Wilson's Websites

Researching lighting, frame-grabber, software, and other OEM image-processing components involves several daunting tasks for system designers and developers. To aid such an endeavor, numerous associations, organizations, and publications have developed Web sites that educate, enlighten, and inform readers about leading technologies, products, and companies involved in machine-vision and image-processing technologies. The Vision Systems Design site (www.vision-systems.com), for example, contains more than three years of back issues on-line, as well as company directories and technology, application, and product information. This month, we take a look at resources that may prove useful to researchers.

Vision and imaging

www.vision1.com/
Dubbed the vision and imaging library, the Web site of Vision 1 (Bozeman, MT) provides data on conferences, imaging organizations on the Web, news groups, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and a glossary of common machine-vision and image-processing terms. It also includes listings of cameras, frame grabbers, lenses, lighting devices, and software from OEM suppliers, plus links to various commercial, government, and research organizations.

The Vision Homepage

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www.cs.cmu.edu/~cil/vision.html
The Computer Vision Homepage was established by Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) in 1994 to provide a central location for World Wide Web links relating to computer-vision research. Due to the success of the concept, the site has been split into many subpages, including those for hardware, commercial products, software, test images, conferences, and publications.

Image engineering

www.cs.latrobe.edu.au/~image/index.html
This Web site deals with the manipulation, transformation, compression, access, and retrieval of still and video images from image databases, whether locally, via LANs, or via the Web. Developed at La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia), the material on this site discusses how to design and configure image databases and features traditional image-analysis and sampling theory, as well as some perceptual science.

English vision

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www.ukiva.org/
The primary objective of the UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA; Royston, Herts, England) is to promote the use of vision technology by the manufacturing industry in the United Kingdom. Its Web site provides links to all 65 members of the UKIVA; news about events, workshops, and courses; and employment opportunities.

Help for suppliers

www.automated-imaging.org/
The Automated Imaging Association (AIA; Ann Arbor, MI) Web site is organized to serve machine-vision suppliers and users. The AIA, which is made up of more than 210 member companies, such as manufacturers of machine-vision components and systems, machine-vision users, machine-vision system integrators, universities, and nonprofit research groups, features a supplier and systems-integrator directory on its site.

Biometric Digest

webusers.anet-stl.com/~wrogers/biometrics/
This site lists more than 70 vendors of biometric-analysis equipment, news items, and samples from the Biometric Newsletter. You'll find links to smart-card and fingerprint resource centers.