem of test and production systems that powers their manufacturing in Delsbo — from automated test stations on the production floor to advanced characterization systems for sensor development.

The Challenge

SenseAir needed to modernize their test infrastructure to meet growing production volumes and tightening quality requirements. Existing systems lacked parallel testing, real-time monitoring, and automated reporting. Beyond production tests, they also needed advanced characterization systems for developing new sensor models — temperature sweeps, humidity cross-sensitivity measurements, and aging tests.

Every sensor must be tested against electrical specifications, gas response, and calibration values. With multiple product variants and high volumes, a flexible system was required that could handle parallel DUTs, automated sequences, and complete data collection without compromising throughput.

Systems Delivered

1

Test Executive System

The core of the entire test infrastructure. A sequence-based automated test system managing the full lifecycle of each device under test (DUT). The system supports parallel testing of multiple DUTs simultaneously, with individual timeout handling and automatic retry logic for unstable measurement points.

Sequence-based test execution with configurable ordering
Parallel DUT testing — multiple units tested simultaneously
Automatic timeout handling and retry logic
Supports both production testing and characterization
2

Hardware Interface Layer

Custom drivers and abstraction layers for all measurement instruments and hardware components used in the test environment. The interface layer isolates the test sequence layer from hardware-specific details, making it possible to swap instruments without modifying test logic.

Measurement Instruments

Multimeters, source meters, gas analyzers

Environmental Control

Gas flow controllers, temperature/humidity chambers

DUT Communication

I²C, UART, SPI

Network Communication

TCP/IP-based instrument communication

3

Production Test Stations

Multiple test stations installed directly on the production floor, each configured for different product variants. The stations test electrical characteristics, gas response, calibration verification, and burn-in — all in an automated, operator-friendly environment.

Electrical test: current, voltage, resistance
Gas response against known concentrations
Calibration verification and adjustment
Burn-in testing for early failure detection
4

Characterization System

Dedicated system for long-duration sensor tests that run around the clock. Used during development of new sensor models and to document sensor performance under varying conditions. Tests can run for days or weeks, producing large datasets that are analyzed automatically.

Temperature sweeps: -40°C to +85°C
Humidity cross-sensitivity analysis
Aging tests — weeks of continuous operation
Gas concentration curves with automatic analysis
5

Data Collection & SPC

Every measurement point is logged in real-time to a SQL Server database. Statistical process control (SPC) calculates Cp/Cpk values continuously, monitors trends, and triggers automatic alerts when process drift is detected — before it affects final product quality.

Real-time logging of all measurement points
Cp/Cpk calculations with control limits
Trend monitoring with drift detection
Automatic alerts on process deviations
6

Calibration Management

All instruments in the test environment require regular calibration. The system tracks calibration intervals, due dates, and certificates. Automatic reminders ensure no instrument is used outside its calibrated interval, and proactive scheduling reduced calibration-related downtime by 50%.

Instrument registry with calibration history
Automatic reminders before due dates
Digital storage of calibration certificates
Blocked testing with expired calibrations
7

Report Generation

Automatic generation of all production reports. Test results, batch summaries, yield analyses, trend reports, and scrap statistics — all exportable to PDF and Excel. Eliminated manual reporting and ensured consistent documentation.

Automatic test reports per batch
Yield analysis and scrap statistics
Trend reports with historical comparison
Export to PDF and Excel

Technical Environment

Platform

Windows, LabVIEW

Communication

TCP/IP, I²C, UART, SPI

Database

SQL Server

Results

The systems delivered to SenseAir have had a direct and measurable impact on their production capacity and quality control. All systems are still running in production today.

300%
Increased test capacity without additional staff
99.9%
System uptime in production
50%
Reduced calibration-related downtime
Real-time
SPC catches process drift before it affects quality
Today
System still running in production
0
Manual reports — everything automated

Need test automation for your production?

We build custom test and production systems with full data collection and SPC. Contact us to discuss your requirements.