Verification Settings
Click the Verification Settings area of the parameters to bring up the controls for Aperture, Lighting, and Setup Notes.
Calibration
Click the Calibration section of the parameters to bring up the dialog shown below. The Calibration dialog features simple instructions about how to calibrate your camera and the Verification Tool in order to be compliant with your chosen verification specification. You must have a Calibration card in order to calibrate your system.
Use this dialog to enter the data from your Calibration card, and then click the Calibrate button to start the process.
As part of the calibration process, the Exposure Time setting of your camera will be adjusted. Use the Maximum Exposure value in the Calibration dialog to set the maximum Exposure Time that can be set.
Important: Verification tools must be calibrated first to achieve accurate results.
Custom Verification
When you click the box next to Enable Customized Verification Tests, you will see the dialog shown below. This dialog allows you to select the individual attributes on which the verification will be based, and to define Good/Fair/Poor ranges for each attribute.
Important: Disabling parameters using the Custom Verification dialog results in a verification process that no longer strictly conforms to the ISO 15415 standard.
ISO 15415 Verification Parameters
Symbol Contrast — The difference in the population of dark pixels to the population of light pixels; compares to AIM DPM/ISO 29158 “Cell Contrast”.
Modulation — In ISO/IEC 15415, a measurement of the uniformity of the color of the dark areas and the light areas of the Data Matrix similar to “Cell Modulation”, but differs in the implementation details.
Reflectance Margin — A measurement of how well each module is correctly distinguishable as light or dark in comparison to the global threshold.
Fixed Pattern Damage — A measurement of the errors in the borders of the Data Matrix as well as any errors in the quiet zone around the symbol necessary for the decoding process.
Axial Nonuniformity — The difference between the height and the width with respect to the rows and columns.
Grid Nonuniformity — This measurement is a delta of the difference of the measured grid in relation to the ideal grid formed from the four corners of the Data Matrix.
Unused Error Correction — The amount of error correction that could be read incorrectly when the symbol is still readable that is currently being read correctly, expressed as a percentage.
Print Growth — The positive or negative size relation of the cells as printed with respect to the ideal grid.
ISO 15415 Verification Report
Click on the letter grade in the tool list to open the verification report.
ISO 15415 Numeric Score and Grade Level Comparison
ISO 15415 Verification Final Grade
The ISO 15415 final grade is shown in the upper left corner of the verification report and the numeric value is reported as the first field in the reported grade string. The final grade is defined by the lowest grade achieved by any individual grade parameter.
When custom verification is enabled, in addition to setting threshold for Good/Fair/Poor, you have the option to select which parameters are to be included in the final grade calculation. In the below example you can see the impact of removing Axial Non-Uniformity from the grade calculation.
AIM DPM/ISO 29158 Verification
Verification Settings
Click the Verification Settings area of the parameters to bring up the controls for Lighting and Setup Notes.
Note: AIM DPM/ISO 29158 automatically determines and reports the aperture per the specification to either 50% or 80% of the nominal cell size of the symbol under test.
Calibration
Click the Calibration section of the parameters to bring up the dialog shown below. The Calibration dialog features simple instructions about how to calibrate your camera and the Verification Tool in order to be compliant with your chosen verification specification. You must have a Calibration card in order to calibrate your system.
Use this dialog to enter the data from your Calibration card, and then click the Calibrate Reflectance button to start the process.
As part of the calibration process, the Exposure Time setting of your camera will be adjusted. Use the Maximum Exposure value in the Calibration dialog to set the maximum Exposure Time that can be set.
Important: Verification tools must be calibrated first to achieve accurate results.
Custom Verification
When you click the box next to Enable Customized Verification Tests, you will see the dialog shown below. This dialog allows you to select the individual attributes on which the verification will be based, and to define Good/Fair/Poor ranges for each attribute.
Important: Disabling parameters using the Custom Verification dialog results in a verification process that no longer strictly conforms to the AIM DPM/ISO 29158 standard.
AIM DPM/ISO 29158 Verification Parameters
Cell Contrast — In AIM DPM/ISO 29158, the difference in the population of dark pixels to the population of light pixels, using the sample principle as “Symbol Contrast” with modified definition.
Cell Modulation — In AIM DPM/ISO 29158, a measurement of the uniformity of the color of the dark areas and the light areas of the Data Matrix similar to “Modulation”, but differing in the implementation details.
Reflectance Margin — A measurement of how well each module is correctly distinguishable as light or dark in comparison to the global threshold.
Fixed Pattern Damage — A measurement of the errors in the borders of the Data Matrix as well as any errors in the quiet zone around the symbol necessary for the decoding process.
Axial Nonuniformity — The difference between the height and the width with respect to the rows and columns.
Grid Nonuniformity — A delta of the difference of the measured grid in relation to the ideal grid formed from the four corners of the Data Matrix.
Unused Error Correction — The amount of error correction that could be read incorrectly when the symbol is still readable that is currently being read correctly, expressed as a percentage.
Print Growth — The positive or negative size relation of the cells as printed with respect to the ideal grid.
Minimum Reflectance — During “Card Calibration”, the NIST-traceable card is used to calibrate the system and to calculate a “calibrated system reflectance value”. During “Part Calibration”, a good example of the actual part is used to calculate an exposure time that optimizes the brightness and contrast of that symbol. During the Verification cycle, the calibrated system reflectance value is compared with the reflectance value of the part viewed with this adjusted exposure time. Parts whose bright symbol elements are less reflective than the calibration standard card will need more light energy for the camera to achieve the appropriate image brightness. Minimum Reflectance is the ratio of the part’s reflectance to the calibrated system reflectance. Every part must provide at least a minimum level of reflectance.
AIM DPM/ISO 29158 Verification Report
Click on the letter grade in the tool list to open the verification report.
AIM DPM/ISO 29158 Numeric Score and Grade Level Comparison
AIM DPM/ISO 29158 Verification Final Grade
The AIM DPM/ISO 29158 final grade is determined in the same way as the ISO 15415 final grade.
ISO 15416 Verification
Symbology Types
Click the Symbology Types you want to verify to the ISO 15416 standard.
Verification Settings
Click the Verification Settings area of the parameters to bring up the controls for Aperture, Signal Compensation, Lighting, and Setup Notes.
Aperture automatically sets the aperture size to the user-defined percentage of the decoded cell size.
Signal Compensation compensates for uneven lighting. This parameter improves grading performance, but note that it is not a part of the ISO 15416 standard, and therefore not technically compliant.
Lighting Wave Length specifies the wavelength of the lighting being used. Note that this value is for reporting only and does not affect verification results.
Lighting Angle specifies the angle of the lighting being used. Note that this value is for reporting only and does not affect verification results.
Setup Notes allows you to add any other information about your camera or lighting configuration that needs to be considered.
Calibration
Click the Calibration section of the parameters to bring up the dialog shown below. The Calibration dialog features simple instructions about how to calibrate your camera and the Verification Tool in order to be compliant with your chosen verification specification. You must have a Calibration card in order to calibrate your system.
Use this dialog to enter the data from your Calibration card, and then click the Calibrate button to start the process.
As part of the calibration process, the Exposure Time setting of your camera will be adjusted. Use the Maximum Exposure value in the Calibration dialog to set the maximum Exposure Time that can be set.
Important: Verification tools must be calibrated first to achieve accurate results.
Custom Verification
When you click the box next to Enable Customized Verification Tests, you will see the dialog shown below. This dialog allows you to select the individual attributes on which the verification will be based, and to define Good/Fair/Poor ranges for each attribute.
Important: Disabling parameters using the Custom Verification dialog results in a verification process that no longer strictly conforms to the ISO 15416 standard.
Custom Verification Editor
The Custom Verification Editor is used to define when grades are considered Good or Fair. ISO 15416 reports a floating point grade value and allows you to define limits for Good or Fair based on letter grades. If you want to specify numeric values for Good and Fair limits, check the Use Numeric Values (for floating point control) option. The standard ABCDF control is replaced with a different control that allows you to enter any numeric value for Good and Fair limits.
Conversion from ISO numeric grades to ANSI letter grades:
3.5 to 4.0 is A
2.5 to 3.5 is B
1.5 to 2.5 is C
0.5 to 1.5 is D
0.0 to 0.5 is F
ISO 15416 Verification Parameters
Edge Determination — Bar and space edge transitions are defined by where they cross the global threshold of the symbol. The global threshold is the midpoint of the maximum reflectance (brightest) and the minimum reflectance (darkest) sample in the scan line. If the global threshold is crossed more than once per bar space transition or does not cross between one of these bar space pairs the symbol will not be able to decode and will receive an F grade for Edge Determination. If the proper number of element transitions occurs the symbol will receive an A grade for Edge Determination.
Decode — The decoding of the symbol using the symbology reference decode algorithm using the element edges found in Edge Determination.
Symbol Contrast — The difference between the highest and the lowest reflectance values in a scan reflectance profile.
Minimum Reflectance — Percentage value of reflectance of darkest bar.
Minimum Edge Contrast — Percentage value of minimum edge contrast. Edge Contrast is the difference between the bar reflectance and space reflectance of two adjacent elements.
Modulation — The ratio of minimum edge contrast to symbol contrast.
Defects — Irregularities found within elements and quiet zones, measured in terms of element reflectance non-uniformity.
Decodability — Decodability can be defined as the amount of margin remaining to properly read the characters in the symbol. Each symbology specification graded under ISO 15416 has published dimensions and margins of tolerance for the decoding of characters. Printing and imaging accuracy will impact these dimensions and the ability to decode the symbol. Decodability quantifies this margin for each symbol.
Quiet Zone — The regions before the start and stop characters. Each symbology specification graded under ISO 15416 has published the required amount of Quiet Zone for both the region before the start and after the stop character. The Quiet Zone is measured as an integer factor of the nominal bar width. For example, 10x would be a quiet zone 10 times larger than the nominal bar width. If either the start or stop Quiet Zone is violated, the scan line will receive an F grade for the Quiet Zone for that scan line.
ISO 15416 Verification Report
Click on the letter grade in the tool list to open the verification report.
ISO 15416 Numeric Score and Grade Level Comparison
ISO 15416 Verification Final Grade
The ISO 15416 final symbol grade is shown in the upper left corner and lower right corner of the verification report and the numeric grade is reported as the first field in the reported grade string. The ISO 15416 final symbol grade is a compilation of the 10 individual scan line final grades applied over the region of the symbol. Each individual scan grade from the 10 scans applied can be found at the bottom of each scan column. This scan grade is the lowest grade from that individual scan. The final symbol grade is the average result of the 10 individual scans. In the follow example you see scans 1-5 have quiet zone violations and receive a grade of F or grade value 0. The scans 6-10 receive a B grade based on the minimum grade of modulation. The final symbol grade is the average of the final scans (0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3) / 10 = 1.5 or grade C. Note that if custom verification is enabled individual parameters can be removed from the scan grade and final grade calculation.
Verification Results
All verification output values can be output through Inspection Outputs. All verification status outputs can be tied to the camera's Digital Outputs.
Symbol Quality Verification Reports
The report that is produced by AIM DPM/ISO 29158, ISO 15415, and ISO 15416 Symbol Quality Verification can be saved in either PDF or plain text format.
Click the Save button to save a report manually for the current symbol.
Choose your folder and file name, and whether to save the report as a PDF (default) or as plain text.
Click the Options button to configure various options that govern the saving of Verification reports.
The following dialog is displayed when the Options button is clicked:
Include Image in Report (PDF Only) includes a bitmap of the image that was inspected. This affects both manual and auto-saved reports.
Auto Save Reports enables or disables auto-saving of reports when AutoVISION is in Run mode. Auto-save options are as follows:
Never: Never save reports, this turns the auto-save feature off.
Always: Save a report for every part that is inspected.
For Poor Grades Only: A report will only be saved for symbols that receive a grade that is rated as Poor.
For Fair and Poor Grades Only: A report will only be saved for symbols that receive a grade that has been rated as either Fair or Poor.
Report File Type selects the file type that will be used when auto-saving reports.
Reports Folder: Enter the path to the folder where reports will be automatically saved.
Files are auto-saved with a file name in this format:
YYYYMMDD_HHmmss_fff.ext
YYYY = Year
MM = Month
DD = Day
HH = Hour (military time)
mm = Minutes
ss = Seconds
fff = Milliseconds
.ext = File extension, either .pdf or .txt, depending on the selected report format.
Example file name: 20141227_114803_080.pdf
ISO 15416 Report, PDF Format
ISO 15415 Report, PDF Format
Setup Notes: The ISO verification standards each provide a recommended or reference geometric, optical, and lighting configuration. You are encouraged to consult the latest revision of the standard to ensure compatibility. In broad terms, the goals of the standards are to specify measurement configurations that are consistent with appropriate or likely reading scenarios. If you deviate from the reference, you should include the light type, wavelength, and light configuration in the Setup Notes. The notes will be provided as part of the report.
Setup Notes: The ISO verification standards each provide a recommended or reference geometric, optical, and lighting configuration. You are encouraged to consult the latest revision of the standard to ensure compatibility. In broad terms, the goals of the standards are to specify measurement configurations that are consistent with appropriate or likely reading scenarios. If you deviate from the reference, you should include the light type, wavelength, and light configuration in the Setup Notes. The notes will be provided as part of the report.
Setup Notes: The ISO verification standards each provide a recommended or reference geometric, optical, and lighting configuration. You are encouraged to consult the latest revision of the standard to ensure compatibility. In broad terms the goals of the standards are to specify measurement configurations that are consistent with appropriate or likely reading scenarios. If you deviate from the reference, you should include the light type, wavelength, and light configuration in the Setup Notes. The notes will be provided as part of the report.