About  

EPIX, Inc. products are used in a broad range of applications - anywhere analog video, digital video, scanned imagery, pixels or video, in any form or origin, are important. Example applications range:

• from acquisition of charcoal sketches hidden within the great masters' paintings ... to creating graphic T-Shirts,
• from inspection of clear hydrophilic contact lenses floating in clear water ... to counting boxes on a conveyor belt or detecting intruders,
• from inspection of 'hot' nuclear fuel rods or eight-camera imaging of ordinance detonation ... to exhibits in science museums,
• from preparation of images and graphs for publication in scholarly journals ... to snapping and processing photos for display on the Internet,
• from experts in imaging, optics, electronics, or computers with in-depth understanding of imaging products ... to people in unrelated fields such as radiology, dentistry, chemistry, physics, biology, or art,
• from research projects at NASA, USAF, NSWF, NIST, IBM, Bell Labs, and most major universities ... to amateur astronomers doing time lapse imaging, and hobbyists building robots,
• from complete systems with significant budgets ... to products purchased with discretionary or personal funds ($195).

Machine Vision.

Most industries utilize visual inspection of manufactured products - checking for dimensions, surface metrology, visible defects, color, labeling, or correctness of assembly. For "unit" products, such as lenses, light bulb filaments, or integrated circuits, EPIX® imaging subsystems capture one or more images of each product through area or line scan cameras - including high speed or high resolution , as the application requires. For continuous stream or "web" products, such as textiles, sheet metal, optical fiber, or film, EPIX® imaging subsystems acquire snapshots with an area scan camera, or use a line scan camera for continuous viewing of rapidly moving material.

With suitable cameras, optics, or other auxiliary equipment, non-visual characteristics of products can be analyzed by EPIX® imaging subsystems. For example, the temperature gradient of sheet glass can be viewed with an infrared-sensitive camera, or embedded defects of various products viewed with ultrasound or X-ray imaging devices.

After capture, a high speed on-board processor (DSP) or the host computer executes algorithms that analyze and classify the images according to customer-specific criteria. The results may generate graphic displays, activate a reject bin, sound an alarm if flaws exceed a predetermined threshold, or directly adjust the manufacturing process's parameters.

Document Capture.

Images of documents, such as bank drafts, charge slips, or mark-sense forms, can be generated by line scan cameras attached to high speed document transport systems. A two-dimensional image is generated by taking successive samples as the document passes by the camera.

EPIX® imaging subsystems digitize the resulting video signals; several document images can be buffered on a single subsystem, and optionally compressed, before being transferred to workstations or mass storage devices. The images are then digitally enhanced, stored, transmitted, and later viewed on computer monitors.

Motion Analysis.

Experimental environments, such as fusion reaction and wind tunnel tests, require high speed, video rate, precise, sampling and storage of image data for subsequent analysis.

EPIX® imaging subsystems acquire and store sequences of images in real-time directly to silicon memories , or to disk drives, avoiding the degradation of analog video tape. Supporting software allows the experimenter to trade image resolution for increased sampling duration or frequency. Multiple subsystems acquire several views or scenes simultaneously, for multi-dimensional or multi-spectral analysis.

Medical Imaging.

EPIX® imaging products capture images from most medical imaging modalities. If the original image is X-ray film, a digital image can be created by focusing a high resolution camera on the film and digitizing the resulting video signal. If using a computed imaging modality, such as Magnetic Resonance (MR) or Computed Tomography (CT), an image can be digitized directly from the modality's video signal.

The acquired image can be enhanced, annotated, or compressed (without loss or distortion). The processed image can be transmitted to remote sites (teleradiology), analyzed and quantified, or filed for later retrieval (PACS).

Web Inspection.

In industries such as textiles, metals, or film manufacturing, the product is produced in a continuous stream. A two dimensional image is generated by taking successive samples from a line scan camera as the product material moves past a particular point. The images can be analyzed automatically to determine adherence to quality standards.

In sheet metal production, a flaw may be indicated if the thermal emissivity of the material varies excessively. Using an EPIX® imaging subsystem, an infrared-sensitive line scan camera is sampled repeatedly to build a two-dimensional image. A high speed on-board processor executes algorithms that analyze and classify the image data according to customer specific criteria. The results are reported to the host computer, which may generate graphic displays, sound an alarm if flaws exceed a predetermined threshold, or directly adjust the manufacturing process's parameters.

Sensor Development.

The flexibility and precision of EPIX® imaging products are valued by major camera manufacturers in the United States, Canada, and Europe who utilize EPIX® imaging products for R&D, production testing, and quality control, and/or demonstration of their precision camera systems. The flexibility allows a single EPIX® imaging product to accommodate a wide variety of sensors or cameras; the precision provides the accuracy and repeatability required for meaningful measurements.