Addressing the requirements of multi-light machine vision systems, including photometric 3D and multispectral systems, Smart Vision Lights’ programmable LED Light Manager (LLM) can drive up to four separate lights of virtually any type or up to four individual quadrants or channels within an integrated photometric or multispectral ring light system. Each program can contain up to four sequences with up to four lights set to continuous on, off, and any intensity level in between.
Programming four quadrants of a single LED illumination system, such as a ring light or four separate LED light sources, requires connecting the LLM to a computer via Ethernet cable and using the browser-based interface to program the light through a series of drop-down menus. The user interface makes it possible for users of any level to set image sequences and program intensities for each light.
The LLM system and light kit bundles initially will target 3D photometric stereo and 2D multi-light applications. By capturing successive images of a stationary object as it is illuminated by a sequence of lights, photometric image processing software can determine the 3D surface orientation of every pixel across the object’s surface. The same technique can generate 2D images of multiple regions of interest using separate lights and/or cameras.
LLM is also appropriate for multispectral imaging apps where the LED wavelengths (not broad-spectrum white lights with optical filters in front of the sensor) are the spectral band selection mechanisms. Using the color of illuminating light as the spectral band selection mechanism can greatly reduce the cost of multispectral imaging solutions, while increasing budgets for imaging applications.
Promising to simplify the design of photometric 3D systems, LLM Photometric Light Kits include lights with the company’s universal internal drivers, oblique-angle brackets for directing light, and the requisite cables. Offering both NPN and PNP inputs, most of today’s smart cameras can directly drive the lights at 2A in continuous mode or 10A in OverDrive mode. Users can add a second power supply to increase channel output beyond 2 A.
Based around an ATmega32U4 microprocessor from Atmel, the LLM features an onboard Ethernet controller, four output channels to drive the LEDs, and two additional outputs that can be used, for example, to trigger a camera or external controller.
Get more info and specs from the LLM datasheet and/or call 231-722-1199.