Cameras in the service of health

Whether for laboratory analyses, diagnostics or process optimisation: image processing plays an important role in the healthcare sector. IDS is one of the industry leaders and offers a wide variety of practical USB, GigE and 3D cameras.

The company shows that machine vision technology is constantly evolving. With artificial intelligence, for example, it is now possible to realise tasks that were previously considered impossible or could only be achieved with great effort.

IDS NXT ocean is a complete solution especially for AI-based image processing. Users do not need to be experts in deep learning or image processing to create a neural network. With the help of the IDS NXT lighthouse cloud software, which is part of the all-in-one system IDS NXT ocean, even nonexperts can train an AI classifier with their own image data. Users do not have to set up their own development environment first, but can start training their own neural network right away. This involves three basic steps: to upload sample images, to label the images and then to start the fully automatic training. The generated network can then be executed directly on the IDS NXT industrial cameras, turning them into powerful inference cameras.

An inference camera can apply the "knowledge" acquired through deep learning to new data. This makes it possible to automatically solve tasks that would either not be possible with rule-based image processing, or would require great effort. Since IDS NXT industrial cameras have a special AI core, neural networks are hardware-accelerated and run directly on the devices – enabling inference times of just a few milliseconds. With features such as C-mount, robust housing, GigE network connection with RJ45 or M12 connectors, RS232 interface and REST web interface, they are also fully-fledged industrial cameras. The IDS NXT rio and rome models are now available as serial cameras with different sensors and protection classes.

IDS also offers an IDS NXT ocean design-in kit which is particularly useful for anyone who wants to test the potential of AI for individual vision tasks. It provides all the components a user needs to create, train and run a neural network in his productive environment. In addition to an IDS NXT industrial camera with 1.6 MP Sony sensor, lens and cable, the package includes six months of access to the AI training software. The use of deep learning-based image processing for individual applications can thus be realised in a short time.

In addition to the AI-based cameras already presented, IDS has many more cameras in its portfolio. uEye stands for high-performance, easy-to-use USB and GigE industrial cameras with a wide range of sensors and variants. Whether users choose the uEye FA (especially robust thanks to IP65/67 protection), uEye CP (only 29x29x29 mm in size), uEye SE (extremely versatile) or uEye LE series (perfect as a cost-effective project camera), whether they need models with or without autofocus or prefer individually configurable board-level cameras - the broad portfolio leaves nothing to be desired.