Digital drives use FireWire
NDrive networked digital drives are available in 10A, 20A, 30A, PWM, and linear versions. They include integral digital and analog I/O, support for square-wave and sine-wave encoders, a 100 Base-T Ethernet interface for I/O expansion, and a 400-Mbit/s FireWire communication interface. The drives provide deterministic behavior, auto-identification, and software setup from an NMotion software controller. Featuring an 80-MHz DSP, the drives come with up to 12 optoisolated outputs, 12 optoisolated inputs, two 16-bit A/D converters, and two 18-bit D/A converters. A hardware-based multiplier provides 2048X interpolation while a software-based multiplier provides up to 65536X interpolation. Both devices deliver a data rate in excess of 2 GHz, allowing systems with resolutions in the nanometer range to operate at speeds on the order of meters per second.
Aerotech Inc.,
Pittsburgh, PA; www.aerotech.com
enter 100 at www.onlinecenter.to/vsd
Thermal imaging measures temperatures
TVS-700 radiometric thermal-imaging video system serves preventive maintenance and condition-monitoring applications. Its 320 × 240 microbolometer focal-plane array and 3.8-in. color LCD swivel display provide infrared images and viewing from difficult angles. Micro-bolometer needs no cryogenic cooling or mechanical scanning parts and helps deliver time-to-image in less than 30 s. Camera measures temperature differences as small as 0.08°C in the range of 8 to 14 µm. Software support includes Thermoteknix TherMonitor navigation software and real-time image-analysis tools of 10 spot meters, isotherm and line-profile tools, multiple color and gray-scale palettes, and a status area that displays current object parameters for emissivity and background temperature.
Indigo Systems Corp.,
Goleta, CA; www.indigosystems.com
enter 103 at www.onlinecenter.to/vsd
Microscope sees stereo
MZ16A stereomicroscope offers motorized zoom, automatic, and precalibrated measurement functions at every magnification, and a digital LED display. With each zoom change, the microscope displays the current magnification and provides measurements in millimeters, mils, or inches. It can image 3-D structures as small as 600 nm. Apochromatic correction ensures accurate color reproduction. Depth of field can be adjusted using a built-in iris diaphragm. A revolving nosepiece helps scan specimens from 7.1X to 230X magnification with a maximum resolution of 840 line-pairs/mm.
Leica Microsystems Inc.,
Bannockburn, IL; www.leica-microsystems.com
enter 101 At www.onlinecenter.to/vsd
Camera shrinks size
VCM50 miniature progressive-scan CCD smart camera delivers 50 frames/s or 100 or 200 frames/s when every second or fourth line is captured. It is 100 mm long and 30 mm in diameter, weighs 100 g, and consumes less than 1 W. The Sony sensor provides 640 x 480-pixel resolution and can read 7 to 10 ECC200 data-matrix codes/s from full-frame images and imperfect printed codes. The camera system is programmable in C and can be parameterized for existing machine-vision programs. It comes in a NEMA 4 housing and integrates LED ring lighting, optics, CCD sensor with binning and processor, and a setup interface, two inputs, four outputs, and a PLC interface.
Vision Components GmbH,
Burlington, MA; www.vision-comp.com
enter 102 At www.onlinecenter.to/vsd
Silica windows serve sensors A line of glass and fused-silica windows is made from BK7, fused-silica, or sapphire materials. They range in size up to 100 mm in diameter and have a wavefront distortion specification up to 1/10. Standard and custom coatings are available, and windows can be customized to meet specific needs. The windows are cross-referenced to Melles Griot, Edmund Scientific, and OptoSigma part numbers.
Sunex Inc., Carlsbad, CA; www.optics-online.com.
enter 104 At www.onlinecenter.to/vsd
Camera interfaces with FireWire Intensified Retiga digital CCD camera serves low-light imaging applications with a high quantum efficiency in the visible and near-infrared spectrum and an extended blue model for sensitivity in the blue spectrum. An optional RGB liquid-crystal filter allows full-resolution low-light color imaging. An 18-mm Gen III image intensifier with a high-speed intensifier gate control delivers nano-second exposures. Intensifier controls provide independent trigger and gate controls to allow multiple high-speed exposures within a single frame. Intensifier is fiberoptically coupled to a 1360 x 1035-pixel progressive interline CCD. The FireWire (IEEE 1394) interface permits connectivity with a laptop without a frame grabber. QCapture image-capture software is included for Windows- and Macintosh-based systems for camera and intensifier control.
QImaging, Burnaby, BC, Canada; www.qimaging.com.
enter 105 At www.onlinecenter.to/vsd
X-ray system sees tiny defects FOX-160.25 x-ray inspection system can conduct real-time checking of BGAs, µBGAs, chip-scales, flip-chips, chips-on-board, and bond wires. It provides a geometric magnification of 2400X or a total magnification of 7200X and mini-, micro-, and nanofocus operating ranges to recognize features down to 0.5 µm. Sample sizes range up to 12 × 16 in. and 22 lb, with a focal spot size of less than 1 µm. A remote joystick-operated manipulation system features x-, y-, and z-axis control at 300 × 400 × 300 mm and A- and B-axis control at ±45° for n × 360° with manipulation speed settings of 50 µm to 80 mm/s. FIP-600NT image-processing system uses Microsoft Windows and Office programs.
FeinFocus USA Inc., Stamford, CT; www.feinfocus.com.
enter 106 At www.onlinecenter.to/vsd
Vision processor blazes Odyssey Xpro vision processor board contains a Motorola G4 PowerPC 1-GHz microprocessor and an Oasis ASIC that deliver 130 BOPS. The ASIC integrates a four-port PCI-X router, main memory controller, pixel accelerator, and links controller. It incorporates a 64-bit, 133-MHz CPU bus interface and a 128-bit-wide, 166-MHz DDR DRAM interface that transfers image data at up to 5.5 Gbytes/s. Consisting of an array of 64 parallel-processing elements, the 167-MHz pixel accelerator processes up to 2 billion pixels/s. The links controller or router manages all data movements and handles several concurrent video and message streams. The single-slot board offers a 5-Gbyte/s memory bandwidth, up to 1 Gbyte of DDR SDRAM, and up to 2 Gbytes of external I/O bandwidth. A PMC site allows the addition of Camera Link and analog frame-grabber modules. Available software includes Matrox Imaging Library, Odyssey Native Library, and Odyssey developer's toolkit.
Matrox Imaging, Dorval. QC, Canada; www.matrox.com/imaging.
enter 107 At www.onlinecenter.to/vsd
Cameras serve color AVIIVA C2 incorporates a 4K-pixel sensor with a 10-µm-pixel size, an RGB color pattern in a 56-mm-wide casing, and mounting holes for attaching heat sinks. It can deliver 60 Mpixels/s with 12 bits. Programmable settings include data-rate selection, trigger mode, antiblooming, and exposure-control functions. AT71MD represents a tri-CCD color linescan camera in the ..AKYLA family. It features 1K- and 2K-pixel sensors with 10-µm-pixel size and can operate up to 3 x 30 Mpixels/s with 10 bits. Both cameras support the Camera Link interface and cable and a parallel LVDS output.
Atmel Corp., San Jose, CA; www.atmel.com.
enter 108 At www.onlinecenter.to/vsd
Board delivers high data rate PIXCI CL3SD monochrome or color frame grabber can capture 1280 × 1024-pixel image sequences at 500 frames/s from a Basler A504K monochrome or color CMOS camera, respectively. Operating in a Pentium III or 4 computer, it acquires image sequences at the camera's maximum data rate of 625 Mbytes/s, which is faster than the 64-bit, 66-MHz PCI bus. Up to 4 Gbytes of on-board synchronous DRAM supports up to 8000 frames/s. Trigger input can start or stop image sequence capture. Bundled XCAP software provides camera-control menus, image processing and analysis, and image sequence transfer to disk, as well as camera windowing control for higher speed capture at lower resolution to generate rates to 16,000 frames/s over Camera Link cables.
EPIX Inc., Buffalo Grove, IL; www.epixinc.com.
enter 109 At www.onlinecenter.to/vsd
