As a global company, Microscan is privileged to cultivate relationships with customers in several countries around the world through our partnership with auto ID and machine vision distributors in the Amercias, Asia-Pacific, and EMEA regions. Resources and application support for Microscan technology have become localized through the efforts of our partners to provide these elements in customers’ native languages and to accommodate their unique regional requirements. Exemplifying this is Microscan’s master distributor for Latin America, Automation International Ltd. (AIL), whose representatives bring outstanding support to those who use our products in Spanish-, Portuguese- and English-speaking countries.

Utilizing their strong technical background with Microscan products, AIL’s team has recently produced video demonstrations of our solutions for both auto ID and machine vision. These videos show Microscan products in action – from our line of handheld scanners to our new AutoVISION machine vision product suite – and are available entirely in Spanish (de México). If you or your customers are looking for Spanish training resources for Microscan technology or would simply like to get to know our product line, we encourage you to check out AIL’s videos on our community videos page...

Hi all – I wanted to share a little configuration tip for those of you who use QX scanners from Microscan. I’ve gotten several requests for a solution in cases where someone needs to add a handheld to an automated system. The reasons for doing this vary; the extra handheld can be used to catch a missed barcode, or a barcode that is not in the right place, or just to use as a backup scanner. For Match Code applications (where we want to make sure each code that is scanned matches a predetermined master), you can also use a handheld scanner to program the master bar code data into the scanner. A recent customer request for this kind of application solution was the reason I put together the information below.

The diagram below shows an HS-2D handheld reader connected to the B connector of an RS-232 QX Hawk. The handheld does not need to be an HS-2D, it can be any RS-232 handheld; additionally, the QX Hawk could be replaced by an RS-232 QX-830 or QX-870 – the B connector is the same on all three!...

Microscan has long been a provider of track, trace & control solutions that manufacturers across the globe have employed to optimize product quality and accuracy while minimizing costs. Improving WIP tracking using automated solutions that include 1D and 2D code readers can have a dramatic effect on product quality, process efficiency and, ultimately, the ROI of an assembly process. Microscan’s Auto ID products are engineered for high accuracy reading, enabling part tracking throughout the assembly process, thereby ensuring product quality and minimizing the risk of costly product recalls.

In the electronics manufacturing industry, there are a number of especially challenging circumstances that drive a demand for solutions that are continuously smaller, more modular, and more specific. Electronics assembly may require very tight spaces for tracking miniature and densely complex parts, such as PCBs featuring hundreds of components and tiny low contrast marks. Developing solutions to meet these unique needs continues to motivate our engineers to develop new products to easily automate quality control processes for our customers.

During this year’s IPC APEX expo in San Diego, Microscan was invited to share its thought leadership on traceability for similarly challenging applications in the electronics industry...

Microscan was recently awarded the 2012 NPI Award (New Product Introduction Award) in the category of Software-Process Control for its AutoVISION™ machine vision software and product suite. AutoVISION provides a powerful tool set for inspection and identification within an intuitive, user-friendly interface, simplifying the setup and deployment of machine vision applications for electronics. AutoVISION’s tools are drag-and-drop elements that easily enable presence/absence, count, locate and measure plus the decoding of 1D and 2D barcodes and OCR. The AutoVISION suite was recognized for this year’s NPI Award because of its impact on the usability of machine vision systems, promoting a new standard in the accessibility of the technology for beginners and experts alike.

The NPI Award was presented to Microscan during the IPC APEX electronics trade show at a ceremony on February 28, 2012 at the San Diego Convention Center, where Microscan was also showing our solutions – from machine vision to auto ID – on the show floor...

Some of the most uniform and diffuse lighting products available from Microscan’s NERLITE portfolio are the CDI, SCDI and Dome Illuminators. These products are ideal for illuminating highly reflective parts and are often referred to as “Cloudy Day Illuminators.” To demonstrate the effect of Cloudy Day Illumination, we can compare it to a more basic type of illumination such as a spot light:

Basic Spot Light	“Cloudy Day” CDI Illumination
Highly Reflective Foil Sample

Basic Spot Light	“Cloudy Day” CDI Illumination
Reflective Bottom of Paint Can

The difference between the lighting techniques is apparent, but why do we refer to one as “Cloudy Day” Illumination? For an answer, we can turn to Mother Nature and a rather “Great” example...

Spring was in the air in sunny Milan last week where the IPACK-IMA 2012 trade show was held from 28 February to 3 March. This three-yearly exhibition focuses on machinery, technology and materials for processing, packaging and material handling. The massive show welcomed more than 54,000 visitors this year and the Fieramilano Exhibition Halls hosted 1,300 exhibiting companies! Microscan’s packaging team was excited to demonstrate our solutions to the many attendees of this show. Our product demonstrations included barcode and vision solutions to track production data in symbols and OCR, inspect packaging integrity, ensure label print quality, and guide the movement of goods through the material handling process.

Download Microscan’s Solutions for Packaging

Microscan presented packaging solutions at stand A84 in hall 11 to a captive audience of visitors from major food & beverage and pharmaceutical companies to packaging machine builders. The Microscan booth was also supported by some of our Italian partners who were a great help in talking with our mostly Italian visitors (75%). Our booth had a steady flow of visitors...

WI-SYSTEME sells and integrates 1D and 2D barcode reading and test systems, as well as machine vision solutions and lighting for industrial applications. This German-based company has a strong history with Microscan and they have been very successful in selling Microscan’s solutions as a distribution partner, especially into the automotive market.

Recently, WI-SYSTEME has made headway with Microscan’s AutoVISION™ solution, including user-friendly machine vision software and the new Vision MINI smart camera. The AutoVISION machine vision solution enables simplified machine vision, making it possible even for users with little to no experience in vision technology to set up and implement machine vision applications. The software provides intuitive step-by-step guidance for selecting cameras, delivering an image, selecting and parameterizing tools, and monitoring a running application.

Josef Widmann, Managing Director at WI-SYSTEME explains: “We are very pleased to have already identified several opportunities for AutoVISION. For example, one of our biggest customers is using it for checking logos against counterfeit parts.” The solution makes sure that the logo on the part is authentic. AutoVISION smart cameras and software are also used in this application for Data Matrix reading and OCR...

Recently, I had the privilege of joining some of my Microscan colleagues at the First Annual Society for Lab Automation and Screening Conference and Exhibition (SLAS) in beautiful San Diego, CA. This new event brings the Lab Automation and SBS Conferences together under one roof, and the debut drew in nearly 6000 scientists, lab equipment OEM developers and lab personnel from around the world.

I talked to people from a wide range of industries, including some in drug discovery, clinical diagnostics, agriculture, food and petrochemical industries, to name a few. Many of Microscan’s important Lab Automation and Clinical Diagnostics customers were present, so exhibiting provided a great environment to catch up with them and learn more about their future projects and challenges, and listen to their update on industry trends and initiatives.


The Microscan booth at SLAS 2012
Microscan has served the lab automation and clinical diagnostics industry for more than 25 years with innovative products and solutions, and the knowledge we have developed over that time is something we actively share with our friends in industry...

Have you noticed how many different video format acronyms there are out there? Have you ever attempted to dissect the three-letter and four-letter acronyms (hereafter TLA’s and FLA’s) used to describe each one? Do you wonder what they mean, and do you ever ponder the importance or relevance of each to cameras, imagers and vision systems? I did some research and thought I’d share with you some of the basic terms I found while satisfying my own curiosity. Video Graphic Array terminology will be discussed in the first half of this article, while the second half will discuss the significance of VGA to imagers and machine vision and smart cameras.

Part 1: Breaking down the TLA’s and FLA’s.
The video format language used to describe image sensors was inherited from the video display industry. Generally, these abbreviations are all describing different video formats of various ‘pixel density,’ also referred to as graphic density. For an image sensor, the same terms are essentially describing the resolution of that sensor.


The TLA that most of the format names build from is VGA, which stands for Video Graphics Array. What is a pixel, you ask? Pixel is an invented term which shortens the word picture to pix and element to el. Smash them together and you get pixel. So, a pixel is a picture element, or the smallest individually addressable or controllable piece of a screen or image. Each pixel is a sample of the larger composite image, and in color systems, each pixel can have a varying intensity of the 3 or 4 colors which make up what you see; either Red-Green-Blue (RGB) or Cyan-Magenta-Yellow Black (CMYK, where ‘k’ is used for black because ‘b’ is already reserved for blue). Some refer to pixels as sensels or photosites. Some pixels are square and others are rectangular. I have even heard rumors of the existence of round pixels…

It gives Microscan great joy to give back to our community. Throughout 2011, Microscan employees donated their time, skills, presence and/or much needed items to several deserving organizations. We’d like to take a look back at our involvement this past year, and summarize just a few community needs that are important to the Microscan culture. Here are some of the places Microscan offered a helping hand in 2011:

SPRING

Tukwila Elementary School, Tukwila, WA From January to May 2011, 13 Microscan Employees spent one day a week tutoring children in grades Kindergarten through Fifth Grade at Tukwila Elementary School, setting these kids’ feet on the road to success. Employees who participated in this program offered mentoring and friendship to students in their classes and assisted with class activities and learning exercises...