Machine vision standards play increasingly important role

In adoption of technology, machine vision standard plays increasingly important role experts say.

By SOURCE: AIA April 7, 2011

Among the factors driving the rapid growth in the application of machine vision technology is the creation of new industry standards, according to industry leaders.

“Global standards make it easier for users to incorporate machine vision into their automated solutions,” says John Merva, Chair of the Automated Imaging Association (AIA) standards committee. AIA is the world’s largest machine vision trade association with some 300 member companies from 30 nations.

Merva cites a wide-range of current camera interface and interoperability standards activities, such as GigE Vision, Camera Link, the new Camera Link HS, CoaXPress, and GenICam that have been developed either by AIA or other trade associations such as the European Machine Vision Association and the Japan Industrial Imaging Association.

These international associations are also working together to develop new global standards on issues such as lighting for machine vision, which is often the key to success or failure of a vision application.

To educate users on the various standards, a special exhibit was featured at Automate 2011, March 21-24 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. More than 5,000 industry leaders from around the world attended the show and accompanying conference sessions to learn how technologies such as machine vision, robotics, and motion control can help them become stronger global competitors.

“It’s important to see the standards demonstrated live in order to understand which one is a best for a specific application,” Merva explains. “That’s why a number of leading industry companies and associations support this joint exhibit at Automate.”

In addition to the Camera Link and GigE Vision standards and Automate 2011, AIA also sponsors The Vision Show (May 8-10, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts), the annual AIA Business Conference (January 18-20, 2012 in Orlando, Florida), and Machine Vision Online.

www.machinevisiononline.org

AIA

For application and tutorials on machine vision from Control Engineering, see www.controleng.com/machinevision.

– Edited by Gust Gianos, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com