GigE area scan cameras for industrial machine vision

Where GigE is the right interface

GigE suits every setup with cable runs above 5 m, several cameras on one computer or power over the data cable (PoE). Plants with distributed inspection stations, robot cells with long cable routes and systems with four or more cameras are typical cases.

The limit is the data rate: roughly 100 MB/s per camera. A 5-megapixel camera reaches about 20 frames per second at full resolution, a 20-megapixel camera about 5. If more frames are needed, choose 10 GigE, USB 3.0 or CoaXPress, or work with a region of interest (ROI).

Selection criteria

The filters in this category follow the questions to settle before choosing:

• Resolution: from 0.3 to 151 megapixels in stock; what matters is the smallest feature, which still has to span several pixels in the image
• Sensor size: from 1/2.9 inch to 1.1 inch and beyond; it determines lens choice and image circle
• Frame rate: above 500 frames per second at small resolutions; with GigE the bandwidth sets the limit
• Pixel size: from 1.4 µm to 17 µm; large pixels collect more light at short exposure times
• Mono, colour or NIR: colour only if the task needs colour; mono offers more detail and sensitivity at the same resolution
• Lens mount: mostly C-mount, plus S-mount (M12), M34, M58, M72 and F-mount for large sensors

Typical applications

GigE area scan cameras are used, among other things, for:

• Presence and completeness checks in assembly and packaging lines
• Measurement and position detection for robot guidance
• Code and text reading on conveyors
• Surface inspection with several cameras per station
• Inspection stations with long cable routes between camera and control cabinet