High-speed camera with 3 CCD

Image S presented at SPS the new JAI 3CCD color camera: a progressive scan and area model, able to detect even the slightest variations in color at speeds of 120 frames per second.

Image S (representative of major international image processing brands, based in Mariano Comense, CO) has introduced the JAI 3CCDAT-030MCL color camera to Italy, combining the features of high-speed, VGA resolution and a competitive price. For its extreme accuracy,  the AT-030MCL is particularly suited for use in the pharmaceutical industry, for example for color verification  of powder mixes, checking the completeness and coloring of the pill coatings, verification of blister contents, the validation of information and barcodes etc. Its performance also makes it valuable in controlling food, in the inspection of printed materials, light emitting diodes and electronic cards, and more generally in high speed applications where objects that present color difference, even tiny ones, need to be expelled from the processing cycle.

The technology. The AT-030MCL is a 0.3 megapixel camera with high frame rates and equipped with Mini Camera Link interface, which joins the previous  AT-140 and AT-200 models with respective resolutions of 1.4 and 2.0 megapixels.
The AT-030MCL is based on JAI prismatic block technology, which supports three 1/3 inch CCDs for high-fidelity color images, and higher spatial resolutions of the cameras based on the traditional Bayer interpolation techniques. In particular, thanks to the 3 integrated CCDs this camera captures a specific value of red, green and blue for each pixel (RGB at 36-bit), generating the most accurate color output currently available on the market (manufacturer’s statistics, Ed.)
 
Some data. The three ICX424AL CCD sensors provide a resolution of 659 (horizontal) x 494 (vertical) pixels per channel, with pixels of 7.4 x 7.4 microns. The camera operates at 120 frames per second at full resolution, but using a partial scan mode and binning, can be set to work at even much higher frequencies. For example, with a partial scan at 1/8 it reaches 422 frames/sec with a resolution of 659 (horizontal) x 60 (vertical) pixels.
The Camera Link interface enables a choice between 8, 10 or 12-bit outputs per channel, using a basic or medium configuration according to demand.
 
Options. JAI provides various optionals to optimize image quality in applications and specific lighting conditions. The main ones are four modes for balancing whites (manual, one-push automatic, continuous automatic and default color temperature), three range settings plus a LUT (Look-Up Table), automatic shadow compensation, defective pixel blemish compensation, ‘knee’ function with singly adjustable RGB values and a color correction matrix that enables the manual adjustment of each color channel or a choice between a series of standard setting devised by HP, Microsoft and Adobe.