New intelligent controllers for machine vision systems

Posted to News on 12th Jun 2014, 15:36

New intelligent controllers for machine vision systems

Advantech is releasing the AIIS-1240 and AIIS-1440 PoE and USB3 camera controllers for vision inspection. AIIS (Advantech Intelligent Inspection System) is Advantech's latest dedicated product for automated optical inspection (AOI), including packaging inspection, label inspection, wafer inspection, alignment inspection and other applications that rely heavily on machine vision. These self-contained PoE and USB3 controllers feature performance computing with Power over Ethernet (PoE)/USB3.0, a rich I/O interface, plus extended product longevity, all in a compact form factor. These PoE boxes use third-generation Intel Core processors to deliver improved computing power and graphics performance. Already fully verified and certified, they offer system integrators a no-nonsense system.

AIIS-1240 utilises a single RJ45 cable that carries both data and power. Compliant with IEEE 802.3af, it can provide a maximum of 15.4W of power to each powered device at up to a distance of 100m, whereas USB2.0 can only provide up to 2.5W over a maximum cable length of 5m. Also, the Intel i210 LAN controller in this AIIS-1240 features IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP), which allows for synchronising clocks distributed on a network. In a vision inspection application, this enables frames to be synchronised from two or more PoE cameras. In addition, the AIIS-1240 is compatible with the GigE Vision cameras that are already widely adopted in industrial vision applications.

Advantech's AIIS-1440 is equipped with a dedicated USB3 controller on each vision channel to make sure the significant bandwidth and a single USB cable can carry both data and electrical power. Compliant with USB 3.0 SuperSpeed, it is capable of transferring data at up to 5Gbps, whereas USB 2.0 can only provide up to 480Mbps. This higher bandwidth supports a cameras with 4608 x 3288 pixel resolution at 10 frames per second. The AIIS-1440 is also compatible with USB3 vision cameras.

AIIS-1240 and AIIS-1440 controllers offer rich I/O interfaces, including four PoE or four USB3 vision channels, respectively, plus 40-bit digital I/O, four USB3.0, four USB2.0 and six serial ports. Four USB3.0 ports provide a high-performance data transfer rate up to 5Gbps. The two serial ports on the front panel can be configured as RS-232, RS-422 or RS-485 via the BIOS setting. These interfaces can support a number of various peripheral devices.

Enhanced CPU performance

AIIS-1240 and AIIS-1440 controllers provide 2.25KV isolation on the digital I/O interface to ensure that they are protected against short circuits, so systems are protected against adverse power events. Both the AIIS-1240 and AIIS-1440 support third-generation Core i7/i5/i3 processors, which provide enhanced CPU performance and up to 50 per cent improved graphics when compared with the previous generation Core i7/i5/i3 processors. Desktop-type CPUs always deliver better performance than mobile CPUs.

Compact, turnkey design is said to put the AIIS-1240 and AIIS-1440 PoE and USB3 boxes ahead of the pack. With a powerful CPU and built-in PoE/USB3 channels, these units occupy a space barely over three litres, which saves on space and makes installation economical and easy; cable routing is tidy, too.

Advantech guarantees that the AIIS-1240 and AIIS-1440 will be supported and supplied for at least seven years after introduction. So when there is a need for expansion, or product loss or damage, customers can be assured that these dependable products and upgrade paths will be supported and available for the long run.

AIIS-1240 features