NEW MOIRE'/FOURIER TRANSFORM INSPECTION SYSTEM

PRESENTLY THERE IS A STRONG INDUSTRY DEMAND FOR INCREASED PROCESSING ABILITIES TO HANDLE COMPLEX INSPECTION TASKS. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE MORE SOPHISTICATED MACHINE VISION SYSTEMS (MVS) PRESENTLY AVAILABLE ARE PRIMARILY BASED ON VIDEO SIGNAL PROCESSING BY DIGITAL COMPUTER. BECAUSE OF THE TWO DIMENSIONAL NATURE OF THE INPUT, THE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION THAT MUST BE PROCESSED FOR EACH OBJECT IS VAST. THIS IMPLIES THAT THE DECISION PROCESS IS EITHER SLOW OR REQUIRES EXPENSIVE HARDWARE. SINCE OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING IS INTRINSICALLY FASTER THAN DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING AND IS TWO DIMENSIONAL IN ITS NATURE, IT IS POTENTIALLY BETTER SUITED FOR MVS PROBLEMS. BASED ON ITS UNIQUE EXPERIENCE IN OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING, GLOBAL HOLONETICS PROPOSES TO INVESTIGATE THE USE OF MOIRE' INTERFEROMETRY IN CONJUNCTION WITH OPTICAL FOURIER TRANSFORMS IN A MVS BECAUSE INFORMATION PROCESSED BY THIS OPTICAL PREPROCESSOR IS REDUCED TO A ONE DIMENSIONAL FEATURE VECTOR THAT IS IDEALLY SUITED FOR PROCESSING BY LOW COST DIGITAL HARDWARE. THE RESEARCH WILL DETERMINE WHICH MVS PROBLEMS ARE SUITED TO MOIRE'/ FOURIER INSPECTION AND WHAT KING OF INSPECTION DISCRIMINATION CAN BE REALIZED. THE IMPLICATIONS ARE THAT A HYBRID DEVICE FOR MVS APPLICATIONS MIGHT BE DEVELOPED THAT HAS A HIGH PERFORMANCE/COST RATIO AND IS GENERAL PURPOSE IN ITS NATURE.