Vision Show West highlights
-- Test & Measurement World, 11/20/2002
--Lawrence D. Maloney, Editorial Director
SANTA CLARA, CA. NOVEMBER 19, 2002—High performance and ease-of-use marked several of the new products introduced by vendors at the Vision Show West, being held here this week. Among the technologies targeted for applications in the electronics industry—
New Coreco division—ipd—shows off its first “vision appliance”
Inspecting connectors and other electronic components could get a lot easier with iGauge, the pioneer product in a new line of task-specific vision appliances from ipd (Billerica, MA; www.goipd.com). The web-based product, used in conjunction with an integrated CMOS sensor or an external CCD interface, simplifies optical measurement of point positions, lines, angles, hole diameters, roundness, and other features. Through a series of setup screens, users can perform such tasks as these:
· start, load or import a previously configured
solution,
· adjust sensor focus, brightness and contrast for optimum
image settings,
· calibrate to real-world coordinates,
· record
image and inspection parameters for debug and analysis,
· apply pass,
fail, and warning tolerances for measurements.
The iGauge provides measurements to within 10% of a pixel on either fixed or rotationally oriented parts. It also automatically compensates for lighting and contrast variations and for lens and perspective distortion.
Priced at $4,000, including the sensor, the new vision appliance is designed “to bring a new level of simplicity to applications that have traditionally required experienced developers, integrators and users,” notes Steve Geraghty, director of ipd.
Matrox frame grabbers leverage PCI-X technology
Targeting electronics OEMs and system integrators, Matrox (Dorval, Quebec; www.matrox.com) has unveiled its Helios XCL high-speed Camera Link frame grabber. In this product, a custom ASIC combines a PCI-X controller with a powerful processor to free the host CPU from image formatting and pre-processing tasks.
The PCI-X is an enhancement to the conventional PCI bus, which can fall short when it comes to throughput in applications with high data rates, observes product line manager Peter Boriero. Version 1.0 of PCI-X specifies a 64-bit physical connection running at speeds to 133 MHz, resulting in a peak bandwidth of up to 1 Gbyte/s.
Acquiring up to 680 Mbytes/s, the XCL is available in two options. One enables simultaneous acquisition from two completely independent Camera Link cameras, while the other supports acquisition from a single Camera Link.
Also available in analog versions, the Helios XCL includes an internal video
generator for troubleshooting, installation and operation.
Coreco announces high-performance 64-bit frame grabbers
For high-speed line-scan inspection of PCBs, wafers, and flat panel displays, Coreco Imaging (Montreal; www.corecoimaging.com) is introducing the X64-CL series of digital frame grabbers designed for the 64-bit PCI bus. The new line can acquire images from two unsynchronized cameras simultaneously and can transfer images at a rate of up to 528 Mbytes/s.
The product’s ACU-Plus acquisition control unit can acquire up to 256 Kbytes per horizontal line and up to 16 million lines per frame. In addition, the X64-CL series features an intelligent data-transfer engine that transmits images between the board and the host without using the CPU, which speeds the image data-transfer rate.
Among other features, the new line supports Coreco’s Sapera programming package and application development, using C/C++ DLLs and ActiveX controls with Microsoft Visual Studio or Visual Basic version 6.0 or higher.
Integral Technologies offers new tool for image processing and
analysis
OEM users can simplify program development and decrease time-to-market with a new high-level programming library from Integral Technologies (Indianapolis, IN; www.integraltech.com). Compatible with the company’s FlashBus and FlashPoint frame grabbers, the new Image & Vision Library (IVL) supports a variety of machine vision and imaging routines, including calibration, measurement, pattern matching, and medical applications.
The IVL supports full color as well as gray-scale images, and offers sub-pixel accuracy. Users also can train on sample programs that demonstrate many of the library’s functions. Target customers for the new tool are OEM engineers designing machine-vision systems in a variety of applications, notes product manager Kevin Brown.
Advanced Illumination wants your lighting problems
Puzzled about how to light a device for automated inspection? Advanced Illumination (Rochester, VT; www.advancedillumination.com) is now offering a free image evaluation of the device and will recommend possible solutions from its LED lineup. The company can provide some 10,000 lighting variations from a selection that includes such products as ring lights, dark-field illuminators, spotlights, backlights, line lights, and more.
Stocker Yale adds fluorescent illuminator
In other lighting news at the Vision Show, Stocker Yale (Salem, NH; www.stockeryale.com) introduced its Model 12 HemiLite spherical fluorescent Vision Illuminator. The product is designed for machine-vision applications where highly diffuse, uniform illumination is needed to detect surface defects on rough or specular surfaces. The lamp assembly offers flicker-free illumination in such applications as PCB component inspection.
Edmund spotlights its modular magnification system
Among its broad range of new optical products for machine vision and inspection, Edmund Industrial Optics (Barrington, NJ; www.edmundoptics.com) cited the cost-effectiveness and versatility of its modular magnification system (MMS). Designed for OEM applications, the MMS features an adjustable iris and fine focus, which can be locked in place. The complete system consists of a front objective and back lens assembly. A variety of both components are available and can be interchanged to produce different magnification/working distance combinations.
Look for Edmund’s new catalog, available in January, which will offer some 400 new products.
National Instruments simplifies vision applications
With the new Vision Builder software tool from National Instruments (Austin, TX; www.ni.com), engineers with no previous programming experience can create machine-vision applications, using intuitive inspection tools to directly interact with images. Vision Builder for Automated Inspection features an interactive image-processing and analysis environment with decision-making capabilities and digital I/O support.
The built-in digital I/O feature gives users the ability to control serial lines and static digital I/O modules, as well as interface to such external devices as strobes, cameras, and PLCs.
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