Abstract
We identified the camera positions that can measure quantity of position gap most precisely and developed a procedure for automatic assembly of a multi-core optical fiber array, which is an optical communication device consisting of multi-core optical fibers and a V-grooved substrate. The growing demand for optical fiber arrays has led to the need for mass production of optical fiber arrays [1], [2]. Automatic assembly of optical fiber arrays requires the precise positioning of the fibers in the V-grooves. However, if the fiber curves, such positioning is impossible. We have developed a fiber insertion device for measuring the fiber's lateral and angular offsets using a microscope CCD camera and image processing. Using this device, we identified the camera positions for predicting whether fiber insertion will succeed or fail. We also developed a ten-step procedure using only the lateral offset for assembling multi-core optical fiber arrays. Testing demonstrated that this procedure is effective.
