Every machine vision system developed by Xiris is based upon an internal image processing library developed by Xiris over a 20 year period including thousands of hours of coding and testing. The library has been built up to include a number of key algorithms to perform specific imaging tasks, and includes a number of tools created for maximum specification.
Figure 1: This image demonstrates the capabilities of the Pattern match tool
The Edge Tools are used to very precisely locate single edges or edge pairs in a straight line or along an arc. Best used for precisely gauging the distance between two edges or object location (finding one or two edges precisely to locate a corner, or feature), the software has been scientifically proven in a lab environment to be accurate to better than 1/20th of a pixel.
The Blob Tool is used to perform shape analysis of randomly oriented objects in an image with over 60 different measured features. It can be used to determine if object meets specific criteria with individual thresholds available for each parameter to quickly select the features of interest, including: Area, Perimeter, Equivalent Diameter, Centroid, Orientation, Second Moments, Bounding Box, Circularity, Eccentricity and many others.
The Pattern Match (or Search) Tool, as shown above, is used to perform pattern matching by locating two dimensional objects in a very accurate manner (1/4 pixel or better). The Pattern Match Tool is very useful when trying to find an object in a complex scene. Additionally, this tool can be used to determine how well an object matches its ideal, or golden part.
Used to identify lighting variations, the Light Meter (or Histogram) Tool monitors overall intensity changes or simple part presence. Another important application of this tool is the modification of the Brightness or Contrast of the overall image.
Print Inspection uses a golden template pattern, built over a series of taught images, to compare with the image under inspection. The Euclidean distance between each overlaid pixel is analyzed to determine if the image under inspection meets with predefined defect criteria. During the teaching phase, the tool automatically determines appropriate inspection thresholds for each pixel.
Color Tools can be used to verify or recognize a region of color on a component by comparing the candidate color to a series of pre-taught, or known colors. The color processing can be done inRGB (Red, Green, Blue), HLS (Hue, Luminance, Saturation), CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), XYZ or other color spaces. These tools are often used for product identification, print image quality, feature analysis.
Symbology Tools help read or verify various types of symbols, including multi-format 1-D and two-D bar codes, as well as Optical Character Verification and Recognition. Characters can be verified or recognized down to 24x24 pixels in size.
Other tools in our software package include Temporal Tools, which can track position over time, a number of Surface Inspection tools, which range from feature detection to defect classification, and 3D Imaging with the use of Laser Triangulation, used to extract the 3-dimensional shape of a surface
Our other Image Processing Tools are used to enhance an image for the benefit of an operator, including morphology (shape based processing such as erosion/dilation or opening/closing), and neighborhood processing using convolutions, including: Sobel, Averaging, Sharpening, Low Pass, Median, Watershed, and others.
All of these tools were created to help the operator make better decisions based upon what they are able to monitor. By using its own software imaging library in its machine vision systems, Xiris is able to provide custom algorithms to suit some very specific market requirements, achieving greater speed and performance benefits that would be otherwise unavailable were a general purpose imaging library to be used. The customizable nature of this software toolkit makes a Xiris system essential for a variety of applications.
Have an application that could benefit from these tools? Contact us, we always welcome the opportunity to discuss new initiatives!
