New light source may up inspection quality

U.S. engineers have created fiber-optic light technology designed to improve the inspection accuracy of "line-scan" cameras.

Currently, industrial processes for inspecting foodstuffs and other items often use such cameras that record images of objects one line at a time. Rapid electronic processors then detect whether there are any defects in the items. The problem results from the lack of a light source such cameras need to image objects in an optimum manner.

But scientists at Princeton Lightwave Inc. of Cranbury, N.J., and OFS Labs, the former Optical Fiber Solutions business of Lucent Technologies, have introduced a fiber-optics-based solution that allows line scan cameras to operate at higher speeds with improved accuracy.

The research will be presented in Anaheim, Calif., next week during the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International