Vision system for the price of a vision sensor

Impact is a new high-speed machine vision "microsystem" claimed to set all-new industry standards for inspection power and flexibility.

Impact is a new high-speed machine vision "microsystem" that sets all-new industry standards for inspection power and flexibility, achieving a price/performance ratio unavailable in vision sensors or smart cameras.

This system is priced competitively with vision sensors, yet possesses the power and flexibility of large, expensive vision systems.

The system's power comes from its high-speed, dedicated processor and robust, subpixel software algorithms for a broad range of inspection tasks including pattern find, blob, edge find, OCV, OCR, gauge and contrast sensing.

Impact can achieve 60 full frames per second image capture rate, and even greater speeds are achieved using the system's built-in support for partial scanning.

Impact takes full advantage of the patented, DSLT (digital serial link) family of high-speed cameras, including new high-resolution and micro-head cameras.

The Impact microsystem is the industry's first vision system that is easy to use, flexible and powerful for both beginners and more advanced users.

This incredible flexibility allows it to be easily programmed by end-users and also customised by OEMs and system integrators.

Using advanced inspection algorithms, including the Impact pattern matching and measurement tools, it enables robust and comprehensive 100% inspection for high-speed production lines.

Impact has the flexibility for OEMs and system integrators to quickly develop more advanced programs through comprehensive access to the system's base-level algorithm and function tools.

And, using the new point-and-click GUI software, operator interfaces can be generated quickly to meet the most demanding inspection, measurement and data communication requirements.

Additional flexibility comes from its small size and DIN rail mountable design.

"Impact was designed to give system integrators a vision system that can be quickly and easily applied to many different applications", stated Bob Kuhl, PPT's Director of Product Development.

"It gives them the flexibility and power of fully customisable operator interfaces and a high degree of control using advanced inspection algorithms".

Programming flexibility and unparalleled ease-of-use are achieved using PPT Vision's new Inspection Builder software.

Complete inspection programs are set up using the Impact graphical user interface, without having to use complicated or awkward spreadsheet or menu-based programming methods.

Icons representing the actual inspection algorithms and controls are easily arranged and configured on the user interface screen to provide comprehensive inspection of each part.

Users can also set up reusable program segments to accomplish specific tasks.

This allows the creation of new, user-specified inspection "tools" that provide a powerful way to expand the system's capabilities and quickly customise it for new applications.

This ability to create "tools from tools" is an exclusive, new technology designed to meet the advanced programming needs of system integrators and OEMs.

Additional flexibility for remote monitoring and control is achieved with the advanced Ethernet and Internet capabilities in Impact.

The processor acts as a server for inspection data, allowing inspection results and images to be collected and set up for multiple-location custom viewing and display.

From any given inspection point or points, unique data attributes can be viewed from any PC, allowing users to view and display specific viewer-defined data from any or all Impact-equipped inspection points on the network.

Measurement data and inspection results can be sent over the factory LAN or WAN or the Internet to one or more monitoring stations at the same time that multiple Impact processors are being controlled from a single station.

Easily customised operator control panels add further flexibility to Impact.

Using Control Panel Manager software, Impact provides a wide array of control panel building graphic components that allow users to customise control panels for their unique viewing.

Off-the-shelf Java or other 3rd-party controls can easily be added to the system's library.

Interactive touchscreen buttons, image and data displays, and password protection schemes are quickly created using the same easy drag-and-drop programming method.

Other advanced Impact features include system calibration that allows multiple systems to be easily set to achieve defined, crossfactory performance standards.

This eliminates time-consuming tweaking of multiple systems for lens distortion, light intensity, scale factors, and ROI adjustments.

A watchdog timer identifies situations that trigger continuous inspection failure and shuts down the inspection and process.

PPT Vision Products are distributed in most of Europe by Simac Masic and TSS.

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