CRANK™ Inspection Lab
Operating Manual
This is the operating manual for the complete Inspection Lab field-candidate architecture. Visual Inspector is one module inside the Lab alongside Thermal, Vibration, Acoustic, Field Recorder, Evidence, Work Records, Reports and System functions.
1 · Safety
Inspection Lab is a supplemental inspection tool — not a safety interlock.
Follow applicable laws, manufacturer instructions, employer/site procedures, lockout/tagout, verification of de-energization, guarding, PPE and safe-work practice.
Visual, thermal, vibration and acoustic evidence can reduce uncertainty, but no single normal-looking image, temperature, sound, vibration level, Watch state or calculated value proves that a hazard does not exist.
2 · Architecture
One Lab, one evidence model.
INSPECT
Visual Inspector, Thermal, Vibration and Acoustic.
RECORD
Field Recorder for inspection video and Support Recorder for app-problem evidence.
EVIDENCE
Open Image, Open Set, Evidence Library and retained capture paths.
WORK / REPORTS / SYSTEM
Project / Work Records, logs/reports/support, configuration, safety, About and preserved system utilities.
3 · Start
Inspection Lab opens ready to inspect.
4 · CRANK HALO™
The common command layer.
The Visual root ring keeps Capture, Watch, Distance, Light, Voice and Lab immediately accessible over the live camera. LAB opens broader navigation for Inspect, Record, Evidence, Work, Reports and System. HALO remains translucent so the inspection/evidence view stays visible whenever practical.
The contextual instruction line remains stationary while a luminous wipe moves through the letters. The universal stationary 5-second Support hold is separate from HALO navigation.
5 · Project / Work Record
Future evidence follows the active record.
Tap the active-project line in Visual Inspector or use HALO → LAB → WORK → SWITCH ACTIVE. Selecting another record changes where future evidence is assigned; existing evidence does not silently move.
If the project was forgotten, make the inspection anyway. Retained evidence may remain Unassigned and be organized later through the Evidence File Manager.
6 · Visual Inspector
Camera-first visual inspection.
Visual Inspector supports SNAP & EDIT, Quick Snap, Multi-Snap, pins/notes, A/B measurement points, loupe/nudge/lock, distance when the phone can support a defensible result, Motion/Flow/Rotary Watch, retained-image reopening and explicit external copies.
7 · Thermal
Optional FLIR ONE-enabled thermal evidence.
Thermal Inspection retains radiometric and visible capture information when supported by the connected FLIR ONE hardware. Thermal readings remain sensitive to emissivity, reflected energy, distance, atmosphere, viewing angle, target size, focus, camera range and calibration.
Use the FLIR ONE hardware according to the manufacturer's current instructions and follow the site's normal safety controls.
The Thermal module remains under active development/validation; this manual does not claim completion of every planned POINT → ZONE → WATCH workflow.
8 · Vibration
Relative/trending evidence from the phone accelerometer.
Vibration results depend on device placement, mounting/contact, orientation, measurement point, machine speed/load/state, sample duration and handling. Use repeatable placement and operating condition when building a trend.
Timed and manual vibration acquisition follow the evidence-first rule: acquire, save, then assign/create a Work Record or keep the evidence Unassigned.
9 · Acoustic
A relative acoustic instrument with retained time/frequency evidence.
Navigation: from Visual Inspector use HALO → LAB → INSPECT → ACOUSTIC. The INSPECT wedge advertises VISUAL • THERMAL • VIB • AUDIO so operators looking for “audio” can find the Acoustic module quickly.
Acoustic uses the phone microphone as a relative instrument. It never treats the internal phone microphone as calibrated dBA/SPL. The instrument deck provides FAST (125 ms) and SLOW (1 s) response, running relative LEQ, peak/headroom, a seven-segment digital display, synchronized analog needle sweep and a rolling trend chart.
dBFS / REL dB display
The old-school DISPLAY selector switches the instrument deck between dBFS and REL dB. dBFS shows the microphone/ADC level referenced to digital full scale. REL dB is for equipment inspection and shows the level difference from a CRANK-retained equipment baseline; it remains relative and is not SPL.
The equipment baseline is scoped to the exact Work Record + Measurement Point. A different device identity or failed Acoustic Self-Check blocks REL dB rather than fabricating a comparison. A changed audio source invalidates the comparison once acquisition begins. A different Operating Condition is allowed but is explicitly marked COMPARISON LIMITED.
The seven-segment display and analog needle always use the same color function. In dBFS mode color represents digital input/headroom; in REL dB mode it represents relative deviation from the stored equipment baseline. Neither color scale is a hearing-hazard scale.
The retained-audio workflow remains available below the instrument deck: WAV evidence, waveform, FFT/frequency-domain review, playback, scrubber and IN/OUT range selection. Post-baseline evidence records the baseline evidence UUID and relative comparison metadata in acoustic.json.
In a relatively quiet environment, CRANK can play a controlled multi-tone sequence through the phone speaker while recording the microphone. The result checks the complete speaker → air → microphone path against the device's stored relative fingerprint and reports PASS / MARGINAL / FAIL. It is a health/repeatability check, not SPL calibration.
The phone microphone remains a relative instrument. If the relative input indicates sustained near-full-scale/clipping or otherwise raises concern, CRANK may recommend professional sound-level testing; it does not invent a dBA value.
10 · Recording
Inspection Recorder and Support Recorder serve different jobs.
Field Recorder — device camera
Records inspection video as retained evidence. While video is ON AIR, tap the live camera view or press SNAP STILL to retain a separate Visual evidence image without stopping the recording. Standard controls are PAUSE / RESUME, SNAP STILL, STOP & SAVE and CANCEL / DISCARD. For workspace/screen recording, tap the floating FIELD ON AIR bubble to open the large explicit PAUSE/RESUME, SNAP STILL (Visual workspace), STOP & SAVE, CANCEL/DISCARD and CLOSE CONTROLS panel. While the Visual workspace recorder is ON AIR, tapping the live camera preview also retains a Quick-Snap Visual still without interrupting the recording. Paused time is excluded from the retained recording duration.
Support / workspace recording
Support Recorder remains separate from field inspection evidence. Workspace recording supports PAUSE / RESUME, STOP & SAVE and DISCARD while preserving the established support workflow.
Each in-recording still is retained immediately as Visual evidence and carries the same Field Session identifier as the video. Discarding the current video does not delete stills that were already retained.
Retained video playback
Open a VIDEO item from the Evidence Library to play it directly inside CRANK. The retained player provides PLAY / PAUSE, a seek bar, −10 SEC, +10 SEC and RESTART. Playback is read-only and does not modify the canonical video. CRANK does not hand retained video to Android's general “Open with” chooser.
11 · Evidence Library + File Manager
Retained evidence stays reopenable and reorganizable.
The Evidence Library can contain Visual, Thermal, Vibration, Acoustic and Video evidence. Select one or more items and use the File Manager to change the Project / Work Record association without duplicating the canonical evidence package.
CRANK updates retained association/metadata; it does not create a second original or casually shuffle the evidence into consumer folders.
12 · External copies
Gallery is for copies, not the evidence vault.
Canonical CRANK evidence is deliberately separated from ordinary consumer Gallery/Photos handling. When a retained visual image is needed elsewhere, use COPY TO GALLERY or SHARE COPY. Those outputs are derived copies; the original retained evidence remains under CRANK control.
13 · Storage
Protect both evidence and the phone.
Long manual recording paths use storage safety fences that preserve reserve space for finalization and stop/save before runaway recording can exhaust the device. Canonical evidence is local-first and is not automatically uploaded.
14 · About / Support / Release identity
Know which build produced the evidence.
The live Visual Inspector header exposes the running version/build. ABOUT is designed as an in-place translucent overlay over the camera workspace. Support uses the universal stationary 5-second hold convention.
Current field-candidate reference: v0.4g4bh / Build 108. This manual will continue to track the release candidate as validation closes and does not imply Google Play or third-party approval.