Bayer Filter A popular Technique for Machine Vision Systems to Perform Many Color Applications

The Bayer filter mosaic, named after its inventor, Bryce Bayer (1929-2012) of Eastman Kodak, is a color filter array for arranging Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color filters on a square grid of photosensors.

Most color cameras use a Bayer filter array over what is otherwise a monochrome sensor to obtain the three color intensity planes, RGB.

For a color application on a machine vision system, a color camera analyzes each pixel’s color information and, combined with that of adjacent pixels, interpolates the remaining color plane.

If the pixel is RED, the camera must interpolate what the Green/Blue components are based on neighboring pixels. Because of the interpolation, some color resolution is lost.

Even so, a camera with a Bayer filter is the most cost-effective technique for performing high-quality part inspection and defect detection in instances requiring color detection. These cameras are also more readily available and are used by most machine vision systems.

Can a color camera help with your color vision applications?  Contact a Cognex Sales Engineer and find out.