The Best of Both Worlds

Line Scan Mode for OMRON Area Camera

Line scan technology is indispensable for many applications, such as industrial image processing and product inspection in an endless flow. If objects cannot be captured entirely in a single photograph due to their size or shape, they must be "scanned." In line scan cameras, the camera takes the image line by line and combines it to create an image without any distortion in the received image of the object being checked.

When using a line scan camera, movement is important - the material to be inspected or the camera is moved.

The product moves on a belt or the camera itself moves. Error checks on endlessly flowing material, printing, barcode and OCR reading checks on packaging production lines, as well as fault checks and measurement on fast moving objects (e.g. rotating diameter material) are typical application areas for conventional Line scan cameras.

Line scan cameras are camera systems that use single line CCD image sensors to scan objects in this way. In contrast, sensors in field cameras (also known as matrix scanning cameras) consist of multiple two-dimensional matrices arranged in parallel and designed to capture all objects within a single photographic field.

Line scan cameras can in no way be described as decoupled variants of field cameras, since data from single line of light-sensitive pixels can be transmitted to the processor using a camera connection interface. And a 2D image is created, where image processing will be done again.

However, depending on the application, this is usually not necessary. Line scan mode offered in the Omron FH series converts the area scan camera into a Line scan camera, providing a simple and cost-effective solution for many traditional Line scan camera applications.

Customers using area scan cameras are often unaware of the benefits offered by Line scan mode. We show that this option gives them the best of both worlds. Customers set their preferred settings and our software delivers distortion-free images. This makes image data as easy as in the field camera.

In other words, customers can use the field camera as a line scan camera.

This means that expensive line scan cameras can be easily replaced by a more cost-effective and highly powerful field camera in many application areas.

The area scan camera also offers advantages in setting up the application. While fine-tuning a line scan camera is not exactly easy due to the incomplete 2D image, the field scan camera's field of view is extremely easy to visually adjust sharpness and light settings. With the user interface developed by Omron, Line scan mode can be configured in just a few minutes.

You can identify the line with the best clarity and brightness distribution in the captured camera image and switch to Line scan mode. (Imagine having to adjust sharpness and brightness on the single pixel image above.) This prevents wasted time on unnecessary setup and adjustment and provides repeatable results in every application.

In addition, field cameras with color CCD can be used to do the same job as color line scan cameras, which are technologically available in very few companies and are very costly.

Therefore, depending on the application, users can decide whether to use a difficult line scan camera or an easily adjustable solution from Omron.