Recommended Product: Lasos DPSS
A valuable research tool, especially in biomedical applications, is the fluorescence microscope. The fluorescence microscope uses a light source to illuminate the sample. This light causes fluorescence within the specimen - ie it absorbs the light and reemits it at a different wavelength (colour). This effect can either occur naturally, or can be enhanced by adding a fluorescent dye to the sample. By collecting this emitted light, fantastic and often beautiful images can be obtained.
This technique is often combined with Confocal Microscopy. In this technique an aperture is placed in the light path of the microscope. This produces a very narrow depth of field enabling high resolution images to be obtained in the x-y plane of the sample. By altering the height of the samples a series of "slices" can be obtained. Subsequent recombination of the slices produces a 3D image.
Helium Neon, Argon Ion, Argon Krypton and Diode Pumped Solid State lasers are used in this field, some examples of which are given below:
Description: An extension to NIR spectroscopy, to enable analysis of the contents of an heterogeneous object
Recommended Product: Opotek Opolette
Hyperspectral or spectral imaging is a relatively new technique used to simultaneously acquire the entire spectrum reflected from a large number of points across a sample's surface. This information is then used to identify and map the distribution of the components from which the sample is made. The technique is becoming more widely used in pharmaceutical, medical, forensics and chemical process applications. |
The HySPEC system from Opotek utilises a tunable OPO laser system as its source, rather than a broadband white-light source and a series of filters. In this arrangement, the tunable OPO laser system scans through the NIR wavelength range, and the light is delivered to the target via fibre-optic bundles. The reflected light is then collected via an IR camera and the hyperspectral cube recorded.
Systems that use a broadband white-light source have limitations such as generating heat which can damage the sample, are slow to gather data, and have a limited spectral range and field of view (FOV).
 | Replacing the light source with a tunable OPO laser source provides several advantages: The tunable OPO laser system offers a wide, continuous tuning range (UV-VIS-NIR) with a short pulse width, high peak power and low average power. |
The system works in a fast scan mode such that:
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The Hyspec system is designed to have a wavelength range of 440 – 700nm & 850 – 1700nm with a field of view of up to 20cm wide. Furthermore it has a spectral resolution of <1.5nm over the entire wavelength range, operating at a speed of 10 wavelengths per second. The short 5-ns pulse widths, rapid wavelength tunability, high peak power, and low average power enables high-sensitivity spectral imaging measurements to be made on samples (including human subjects) that would not be able to withstand the high intensities of conventional incandescent light sources. |
| Model | Wavelength range | Bandwidth | Camera | Pixels |
| VIR | 440 - 700nm & 850 - 1650nm | 0.5nm in the visible 1.5nm at 1650nm | VIS GaAs | 256 x 320 30µm x 30µm |
| NIR S | 900 - 1700nm | <1.5 nm at 1700 nm | InGaAs | 256 x 320 30µm x 30µm |
| NIR L | 1450 - 2500nm | <3 nm at 2500 nm | InSb | 256 x 320 30µm x 30µm |
GigE Vision - Gigabit Ethernet Cameras for Industrial Applications
Camera interface standards for machine vision cameras have evolved over the last ten years. A decade ago, industrial digital cameras were very difficult to install and integrate into machine vision systems. The difficulty was largely because there were no camera interface standards. System integrators and end users desparately needed something more standardized.
In the late 90's, the AIA formed a camera interface standard based on channel link, a parallel bus designed particularly for laptop computer displays. By defining a standard cable and connector, together with some standardized signal assignments, the Cameralink™ standard was born. Around the same time, IEEE-1394 firewire cameras were conforming to a digital camera interface standard called DCAM, now more commonly known as IIDC. The DCAM (IIDC) camera interface standard went further than Cameralink in that it not only defined a standardized hardware interface but also defined a standardized software control interface making DCAM-compliant firewire cameras truely plug and play. Until recently, these two interfaces have dominated the industrial digital camera market.
However, there is a new interface standard that will soon dominate the industrial camera market. The AIA GigE Vision™ standard for Gigabit Ethernet cameras is now the state of the art interface for high-performance digital cameras for machine vision and industrial applications.
What is Gig-E?
GigE, or Gigabit Ethernet, is a particularly fast version of Ethernet which everyone knows and loves. Every one is familiar with Ethernet because it is the ubiquitous means of connecting a computer to a network. Standard Ethernet has a maximum data rate of 10 megabits per second (Mbps) and Fast Ethernet has a maximum data rate of 100 Mbps, but Gigabit Ethernet is much faster at 1000 Mbps. Standard Ethernet and Fast Ethernet are too slow for streaming uncompressed image data, and way too slow for machine vision cameras. Gigabit Ethernet (GigE), however, with its maximum data rate of 1000 Mbps, or 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) is capable of handling streaming image data and providing reliable transmission of image data from high performance machine vision cameras such as the Gigabit Ethernet cameras from Baumer and Imperex. These GigE cameras are capable of streaming data at a sustained rate of 125 megabytes per second over their gigabit Ethernet interface.
What is GigE Vision?
The GigE Vision™ standard from the AIA is an interface standard for high-performance machine vision cameras that is widely supported in the industrial imaging industry. GigE (Gigabit Ethernet), on the other hand, is simply the network structure on which GigE Vision is built. The GigE Vision standard includes both a hardware interface standard (Gigabit Ethernet) and standardized means of communicating with, and controlling, a camera. The GigE Vision camera control registers are based on a command structure called GenICam which is administered through the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA). GenICam seeks to establish a common camera control interface so that third party software can communicate with cameras from various manufacturers without customization. GenICam is incorporated as part of the GigE Vision standard, so any truly GigE Vision-compliant camera also complies with GenICam. GigE Vision is analogous to Firewire's DCAM (IIDC) and has great value for reducing system integration costs and for improving ease of use.
What is so great about GigE Vision and Gigabit Ethernet?
GigE Vision is quite exciting because it provides many features that are unavailable in other camera interfaces. The combined features of high data rate (required for uncompressed video or imaging applications), ubiquitous computer interface hardware, low cost cabling, and widespread popularity make Gigabit Ethernet an attractive interface option for machine vision cameras. With the advent of GigE Vision, a standardized camera communication protocol from the Advanced Imaging Association (AIA), GigE has become more attractive still. Here are a few of the compelling benefits of GigE Vision-compliant cameras:
How are GigE Vision cameras different from other Gigabit Ethernet cameras?
GigE Vision cameras, such as the Baumer TXG-Series and the Imperx Bobcat-Series, are machine-vision cameras that supply uncompressed image data in real time, usually at very high data rates, that is suitable for image analysis.
Most other types of Ethernet camera are not suited to machine vision because they supply only compressed image data, and that only at very limited data rates. Some so-called 'smart cameras' use Ethernet to transmit non-image data from the camera to a network, but these are generally application specific image sensors that are not suited to generalized imaging.
GigE Vision cameras such as Baumer TXG and the Imperx Bobcat GigE Vision cameras are specially designed to handle the dataflow in dedicated hardware providing uncompressed, very fast, very reliable data throughput in a form that is suitable for computer analysis.
Baumer and Imperx currently offers wide selection of CCD and CMOS machine vision cameras that conform to the GigE Vision standard providing an ease of use and integration that has not previously been available.
Using high speed video recording system to troubleshoot equipment failures presents several advantages over standard video. Most production workers are familiar with the type of video quality produced by traditional surveillance or security cameras. This footage tends to be grainy and lacks the detail required for accurate analysis. Security cameras are meant to be used in situations where a broad picture of the events that are unfolding is “good enough.” However, when it comes to assessing the problems afflicting delicate and complicated machinery, a much higher level of detail is required.
Given that packaging and other industrial equipment often operates at a high rate of speed, it is difficult or even impossible for a standard camera to produce images or video useful for diagnosing failures or other issues. It is for this reason that TroublePix and StreamPix is capable of interfacing with a wide range of cameras.
The Troublepix software is designed for factory floor applications or requirements needing a simple user interface. With TroublePix, you can acquire, view and review all within the same user interface. TroublePix provides features such as looping, Pre/Post triggering, event marking and much more.
The Streampix software is designed to capture from single or multiple cameras simultaneously. StreamPix 5 provides a complete management console for cameras, simplifying the setup, control and acquisition from any number and type of camera. The number of cameras supported is only limited by a condition wherein the combined data rate of the cameras exceeds the internal bus bandwidth or processor capabilities of the computer.
Further TroublePix information 
