Two leading industry events took place at the NEC in Birmingham, UK, February 12 and 13, 2003. Image Processing & Optical Technology (IPOT 2003; www.ipot.com) is the major UK industry event for displaying the latest industry-specific innovations and applications involving image capture, image processing, and image analysis. Image storage and output, microscopy, laser systems, fiberoptics, optical components, and detectors were represented. Machine Vision 2003 is the premier UK vision event and the only UK exhibition in its field. It offers the added bonus of collocation with IPOT, as well as covering general- and special-purpose industrial vision systems, cameras, components, and lighting systems.
Supported by the UKIVA (UK Industrial Vision Association, Royston, Herts, UK; www.ukiva.org); Vision Systems Design (Nashua, NH, USA), and the BMVA (British Machine Vision Association and Society for Pattern Recognition, Malvern, Worcs., UK; www.bmva.ac.uk); these two events will be in Hall 12 at the NEC. This single hall provides visitors with unrestricted access to both events.
At IPOT, buyers and specifiers from industry disciplines, such as aerospace, automotive, defense, industrial/process control, inspection/measurement, medical and pharmaceutical, research and development, and security/surveillance, will see a range of new technologies, products, and applications. They will then be able to cross over from the IPOT floor area to the Machine Vision floor area. Here, they will be able to view a variety of vision systems and components for use in various applications.
Here is a sampling of IPOT events and new products.
UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA; Royston, Herts, UK; www.ukiva.org) is presenting a series of free seminars entitled "How precise can you get with vision?" The seminars, which will be held in the main exhibition hall next to the UKIVA stand, will be given by Alrad Imaging, Firstsight Vision, Industrial Technology Systems Ltd., JAI UK, Kane Computing, Multipix Imaging, National Instruments, and York Electronics Center.
Industrial Vision Systems Ltd. (Wantage, Oxon, UK; www.industrialvision.co.uk) at stand B72 will be demonstrating Version 5.1 of NeuroCheck neural-network software package for automated visual inspection. This software supports several FireWire
cameras and has incorporated new functions such as XML, HTML, and plug-in DLLs.
Multipix Imaging Ltd. (Petersfield, Hampshire, UK; www.multipix.com) on Stand B43, Hall 12, will be exhibiting DVR Express, a special camera interface capable of recording video from Basler Vision Components 's A504kc CMOS area-scan cameras directly to hard disk at full frame rate and full resolution without image compression. The A504kc provides 280 x 1024 pixels with a Bayer color filter at 500 frames/s. DVR Express incorporates a SCSI disk controller and SCSWI disks attached to the circuit card. Running on Windows 2000/XP is IO Industries Video Savant application software. Also shown will be Basler's A600f series of CMOS, IEEE 1394 (FireWire) area-scan cameras. These cameras offer a full-frame shutter and a 29 x 44 x 66-mm housing and can operate at up to 100 frames/s at 659 x 493-pixel resolution. Multipix Imaging also is announcing a new distribution agreement with RVSI NerLite, manufacturer of NERLITE LED illumination devices.
On Stand B135, Image Management Technologies Ltd. (Hampshire, England; www.i-m-t.co.uk), a manufacturer's representative, will be displaying digital and smart cameras, frame grabbers, and software from manufacturers such as Active Silicon, DuncanTech, MuTech, and Vision Components, for volume OEMs and systems integrators.
At Stand B47, JVC Professional Products (UK) Ltd. (London, UK; www.jvcpro.co.uk) will be showcasing the KY-F75U and KY-F1030U progressive-scan digital color cameras. Both are SXGA cameras featuring 3 x 0.5-in., 1360 x 1024 -pixel CCDs (4.2 million pixels) with an IEEE 1394 (FireWire) output. A range of DVD jukeboxes will also be on view.Oriel Ltd. (Leatherhead, Surrey, UK; www.lotoriel.co.uk) is showing the Omega and ThermoScope thermal-imaging cameras at Stand B81. Omega provides a thermal resolution of <40 mK when normalized to f/1.0 with a time to first image of less than 2 s. ThermoScope adds a flash lamp system and analysis software to detect composite materials.
Bentham Instruments Ltd. (Reading, Berkshire, UK; www.bentham.co.uk) is exhibiting its benchtop P-2000 Optometer, which offers two-channel parallel operation for use in optical radiation measurements for radiometry, photometry, optical/laser power, and integrating sphere applications. Designed for laboratory use, the instrument provides 16 menu-selectable modes of operation. GigaHertz-Optik radiometric and photometric sensors and accessories are available.
Global Display Solutions (GDS; Bingley, UK; www.gds.com) is exhibiting its latest TFT and CRT displays at stand A74, Hall 12, at Electronic Information Display (EID), which runs concurrently with IPOT 2003. New GDS products to be demonstrated include a 30-in. TFT public information display, 6.4- to 20.1-in. sunlight-readable TFT displays, 32-in. flat CRT, TFT industrial display chassis, and TFT video cards.
Unveiled on the EUTIST-IMV (www.spt.fi/eutist) exhibition stand at IPOT (Hall 12, Stand No. B94), ISAAC, a European Commission project, is looking at applying computer-vision and image-processing methods to the sewer-inspection process. "The European Commission is working to make the benefits of machine-vision technology available to organizations throughout Europe," says Mark Sawyer, Edinburgh-based technical coordinator for the EUTIST-IMV project. The Prague trials operated on the water sewer network in and around the city. Computer vision gave much faster inspection times. Other EUTIST-IMV applications include automatic inspection, measurement, and control.
Data Translation (Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK; www.datx.co.uk), a provider of machine-vision and data-acquisition systems, will demonstrate the new versions of its quality-control machine-vision and data-acquisition software. DT Vision Foundry v3.5 for Windows XP and 2000 allows the user to rapidly create production-ready inspection programs. The company will also show its DT3145 Camera Link PCI frame grabber, a high-performance, high-speed digital image acquisition board, based on the Camera Link standard. Its high-performance image-capture capability makes it an ideal solution for high-resolution scientific imaging, general-purpose image processing, and machine vision applications. The DT3162, a variable-scan monochrome frame grabber for the PCI bus, and DT Measure Foundry, test-and-measurement application software, will also be demonstrated.
Matrox Imaging (www.matrox.com/imaging will present live demonstrations of its latest software release--Matrox Imaging Library (MIL) 7.5. The Edge Finder tool is the newest addition to the MIL package for feature extraction and analysis that works with lines, crests, and contours of objects. Feature extraction is performed with subpixel accuracy using an interpolation technique that utilizes more than just pixel intensity on both color and monochrome images. This tool can be used in applications as varied as defect detection (such as scratches), finding objects with significant deformity (seals and gaskets), and finding simple objects quickly.
