National Instruments is expanding its Smart Camera family of products by introducing seven new models, including colour and high-resolution options. The new NI 177x cameras feature a 1,6 GHz Intel Atom processor for increased processing power, making them well suited for industrial inspection applications that require high performance in a rugged form factor.
Additionally, the cameras have a real-time operating system to deliver the reliability and determinism needed on a production floor.
Using the Intel Atom processor, the new cameras deliver processing speeds four times greater than other NI Smart Cameras. They also add new sensor options, including VGA, 1,3 MP and 2 MP in colour and monochrome as well as 5 MP in monochrome. The new sensor options make the cameras suitable for applications that require higher-resolution image acquisition such as metrology and detection of small defects, as well as colour imaging such as LED validation for electronics.
The strong mechanical housing, M12 connectors and lens cover have earned the cameras an IP67 rating, which makes them dust- and water-resistant and suitable for environments with washdowns.
The cameras include four digital input and four digital output lines and support several industrial communication protocols including RS232 (serial, Modbus serial) and Ethernet (TCP/IP, Ethernet/IPModbus TCP). Using the signals generated from these networks, engineers can dynamically control lighting or cameras, synchronise with a conveyor belt, drive mechanisms for sorting parts or integrate the smart cameras with programmable logic controllers. The cameras also include a VGA video out connection for monitoring inspection images.
The 177x Smart Cameras are shipped with NI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI) 2011 software, a menu-driven, interactive environment for configuring, benchmarking and deploying vision systems. Engineers can use the software to configure the camera, create custom user interfaces, acquire images, set up triggering and lighting, perform image processing steps and communicate results through I/O or industrial communication networks.
The cameras can also be programmed using LabVIEW graphical programming and the NI Vision Development Module for advanced customisation and integration with other National Instruments hardware. Features introduced with the 2011 versions of Vision Builder AI and the NI Vision Development Module include new calibration tools with improved accuracy and the ability to save single camera calibration parameters for easy re-use; stronger data matrix decoding; morphological reconstruction; structural similarity (SSIM) index for video quality analysis; and new calipher algorithm feature for metrology.
For more information contact National Instruments, 0800 203 199, [email protected], www.ni.com/southafrica
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