Applications of machine vision technology are expanding at a rapid rate because of its ability to deliver substantial improvements in quality such as providing 100% inline inspection while addressing concerns over the attention span and fatigue level of human operators. The range of potential applications is being further increased by improvements that make it possible to inspect ever finer details and color gradients and even the third dimension. At the same time, increasing vision applications and camera capabilities put greater strains on the network interfaces used to transmit data to and from cameras.
The challenge is greater for personal computer (PC) based vision systems which generate higher bandwidth demands because each image is uploaded from the camera to the PC for analysis. The specialized vision interfaces used in these applications are evolving to keep up with increasing demands. On the other hand, smart cameras that combine image acquisition and analysis in a single package don’t demand as much from the interface because they typically only upload images for archival purposes. This article will provide an overview of machine vision network interface technology and how it is evolving to reliably meet the challenges posed by the rapid increase in machine vision capabilities and applications.