A smart camera or intelligent camera is a machine vision system which, in addition to image capture circuitry, is capable of extracting application-specific information from the captured images, along with generating event descriptions or making decisions that are used in an intelligent and automated system. A smart camera is a self-contained, standalone vision system with built-in image sensor in the housing of an industrial video camera. It contains all necessary communication interfaces, e.g.Ethernet, as well as industry-proof 24V I/O lines for connection to a PLC, actuators, relays or pneumatic valves. It is not necessarily larger than an industrial or surveillance camera. A capability in machine vision generally means a degree of development such that these capabilities are ready for use on individual applications. This architecture has the advantage of a more compact volume compared to PC-based vision systems and often achieves lower cost, at the expense of a somewhat simpler user interface. Less powerful versions are often referred to as smart sensors. Although often used for simpler applications, modern smart cameras can rival PCs in terms of processing power and functionalities. Smart cameras have been marketed since the mid 80s. In the 21st century they have reached widespread use, since technology allowed their size to be reduced and their processing power reached several thousand MIPS. Having a dedicated processor in each unit, smart cameras are especially suited for applications where several cameras must operate independently and often asynchronously, or when distributed vision is required.
Components
A smart camera usually consists of several of the following components:
In general smart cameras can be used for the same kind of applications where more complex vision systems are used, and can additionally be applied in some applications where volume, pricing or reliability constraints forbid use of bulkier devices and PC's. Typical fields of application are:
Developers can purchase smart cameras and develop their own programs for special, custom made applications, or they can purchase ready madeapplication software from the camera manufacturer or from third party sources. Custom programs can be developed by programming in various languages or by using more intuitive, albeit somewhat less flexible, visual development tools where existing functionalities can be connected in a list that describes the desired flow of operations without any need to write program code. The main advantage of the visual approach versus programming is the shorter and somewhat easier development process, available also to non-programmers. Other development tools are available with relatively few but comparatively high level functionalities, which can be configured and deployed with very limited effort. Smart cameras running software tailored for a single specific application are often called "vision sensors." Some consumer digital cameras are called "Smart Camera" due to features such as running a mobile operating system.
