High-performance smart camera family
March 2008
Sensors & Transducers
National Instruments recently announced the NI 1722 and NI 1742 smart cameras to provide engineers and scientists with high-performance systems at a low cost. The smart cameras are embedded devices that combine an industrial controller with an image sensor and integrate with NI vision software to offer image processing directly on the cameras, making them ideal for applications such as locating parts, inspecting packaging, verifying assembly and reading 1D and 2D codes.
The new cameras are shipped with National Instruments Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI), an interactive software environment for configuring, benchmarking and deploying machine vision applications without programming. With this intuitive, menu-driven software, engineers can build complex machine vision applications incorporating not only vision algorithms but also state-based execution with looping and branching using the built-in state diagram editor. For more advanced applications, NI smart cameras also integrate with National Instruments LabVIEW software and the full NI library of image processing and machine vision algorithms such as edge detection, pattern matching, 1D and 2D code reading and optical character recognition. Machine vision applications can migrate between platforms with few modifications because LabVIEW and Vision Builder AI support this entire range of hardware.
Built for use in harsh industrial environments, the NI 1722 features a 400 MHz PowerPC processor and the NI 1742 features a 533 MHz processor. The monochrome VGA (640 x 480) image sensor used in both cameras is a high-quality Sony charge-coupled device. The cameras also provide built-in industrial (input/output) I/O, including two optically isolated digital inputs and two isolated outputs. One RS232 serial port and two Ethernet ports with support for industrial protocols including Modbus TCP are also provided.
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