March 20, 2023 - Machine-readable codes are essential to product tracking in many industries, especially in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and food where a verification error can have grave consequences. Machine vision, as the basic technology for reading codes, is optimizing code reading in terms of speed, precision, and readability of data. Camera quality plays a critical role here, for instance, when data and characters are printed as miniaturized codes on ever smaller packaging or directly on the product.
First challenge: miniaturized codes
Miniaturized codes are barely recognizable to the naked eye. Despite this, the image processing and automation experts at Strelen Control Systems (Büttelborn, Germany) have developed solutions that can inspect up to 100 packages with miniaturized codes per second. One-dimensional or two-dimensional codes are detected and decoded regardless of their placement on a packaging or product surface. High-speed cameras from SVS-Vistek are used by Strelen Control Systems for this purpose. Depending on the machine, SVS-Vistek cameras can be specified with resolutions ranging from 5 to 30 megapixels.
The cameras detect the miniaturized codes and read them reliably even where they've been printed far apart within a large field of view. Integrated software technology can locate codes regardless of whether they've been applied at an angle, are badly damaged, difficult to detect or have low contrast.
Second challenge: varying package sizes
Another major challenge in code reading is that the working distance from the camera to the product oftentimes varies. For example, a single container may be filled with packages of different heights, or several packaging types of unlike dimensions can be running simultaneously on the same production line. SVS-Vistek cameras are equipped with real-time autofocus that ensures a high depth of field at distances up to 2000mm (78 inches) between camera and object, therefore permitting a Strelen system to automatically compensate for different package sizes and designs on a fast-moving line. For stationary scenes, corresponding code readers have an integrated assistance system that counts, documents, processes, and interprets the code data.
The user simply places the packages with the codes underneath the camera and up to 300 data matrix codes can be registered and read simultaneously. The data can then be prepared in accordance with various legal directives, for instance, the European Union Falsified Medicines Directives (2011/62/EU) that applies to the pharmaceutical industry within EU member countries. By integrating SVS-Vistek cameras, Strelen Control Systems has engineered online and offline code-reading solutions to address specific imaging challenges across a range of industries, guaranteeing 100% control and better consumer safety. These industries include factory automation, automotive, semiconductors, food and beverage, printing and paper, pharmaceutical, traffic, logistics, and transportation.
SVS-Vistek cameras check every single package to see if it is correct and the software compares the content of the deciphered code with an in-house database. Should a series of errors occur during the process, the machine can generate an appropriate error message or even stop the whole process, reducing waste and rejects.