Another LED lighting technique is overdrive, which strobes “LEDs beyond their continuous rating for brief periods to drive significantly higher intensities,” Machine Design explains. The bursts of bright lighting are designed to maximize contrast in images taken with short camera exposure times. Strobing also is a good choice for imaging objects in motion, such as barcode labels on packages on a fast-moving conveyor in logistics.
Adaptive Lighting Refers to a Group of Technically Advanced Techniques
Meanwhile, the term “adaptive lighting” refers to a variety of techniques that enable the lighting fixtures to “adapt their illumination profiles on the fly to address different machine vision tasks,” Machine Design explains.
One example of adaptive lighting is an LED array combined with software that controls the lighting intensity of individual LEDs. This system allows engineers to program “different illumination patterns across the illuminated area.”
Related: How to Avoid Lighting Pitfalls in Machine Vision Applications
An emerging area in adaptive lighting involves spectral tuning—a process to change wavelengths dynamically. “Changing the wavelength of light can heighten contrast in images of different materials and defects, and spectral tuning systems can automatically select the most effective illumination wavelength for each inspection task,” Machine Design reports.
To learn about other adaptive lighting techniques as well as more information about pulse control and overdrive, read How Advanced LED Control Techniques Are Solving Machine Vision’s Toughest Challenges. Machine Design posted this article—written by Lukasz Maksymiuk, director of engineering at Metaphase Technologies (Bristol, PA, USA)—on August 4, 2025.
Vision Systems Design and Machine Design are brands of Endeavor Business Media, a division of Endeavor B2B.
