If you design or specify machine-vision systems, you’ll like Handbook of Machine Vision, a book edited by Alexander Hornberg, a professor of physics and photonics at the University of Applied Sciences in Esslingen, Germany. In this 798-page volume (Ref. 1), Hornberg has compiled a wealth of information that addresses topics at both practical and theoretical levels. The book covers areas such as general system-design principles, lighting, optics, camera systems, computer interfaces, and algorithms.
I recommend you first read section nine, “Machine Vision in Manufacturing,” because it provides a solid introduction to what vision systems can do and the problems they can solve. Then, jump to the front of the book. Although I found the first chapter on human vision and visual perception interesting, I read through it quickly so I could move to chapters that address real vision systems.
Flip through the book quickly and you will see many equations. The section on optical systems, for example, includes math-laden discussions of Gaussian optics, the wave nature of light, and image transfer and storage. But you need not master these topics to learn non-math lessons. The last few pages of this section, for example, hit the mark with useful information about image quality.
You’ll also find a bit of math in the 180-page chapter on algorithms, but unless you plan to write algorithms, you can jump to the explanations and diagrams. Often, software vendors describe algorithms as though everyone understands what they do. In this chapter, readers will learn about many image-processing techniques that manipulate images so they yield more useful information. (The book does not provide algorithm code.)
Designers will also find much useful information in the section “Lighting in Machine Vision.” This chapter provides just the type of explanations and illustrations that help engineers properly plan and assemble light sources for an application. If you still perceive lighting techniques to be black magic, turn to this chapter for advice. I cannot think of another source that offers as much practical information about lighting.
This reference book provides many helpful diagrams and photographs that illustrate how algorithms work, the results of lighting components in various ways, and how camera systems operate. Unfortunately, only some of the some illustrations include color; its wider use would enhance the book’s value.
Readers will find a few gaps in the handbook’s coverage of vision systems. The editor has not included information about color machine vision or about the practical aspects of lens selection. More information about communicating with industrial networks and control systems would help, too, but one book can contain only so much.
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- Handbook of Machine Vision, edited by Alexander Hornberg, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany, 2006. ISBN: 978-3-527-40584-8. 798 pages. $190. (Available from John Wiley & Sons, www.wiley.com.)
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