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Illumination is one of the most critical components of a machine vision system. The selection of the appropriate lighting component for a specific application is very important to ensure that

a machine vision system performs its tasks consistently and reliably.

The main reason is that improper illumination results in loss of information which, in most cases, cannot be recovered via software. This is why the selection of quality lighting components is of primary importance: there is no software algorithm capable of revealing features that are not correctly illuminated.

To make the most appropriate choice, one must consider many different parameters, including:

• Lighting geometry• Light source type• Wavelength• Surface property of the material to be inspected or measured (e.g. color, reflectivity)• Item shape• Item speed (inline or offline application)• Mechanical constraints• Environment considerations • Cost

Since many parameters must be considered, the choice can be difficult and sometimes the wisest advice is to perform feasibility studies with different light types to reveal the features of interest. On the other hand, there are a number of simple rules and good practices that can help select the proper lights and improve the image quality.

For every application, the main objectives are the following:

1. Maximizing the contrast of the features that must be inspected or measured 2. Minimizing the contrast of the features of no interest 3. Getting rid of unwanted variations caused by:

a. Ambient lightb. Differences between items that are non-relevant to the inspection task

Lighting

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Light in machine vision

In machine vision, light is mostly characterized by its wavelength, which is generally expressed in nm (nanometers).

Basically light is electromagnetic radiation within a certain portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (cf. Fig. 1): it can be quasi-monochromatic (which means that it is characterized by a narrow wavelength band, i.e. with a single color) or white (distributed across the visible spectrum, i.e. it contains all colors).

Fig. 1: Electromagnetic specturm

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Light visible to the human eye has wavelengths in the range of 400-700 nm, between the infrared (with longer wavelengths) and the ultraviolet (with shorter wavelengths): special applications might require IR or UV light instead of visible light.

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LED illumination

Fig. 3: Emission spectra of different light sources

Fig. 2: Interaction of light with matter: reflection, adsorption and transmission

Additionally, when light travels across different media it refracts, i.e. it changes direction. The amount of refraction is inversely proportional to the light wavelength; i.e. violet light rays are bent more than red ones.

This means that light with short wavelengths gets scattered more easily than light with long wavelengths when hitting a surface and is therefore, generally speaking, more suited for surface inspection applications.

In fact, if we ideally consider wavelength as the only parameter to be considered from the previous list, blue light is advised for applications such as scratch inspection while longer wavelengths such as red light are more suited for enhancing the silhouette of transparent materials.

There are many different types of light sources available (Fig. 3) including the

following:• Incandescent lamps• Fluorescent lamps• LED lights

LED lights are by far the most commonly used in machine vision because they offer a number of advantages, including:• Fast response• Suitable for pulse and strobe operations• Mechanical resistance• Longer lifetime, higher output stability• Ease of creating various lighting geometry

Incandescent lamps are the well-known glass bulbs filled with low pressure, inert gas (usually argon) in which a thin metal wire (tungsten) is heated to high temperatures by passing an electric current through it. The glowing metal emits light on a broad spectrum that goes from 400 nm up to the IR. The result is a white, warm light (corresponding to a temperature of 2870 K) with a significant amount of heat being generated.

Fluorescent lamps are vacuum tubes in which UV light is first produced (by interaction between mercury vapor and highly energetic electrons produced by a cathode) and then is adsorbed by the tube walls, coated with fluorescent and phosphorescent material. The walls then re-emit light over a spectrum that again covers the whole visible range, providing a “colder” white light source.

LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) produce light via the annihilation of an electron-hole pair in a positive/negative junction of a semiconductor chip. The light produced by an LED depends on the materials used in the chip and is characterized by a narrow spectrum, i.e. it is quasi-monochromatic. White light is produced as in the fluorescent lamps, but the blue light is absorbed and re-emitted in a broad spectrum slightly peaked in the blue region.

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Basically, light interacts with materials (Fig. 2) by being• Reflected and/or• Transmitted and/or• Absorbed

Incident Absorbed

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Acquisition time

LED constant light output

Camera acquiring

Camera acquiring

Acquisition time

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Strobed LEDlight output

Strobed LEDlight output

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Fig. 4: LED current, tension and light output graphs

LED power supply and output

An LED illuminator can be controlled by either setting the voltage V across the circuit or by directly feeding the circuit

with electric current I.

One important consideration is that the luminous flux produced by a single LED increases almost linearly with the current while it does not do so with respect to the voltage applied: 1% uncertainty on the driving current will translate into 1% luminance uncertainty, while 1% uncertainty on the input voltage can result in a several percentage points variation (Fig. 4).

For this reason, it is suggested to directly regulate the current and not the voltage, so that the light output is stable, tightly controlled and highly repeatable.

For example, in measurement applications, it is paramount to obtain images with a stable grey level background to ensure consistency of the results: this is achieved by avoiding light flickering and ensuring that the LED forward current of the telecentric light is precisely controlled: this is why Opto Engineering ® LTLCHP telecentric illuminators feature built-in electronics designed to have less than 1‰ variation in LED forward current intensity leading to very stable performances.

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Forward voltage vs. Forward current

Forward current vs Relative luminous flux

LED pulsing and strobing

LEDs can be easily driven in a pulsed (on/off) regime and can be switched on and off in sequence, turning them on only when

necessary. Usage of LEDs in pulsed mode has many advantages including the extension of their lifespan. If the LED driving current (or voltage) is set to the nominal value declared by the LED manufacturer for continuous mode, we talk about pulsed mode: the LED is simply switched on and off. LEDs can also be driven at higher intensities (i.e. overdriven) than the nominal values, thus producing more light but only for a limited amount of time: in this case we say that the LED is operated in strobed mode. Strobing is needed whenever the application requires an increased amount of light to freeze the motion of fast moving objects, in order to eliminate the influence of ambient light, to preserve the LED lifetime and to synchronize the ON time of your light (ton) with the camera and item to be inspected. To properly strobe an LED light, a few parameters must be considered (Fig. 5 and 6):

• Max pulse width or ON time (ton max): the maximum amount

of time for which the LED light can be switched on at the maximum forward current.• Duty cycle D is defined as (usually expressed in %):

D = ton/(ton+toff)

Where toff is the amount of time for which the LED light is off and T = ton+toff is the cycle period. The duty cycle gives the fraction in % of the cycle time during which the LEDs can be switched on. The period T can be also given as the cycle frequency f = 1/T, expressed in Hertz (Hz).

Fig. 5: Duty cycles parameters

Fig. 6: Triggering and strobing

Time

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LED lifetime

Line speed, strobing and exposure time

The life of an LED is defined as the time that it takes for the LED luminance to decrease to 50% of its initial luminance at an ambient temperature of 25°C.

When dealing with online applications, there are some important parameters that have to be considered. Specifically, depending on the object speed and image sharpness that is required for the application, the camera exposure time

must be always set to the minimum in order to freeze motion and avoid image blurring. Additionally, black and opaque objects that tend to absorb instead of reflecting light, are particularly critical.

As an example, let’s suppose to inspect an object moving with speed vo using a lens with magnification m and a camera with pixel size p. The speed of the object on the sensor will be m times vo:

vi = m vo,

Therefore the space travelled by the object xi during the exposure time t is xi = vi t. If this space is greater than the pixel size, the object will appear blurred over a certain number of pixels. Suppose that we can accept a 3 pixels blur: in other words, we require that

xi = vi t = m vo t < 3 p

so that the camera exposure time t is required to be

t < 3 p / (m vo )

For example, using p = 5.5 µm, m = 0.66, vo = 300 mm/s (i.e. a line speed of 10,800 samples/hr on a 100 mm FoV) we find a maximum exposure time of t = 83 µs. At such speed, the amount of light emitted by LED illuminator used in continuous mode is hardly ever enough - so that strobing the illuminator for an equivalent amount of time is the best solution. Another parameter that we can adjust in order to get more light into the system is the lens F/#: by lowering the lens F/# we will gather more light; however, this will lower the depth of field of the system. Moreover, this might also lower the image quality since, in general, a lens performs better in the center and worse towards the edges due to lens aberrations, leading to an overall loss of sharpness. Increasing the camera gain is another way, however this always introduces a certain amount of noise, thus again leading to a degraded image where fewer details can be distinguished.

As a result, it is always a good practice to choose sufficiently bright lighting components, allowing you to correctly reveal the features of interest the inspected of object when used in combination with lenses set at the optimum F/# and without the need to digitally increase the camera gain.

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Illumination geometries and techniques

Application purpose

Illumination angle

How to determine the best illumination for a specific machine vision task? There are in fact several aspects that must be taken into account to help you choose the right illumination for your vision system

with a certain degree of confidence.

This is by far the first point that must be clear. If we want to inspect the surface of an object to look for defects or features such as printed text, then front illumination is needed -

i.e. light coming from the camera side. Selecting the proper light direction or angle of incidence on the target surface as well as other optical properties such as diffuse or direct light depends on the specific surface features that must be highlighted.If, on the other side, we plan to measure the diameter or the length of an object or we want to locate a through-hole, the best choice to maximize contrast at the edges is back illumination - i.e. light is blocked by the object on its way to the camera. The choice is not so obvious when dealing with more complex situations such as transparent materials and sometimes mixed solutions must be taken into account.

Once we have established whether front or back illumination is more suitable, we must set the angle at which light hits the object surface. Although the angle may vary, there are two important subgroups of front and backlight illumination: bright field and dark field illumination. The four combinations that follow are described below (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7: Illumination and directionality: the ‘W rule’

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Fig. 8: Front bright field illumination scheme

Fig. 9: Ringlight (a) and barlight (b) geometry Fig. 10. a: image of engraved sample with front brigth field illumination (ringlight)

Fig. 10.b: image of a metal coin (featuring embossed parts) with front bright field illumination (ringlight)

In bright field, front light illumination, light reflected by a flat surface is collected by the optics.

This is the most common situation, in which non-flat features (e.g. defects, scratches etc.) can scatter light outside the maximum acceptance angle of the lens, showing dark characteristics on a bright background (the bright field - see Fig. 8 and 10.a 10.b).

Bright field, front light can be produced by LED barlights or ringlights, depending on the system symmetry (Fig. 9).

In both cases LED light can be direct or diffused by a medium (sometimes the latter is to prefer to avoid uneven illumination on reflective surfaces).

a b

Fig. 11: Front dark field illumination scheme

Fig. 13.a: image of engraved sample with front dark field illumination (ringlight)

Fig. 12: Low angle ringlight geometry Fig .13.b: image of a metal coin (featuring embossed parts) with front dark field illumination (ringlight)

In dark field, front light illumination, reflected light is not collected by the optics. In this way, only scattered light is

captured, enhancing the non-planar features of the surface as brighter characteristics on a dark background (the dark field - see Fig. 11 and 13.a - 13.b ).

Again, this effect is commonly reproduced by means of low angle ringlights (Fig. 12).

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In bright field, backlight illumination, light is either stopped or transmitted by the surface if the material is opaque (Fig. 14)

or transparent.

In the first case, we see the outline of the object (black object on white background - see Fig. 16 and 18).

In the latter, the non-planar features of the transparent object show up dark on a white background; in this second case, contrast is usually low unless the transparent surfaces present sharp curvatures (e.g. air bubble inclusions in plastic).

These lighting techniques can be achieved using diffuse backlights (Fig. 15a, 15b and 16) or telecentric illuminators, specifically designed for high accuracy applications (Fig. 17 and 18).

Fig. 14: Bright field backlight illumination scheme

Fig. 15.a: Diffuse backlight geometry (back emitting)

Fig. 15.b: Diffuse backlight geometry (side-emitting)

Fig. 17: Telecentric backlight geometry Fig. 18: image of a precision mechanical component with telecentric backlight illumination

Fig. 16: image of a plastic cap with backlight illumination

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In dark field, backlight illumination, only light transmitted by the sample and scattered by non-flat features will be collected,

enhancing such features as bright on the dark background (Fig. 19).

This can be obtained by means of ringlights or bar lights positioned behind a transparent sample.

Fig. 19: Dark field back light illumination scheme

Coaxial illumination. When front light hits the object surface perpendicular to the object plane, we speak of coaxial

illumination.

Coaxial illumination can additionally be collimated, i.e. rays are parallel to the optical axis (within a certain degree). To obtain this illumination set up, coaxial boxes are available for use in combination with any type of lens (either fixed focal, macro or telecentric) or telecentric lenses with built-in coaxial illumination can be used (such as Opto Engineering ® TCCX series).

The difference lies in the degree of collimation which results in the amount of contrast that is possible to achieve searching for defects on highly reflective surfaces. See Fig. 21 and 22.

Fig. 21: Coaxial illumination geometry (standard and collimated)

Fig. 22: image of engraved sample with coaxial illumination

Fig. 20: Coaxial illumination scheme (non collimated)

Diffuser

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Combined and advanced illumination solutions. Sometimes in order to inspect very complex object geometries it is

necessary to combine different types of lights to effectively reveal surface defects.

For example, the combination of a dome and a low angle light is very effective in providing uniform illumination over the entire field of view.

An example of “combined” lighting is the Opto Engineering ® LTDMLA series, featuring all-in-one dome and low angle ring lights which can be operated simultaneously or independently of each other (see Fig. 25).

Fig. 25: Combined light (dome + low angle ringlight) illumination geometry

Dome lights and tunnel lights. If an object with a complex curved geometry must be

inspected to detect specific surface features, front light illumination coming from different angles is the most appropriate choice in order to get rid of reflections that can lead to uneven illumination: Dome lights are the ideal solution for these type of applications because they are designed to provide illumination coming from virtually any direction (Fig. 23 e 24).

Fig. 23: Dome illumination geometryFig. 24: Image of a metal coin (featuring embossed parts) with dome

light illumiantion

In fact, dome lights are sometimes also referred to as “cloudy day” illuminators because they provide uniform light as on a cloudy day. Another type of lighting geometry is tunnel illumination: these lights are designed to provide uniform illumination on long and thin cylindrical objects and they feature a circular aperture on top (as dome lights).

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Fig. 26: Collimated vs diffuse backlight illumination

Telecentric illumination

Non-collimated back illumination

Collimated back illumination

Light coming from a variety of angles

Parallel rays

The use of a collimated light in combination with a telecentric lens increases the natural depth of field of the telecentric lens itself by approximately +20/30% (this however also depends on other factors such as the lens type, light wavelength and pixel size).

Additionally, thanks to the excellent light coupling, the distance between the object and the light source can be increased where needed without affecting image quality. This happens because the illuminator’s numerical aperture (NA) is lower than the telecentric lens NA.

Therefore, the optical system behaves as if the lens had the same NA as the illuminator in terms of field depth, while maintaining the same image resolution given by the actual telecentric lens NA.

Collimated light is the best choice if you need to inspect objects with curved edges; for this reason, this illumination technique is widely used in measurement systems for shafts, tubes, screws, springs, o-rings and similar samples.

Telecentric illumination is needed in a wide variety of applications including:

• High speed inspection and sorting: in fact, when coupled with a telecentric lens, the high throughput allows for extremely short exposure times• • Silhouette imaging for accurate edge detection and defect analysis • Measurement of reflective cylindrical objects: diffuse backlights can generate undesired reflections from the edges of shiny round objects, making them look smaller than they are and leading to inaccurate measurements. Since collimated rays are typically much less reflected, telecentric illuminators can effectively eliminate this “border effect” ensuring accurate and consistent readings (see Fig. 26) • Any precision measurement application where accuracy, repeatability and high throughput are key factors

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Fig. 27: Relationship between object color and light color

Fig. 28: One way to maximize contrast is to select the light color that is on the opposite side of the wheel of the feature color. In such case, features will appear dark on the image sensor

Wavelength and optical performance

Many machine vision applications require a very specific light wavelength that can be generated with quasi-monochromatic

light sources or with the aid of optical filters.

In the field of image processing, the choice of the proper light wavelength is key to emphasize only certain colored features of the object being imaged. The relationship between wavelength (i.e. the light color) and the object color is shown in Fig. 27. Using a wavelength that matches the color of the feature of interest will highlight this specific feature and viceversa, i.e. using opposite colors to darken non relevant features (see Fig. 28). For example green light makes green features appear brighter on the image sensor while red light makes green features appear darker on the sensor. On the other hand, white light will contrast all colors, however this solution might be a compromise. Additionally it must be considered that there is a big difference in terms of sensitivity between the human eye and a CMOS or CCD sensor. Therefore it is important to do an initial assessment of the vision system to determine how it perceives the object, in fact what human eyes see might be misleading.

Monochromatic light can be obtained in two ways: we can prevent extraneous wavelengths from reaching the sensor by means of optical filters, or we can use monochromatic sources.

Optical filters allow only certain wavelengths of light to be transmitted. They can be used either to allow light of a specified wavelength to pass through (band-pass filters) or to block desired wavelengths (e.g. low-pass filters for UV light only). Color filters can block other non-monochromatic light sources often present in industrial environments (e.g. sunlight, ceiling lights etc.), however they also limit the amount of light that actually reaches the sensor.

On the other hand, quasi-monochromatic sources only produce light of a certain wavelength within a usually small bandwidth. Either way, if we select monochromatic (e.g. green) light, every non-green feature will appear dark grey or black on the sensor, depending on the filter bandwidth and the color of the feature. This gives us a simple way to enhance contrast by using monochromatic light with respect to the use of white light (Fig. 29 - 34).

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Additionally, in some cases a specific wavelength might be preferred for other reasons: for example, Opto Engineering ® telecentric lenses are usually optimized to work in the visible range and they offer the best performance in terms of telecentricity and distortion when used with green light. Furthermore, green light is a good tradeoff between the resolution limit (which improves with shorter wavelengths) and the transmission characteristics of common glasses (which in fact have low transmission at short wavelengths). In cases where any wavelength will fit the application, one might choose a specific LED color just based on cost considerations.

Red object

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Fig. 29: Filtering and coloured samples: concept scheme and monochromatic result

Red light is reflected off the red background,but is absorbed by the blue circle.

Red filter

Object

Image

Blue light is reflected off the blue circle, but is absortbd by the red background.

Blue filter

Object

Image

Polarizing filters consist of special materials characterized by a distinctive optical direction: all light oscillating in this direction passes through, while the other components of the wave are suppressed. Since light reflected by a surface is polarized in the direction parallel to the surface itself, such reflection can be significantly reduced or blocked by means of two polarization filters - one on the light and one on the lens. Polarizing filters are used to eliminate glare effects occurring when imaging reflective materials, such as glass, plastic etc.

Fig. 30: Color camera Fig. 32: Red filter

Fig. 34: Blue filterFig.33: Green filter

Fig. 31: Mono camera

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Risk Group

Exempt No photobiological hazard

Group Ia No photobiological hazard under normal behavioral limitations

Group II Does not pose hazard due to aversion response to bright light or thermal discomfort

Group III Hazardous even for momentary exposure

Fig. 35: Structured light technique

Fig. 36: LASER vs LED in structured light illumination

Structured illumination

The projection of a light pattern on a surface can easily give information on its 3D dimensional features (Fig. 35).

For example, if we observe a line projected from the vertical direction with a camera looking from a known angle, we can determine the height of the object where the line is projected. This concept can be extended using various different patterns, such as grids, crosses, dots etc.

Although both LED and laser sources are commonly used for pattern projection, the latter present several disadvantages (Fig. 36). The laser light profile of the line has a Gaussian shape, being higher at the center and decreasing at the edges of the stripe. Additionally, projecting a laser onto a surface produces the so called “speckle effect”, i.e. an interference phenomenon that causes loss of edge sharpness of the laser line, due to the high coherent nature of the laser light. With laser emitters the illumination decays both across the line cross section and along the line width. Additionally, lines from laser emitters show blurred edges and diffraction/speckle effects.

On the other hand, using LED light for structured illumination will eliminate these issues. Opto Engineering ® LED pattern projectors feature thinner lines, sharper edges and more homogeneous illumination than lasers. Since light is produced by a finite-size source, it can be stopped by a physical pattern with the desired features, collected by a common lens and projected on the surface. Light intensity is constant through the projected pattern with no visible speckle, since LED light is much less coherent than laser light. Additionally, white light can be easily produced and used in the projection process.

Seen patternLE

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Projected pattern

Illumination safety and class risks of LEDs according to EN62471

IEC/EN 62471 gives guidance for evaluating the photobiological safety of lamps including incoherent broadband sources of

optical radiation such as LEDs (but excluding lasers) in the wavelength range from 200 nm through 3000 nm.

According to EN 62471 light sources are classified into risk groups according to their potential photobiological hazard.

LED pattern projectors ensure thinner lines, sharper edges and more homogeneous illumination than lasers.

With laser emitters the illumination decays both across the line cross section and along the line width.

Laser emitters lines are thicker and show blurred edges; diffraction and speckle effects are also present.