Machine Vision is increasingly finding its way into a huge variety of industrial applications. From fully automated quality control using vision sensors or smart cameras, without the use of PCs, to performing more complex tasks such as web inspection, high resolution, high framerate optical inspection, pick and place machines, robotics or production line troubleshooting with high speed cameras.
The last ten years have seen a huge increase of capabilities, with better, higher resolution and faster sensors, both CCD and specially CMOS, with the newest digital interfaces such as GigE Vision, USB3 Vision and CoaXPress. There has also been advances in lighting technology such as high intensity LEDs and structured lasers, with new optical designs capable of inspection inside and outside of complex shapes. The ever improving optical quality of lenses is keeping pace with the increased sensor resolution.
Infrared (NIR, SWIR and LWIR) technologies have also come down in price and have entered the machine vision territory to supplement and sometimes eliminate the visible spectrum cameras.
Of course, computer hardware is continually undergoing performance improvements to allow processing and recording of the ever increasing amounts of data produced by the latest cameras.
Specialist vision companies, such as Alrad Imaging, keep abreast of all the new developments and offer all the latest vision system solutions using components from a wide range of specialist manufacturers.
Alrad Imaging
