Real-Time Vision Box-PC

Flexible and specially designed for machine vision

The PCs of the Vision Box AGE-X5 family are precisely tailored to the requirements of machine vision and offer users all the features they need to implement economical solutions. Thanks to their compact design and passive cooling, these PCs meet the basic requirements for use in industrial applications, as they can be integrated into systems to save space and ensure their performance is also available in harsh thermal environments.

The PCs of the Vision Box AGE-X5 family are specially designed for use in machine vision applications thanks to features such as all common camera interfaces, including Camera Link, GigE Vision and 5GBase-T, an integrated light controller and real-time I/Os realized in form of the Real-Time Communication Controller (RTCC) developed by IMAGO Technologies.

Exact communication between the camera, illumination, the software for evaluating the recorded images and the higher-level system is a basic requirement for reliable machine vision systems. For example, perfect images can only be recorded if there is an exact time synchronization between the flashed illumination and the exposure time of the camera. In the case of fast-running processes in particular, the image evaluation must recognize defective parts in time and send a corresponding signal to the ejector in order to ensure that the defective part is sorted out.

The Vision Box AGE-X5 provides these functionalities through the integrated light controller, real-time I/Os, for example for the adjustment of conveyer belt speeds via an encoder and the real-time communication controller. This element is an integral part of all Vision Box AGE-X5 models in the form of an FPGA and is used to control the different Vision Box interfaces in real time. The RTCC operates independently from the operating system, e.g. Linux or Windows. Therefore, many applications can be implemented without using a real-time operating system. Several functional units for handling input and output signals are provided. The user can configure these units during run time using high-level C++ and .NET APIs. A PCIe interface is used to connect the FPGA to the CPU. Drivers for the operating system are provided by IMAGO Technologies.

Versatile interfaces

The Vision Box AGE-X5 is available in three basic versions, which differ in their interface options for Camera Link, GigE Vision and 5GBase-T cameras.

Many line scan cameras from various manufacturers work with a camera link interface, as it provides a higher bandwidth than Ethernet-based interfaces and thus the large amounts of data that frequently arise in line scan camera applications can be transmitted more securely. However, there are also Camera Link area scan cameras with high data rates that can also be operated with the Camera Link variant of the Vision Box AGE-X5.

The GigE Vision interface has gained significant importance in recent years and, compared to other interfaces, impresses with more flexibility in terms of cable lengths and the multi-camera system’s topology. Numerous manufacturers of industrial cameras offer models with a GigE Vision interface. The GigE Vision version of the Vision Box AGE-X5 is ideal for these cameras. As an option, the GigE interface provides Power over Ethernet and Trigger over Ethernet, too. Cameras with just one Ethernet cable can be connected.

The amount of data that has to be transmitted in machine vision applications is constantly growing due to increasingly faster sensors with higher resolution. About five times the amount of image data can be transmitted via the 5GBase-T interface compared to 1 Gigabit Ethernet. By using the Vision Box AGE-X5 with 5GBase-T interface, users can implement applications with high data rate requirements and continue to use the topological advantages of Ethernet technology.

Easy ways to get to your Machine Vision solution

IMAGO customers using a Vision Box AGE-X5 benefit from this decision in several ways. The flexibility with regard to the suitable interface for the respective application is continued in the freedom to choose Windows or Debian Linux as the operating system and to receive a matching SDK. The Real-Time Communication Controller is independent of the operating system. Vision Box-X5 users obtain the complete infrastructure for machine vision from a single source from IMAGO Technologies and can fully concentrate on the development of their image processing application.

Support for this task is provided by the ViewIT software platform. ViewIT offers a fast solution to develop software for special applications and any image processing task within less time and with reduced development efforts, without having to write a single line of code outside of image processing itself. A web-based graphical user interface with intuitive functionality and easy-to-configure software modules allows any automation engineer to access machine vision and handle tasks like the image display or the configuration of all cameras in the system.

Food & Beverage

In the production of food and beverages, machine vision is used in numerous process steps to detect defects in the goods or their packaging. The recognition and reading of codes, which contain, for example, the time and place of manufacture or the best before date, is one of the typical applications in this industry that can be solved quickly and reliably with the help of the Vision Box AGE-X5.

Further sample applications

Pharma

In the pharmaceutical industry, high safety requirements apply in order to manufacture error-free products and to guarantee their traceability in order to minimize risks for patients. Typical machine vision applications in this industrial sector include the detection of foreign substances in tablet blisters or liquids, the reliable counting of objects when filling medication, or reading codes on medication packaging. Machine vision systems based on the Vision Box AGE-X5 solve such tasks with a high degree of security.

Further sample applications

Production

Production machines for goods of all kinds are no longer economically feasible today without automated quality control. The infinite variety of products and their manufacturing processes imply an enormous range of individual conditions for the machine vision systems used in terms of accuracy, speeds and tasks. The flexibility and performance of the Vision Box AGE-X5, as well as its compact and robust design, allow effective solutions for quality assurance in many cases.

Further sample applications

Electronics production

The requirements in the production of electronic components are enormous due to the high level of accuracy required and the production speeds. Powerful machine vision PCs such as the Vision Box AGE-X5 are used to reliably detect even the smallest errors. Due to its versatility in terms of the possible camera interfaces, this industrial PC family is suitable for a wide variety of applications in electronics production.

Further sample applications

Packaging & Logistics

In contrast to many other areas of application, the size of the objects to be inspected changes extremely frequently in the packaging and logistics industry. Machine vision systems that are used in this industry must therefore often be more flexible than in other fields of application and, among other things, be able to recognize and read a wide variety of codes at constantly changing positions. With its variants for Camera Link, GigE Vision and 5GBase-T cameras, the Vision Box AGE-X5 offers a wide range of options for this industry.

Further sample applications

Printing

The fast acquisition of registration marks is a frequently encountered task in the printing industry. Print products can only be produced in the desired quality if this task can be solved reliably and with the necessary speed. In other areas of the printing industry as well, such as flexographic printing, the use of powerful machine vision PCs such as the Vision Box AGE-X5 is essential to meet the manufacturer’s requirements.

Further sample applications

With the Vision Box AGE-X5, IMAGO Technologies offers mechanical engineering companies as well as manufacturers of inspection or production machines of all kinds a powerful platform for numerous machine vision applications with line scan or area scan cameras, which is characterized, among other things, by the flexible choice of a camera interface. For the use of the Vision Box AGE-X5 in systems that are implemented over a longer period of time in the same configuration over and over again, detailed tests run by IMAGO Technologies ensure that all specifications are reliably met.

The experts from IMAGO Technologies will be happy to advise you and check which configuration of the Vision Box AGE-X5 represents the optimal solution for your individual task!