ABSTRACT
Machine vision characteristics depend on the type of image sensor employed and the modifying effects of additional components such as image intensifiers or optical fiberscopes. The machine vision equivalent of the eye includes a lens to project a 2-D image of the 3-D object of interest onto a sensor that transforms the light energy into an electric signal. The primary functions occurring within a standard image sensor are the conversion of light photons falling onto the image plane into a corresponding spatial distribution of electric charge, the accumulation and storage of this charge at the point of generation, the transfer or readout of this charge, and the conversion of charge to a usable voltage signal. When the available solid-state image sensors do not have enough sensitivity for the scene illumination, it is necessary either to use a more sensitive tube camera or to amplify the available light.
