Capstone Visual Product Development

Incorporated in 2001 as DCI Acquisition Corp, Capstone Visual has over 60 years of experience engineering, developing, installing, and supporting various information display and vision systems. Our clients include Fortune 100 companies, world-leading semiconductor manufacturers, and well-known consumer products companies as well as small-businesses that are trying to get on the Fortune lists.

We have more than 60 years of combined experience in the information/display system and machine vision industry. We've been published in respected titles such as the Journal of the SID, and we have presented countless papers, seminars, and training sessions around the world. As a result of our academic backgrounds and real-world experiences, we have several patents in related areas. Our knowledge and skills give you the best resource available to tackle any display-related engineering challenge.

We are independent. We are not a distributor or competitor. We want to be your partner for display technology and vision systems solutions.

We are flexible. We can follow a very rigorous development methodology or we can follow a less stringent plan. From providing simple training or education, to developing a full engineering-prototyping-qualification product development process, we adapt to you – to your needs, to your budget, to your desired results.

We are results-driven. We don't fit the typical "consultant" mold. Your project becomes our passion, and we desire success just as much as you do.

CAPSTONE can serve as an extension of your current product development team or provide you with a turn-key development capability. With our flexible terms and appreciation of market constraints, you get a lower cost and a shorter time-to-market than you would get by hiring, training and retaining in-house staff.

Lewis Collier - President

Lewis Collier leads the system engineering and sales/marketing efforts at Capstone Visual Product Development. He has over 25 years of experience in the design, development, and deployment of computer-based technologies ranging from embedded hardware and computer systems to large-scale object-oriented and client/server data processing and scientific simulation systems. This practice spans the entire range of computer system science and engineering from high level requirements analysis and design through C/C++, assembly language, and microcode programming to design of hardware and VLSI circuits. He has applied this knowledge to lead the design and development of several military and commercial products and has used his expertise to provide consulting services to Fortune 100 companies.

Mr. Collier’s current research interests at Capstone Visual include bioinformatics and software engineering. His bioinformatics efforts are directed towards the application of video scaling and machine learning techniques (e.g. support vector machines) for the 3-D characterization of LDL cholesterol macromolecules from cryogenic transmission electron microscope images. Mr. Collier is also involved in a system engineering project that hopes to provide a tool to support of multidisciplinary efforts to develop software. In short, the goal of this research is to develop a common platform that can be used by computer science and non-computer science personnel for specifying requirements and design for computer systems.

Prior to DCI’s expansion to Capstone Visual Product Development, Mr. Collier led the development of the industry leading DisplayCheck™ family of microdisplay inspection systems. He provided direction for the system engineering efforts as well as development of training and deployment methodologies. These systems inspect microdisplays and projection devices for micron-sized defects as well as standard LCD screens for sub-pixel sized defects. Mr. Collier also led the development of the industry’s only direct-view assessment system for optical engines and projector devices. He also has written several articles and papers relating to machine vision test systems and optics.

Before co-founding DCI in 2001, Mr. Collier served as the system integration coordinator for the Engineering Technology Center of Anteon Corporation, where he provided direction for a staff of over 20 engineers. He was the chief architect for a towed array handling system control unit that is used for the Virginia class of SSN. This system consists of over 100 kSLOC of distributed processing object oriented C++ code with an embedded processor for external sensor analysis. Mr. Collier also developed the architecture and major components for a major sonar simulator that emulates the sonar systems for every US Navy platform. Consisting of over 500 kSLOC of structured FORTRAN, C/C++, and assembly code, the “test bed” provided a geometry model for ship movement, signal generation simulators for the various acoustic arrays, and down stream information processing for detection and tracking of targets.

Mr. Collier received a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics degree and a Bachelor of Science in Physics degree with a focus in solid-state materials from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also received a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering degree with a concentration in VLSI design and computer architecture from the University of Rhode Island. He is currently completing his PhD degree in computer science in the field of 3-D visualization and bioinformatics at the University of Rhode Island.