We demonstrate that particle swarm optimisation (PSO) can be used to solve a variety of problems arising during operation of a digital inspection microscope. This is a use case for the feasibility of heuristics in a real-world product. We show solutions to four measurement problems, all based on PSO. This allows for a compact software implementation solving different problems. We have found that PSO can solve a variety of problems with small software footprints and good results in a real-world embedded system. Notably, in the microscope application, this eliminates the need to return the device to the factory for calibration
