A New Level of Real-Time Image Processing

 

Kithara Software, innovator for industrial software solutions under Windows, now also supports Halcon 12 with its real-time system. In this manner, the new features of the recent generation of the wide-spread image processing library are applied with guaranteed jitter times.

 

In connection with the Kithara »RealTime Suite« image data, which has been captured by industrial cameras and received by the PC, are processed immediately in Halcon 12 within a single real-time context. The evaluated image data can then be transferred to analog EtherCAT I/Os, thus converting it to machine logic directly from the Halcon development environment HDevelop. This way, it is possible to effectively combine image capture, image processing as well as the subsequent machine control within a single coherent real-time cycle.

 

“The immediate processing of image data with reaction times in the microsecond range represents a basic requirement for the development of a large number of performance-oriented industrial applications. Especially in fields such as robotics or automated quality assurance, real-time capabilities for Halcon 12 are obligatory due to increasing requirements for high levels of throughput efficiency as well as precision, up to a zero-defect production” Uwe Jesgarz, managing director of Kithara Software GmbH, explained.

 

With version 12 of Halcon the Munich-based company MVTec has introduced many new features and advancements into the already extensive library. Noteworthy are the support of the CPU instruction set extension AVX2 for the implementation of high-speed applications as well as the utilization of an optimized just-in-time compiler. At the same time, the »RealTime Suite« now supports an automatic parallelization of multiple CPUs within the real-time extension.

 

With the Windows extension by Kithara the whole machine vision process can be executed in true real-time, including camera interfaces, libraries such a Halcon and even automated machine control.

 

About Kithara Software GmbH

Kithara Software is a specialist for real-time solutions, especially for the Windows® operating systems family. The real-time extension RealTime Suite is a comprehensive system library for hardware-dependent programming, communication, automation and image processing in real-time. The software is an easy-to-use and powerful technical basis for advanced applications in robotics, image processing, measurement and control engineering as well as automation. It is the key element in machine building, for testing rigs and other specialized applications. Kithara Software has representations in the USA as well as China and supports global companies in their innovative projects.