Using the NI 17xx Smart Camera Direct Drive Lighting Controller by National Instruments

The use of proper lighting is often overlooked when designing a machine vision application. More robust and accurate inspections can be achieved when appropriate lighting techniques are utilized. With the NI 17xx Smart Camera Direct Drive integrated lighting controller, LED lights can be powered directly from the camera without requiring an external controller, providing a quicker and lower cost development cycle.

By Control Engineering Staff May 19, 2008

The use of proper lighting is often overlooked when designing a machine vision application. More robust and accurate inspections can be achieved when appropriate lighting techniques are utilized. With the NI 17xx Smart Camera Direct Drive integrated lighting controller, LED lights can be powered directly from the camera without requiring an external controller, providing a quicker and lower cost development cycle.

This application note discusses considerations when selecting lighting equipment and demonstrates how to utilize the Direct Drive lighting controller feature on the NI 17xx Smart Camera with LabVIEW or Vision Builder for Automated Inspection.

One of the most commonly overlooked aspects of machine vision solutions is lighting control. If proper care is not taken in selecting the correct light source and accounting for variables such as ambient light and the type of material or geometry of the object of interest, it can lead to poor contrast and an inefficient inspection. When designing a robust machine vision application, it is important to use proper lighting techniques to achieve the best possible contrast. This allows for the most accurate image processing possible, since details of the object under inspection can often only be revealed using proper lighting.

National Instruments (14 page pdf)


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