Small Form Factor Industrial PCs Target Implementers of Machine Vision and Automation
Developed by VEA member, Visics Corporation (Wellesley, MA), and factory floor-tested, EASYs are delivered running Microsoft® Windows® XP, Windows® XP Embedded or Linux. They come in configurations ranging from Celeron®-powered units with relatively modest amounts of memory, 4 USB2.0 ports, 1 GigE interface and VGA display, to fully loaded Core™ Duo-based units that feature 2GB RAM, 80GB disk memory, DVI or VGA video, 8 USB2.0 ports, a 6 port GigE switch & intelligent Power Over Ethernet (POE) on all channels, a PLC and 16 opto-isolated, bi-directional, programmable digital I/O pin points. An especially noteworthy feature is the embedded NxN DMA engine which, by handling all incoming images as well as display related tasks, enables EASYs outfitted with this feature to outperform PCs with processors that are intrinsically more powerful but handicapped by having to handle those functions.
The EASY is ideally suited to serve as 1) the host PC for VEA software equipped Data Matrix decoding and OCR applications that support multiple USB camera-based read stations, or 2) the centralized processor in extensive automatic identification architectures composed of networked cameras. By purchasing the EASY with the CHASSIS rapid vision solution development OEMs, system integrators and automation engineers can obtain all of the components required to effectively address common machine vision tasks such as alignment, assembly verification, gauging, grading, Optical Character Verification, sorting, and various types of inspection.
In situations that involve precisely controlled movement of parts, Ethernet motion control is easily accomplished by running the requisite control software on an EASY and communicating with positioning devices of choice via one or more of the EASY’s Ethernet ports.
The EASY also simplifies the Human-Machine Interface (HMI). Its abundance of USB ports allows one to be dedicated to I/O associated with the touch-sensitive flat panel displays favored by many suppliers of automation solutions.
For more information, visit http://www.The-V-E-A.com, email MarcelVEA@aol.com or call (617) 492-1252.
About The Value Engineering Alliance
Established in July of 1987, THE VALUE ENGINEERING ALLIANCE specializes in the conceptualization, development, marketing, selling, and implementation of machine vision solutions that lower the overall costs of laboratory and industrial manufacturing operations (analysis, assembly, inspection, test, control, identification, etc.) while achieving equivalent or enhanced levels of system/process performance and reliability.
Renowned as the supplier of application-specific vision software libraries used by several of the vision industry’s premier players to enhance their existing offerings or expand into new application arenas, The VEA has been equally successful as a supplier of vision software and systems used in numerous industries by OEMs, system developers/integrators and automation engineers inside end user organizations. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA), the VEA operates worldwide via its extensive network of allied organizations and individuals. For additional information about the VEA’s activities and areas of expertise, visit www.The-V-E-A.com.