ABSTRACT
A machine vision system is composed of a light source and camera to capture an image, a computer controller to analyze and process the image, and an output device to relay process control instructions, print reports, or take physical action, such as alerting an operator or correcting the process. In functional terms, image capture by the camera is followed by image preprocessing by the computer controller. Machine vision can be broken down into the following general categories: gaging, verification, flaw detection, identification, recognition, and locating. Operationally, a solid-state image sensor converts incident light to electric charge which is integrated and stored until readout. The spatial resolution of an imaging system refers to the number of pixels into which the original image is digitized. Some of the common illumination sources are tungsten, quartz halogen, quartz iodine, fluorescent, and mercury arc lamps, as well as various flash lamps, lasers and light emitting diode sources.
