HALCON v12.0.2

MVTec LLC, Boston, has optimized the functional range of its HALCON software for machine vision with an integrated development environment (IDE), according to a Feb. 16 company announcement. The upgrade is expected to roll out Feb. 29.

The HALCON 12.0.2 release reportedly improves bar code identification, particularly in the case of significantly overexposed images where the code bars are displayed extremely narrow. HALCON now is able to read individual bars that are only 5 percent of their original width due to overexposure. In addition, images with high print growth—when the bars become much too wide during printing because too much ink was used—now can be reliably identified, the company reported.

MVTec said the latest software version also includes:

• significantly improved error-free identification of 2/5 bar codes,
• additional parameters for evaluating the print quality of data codes based on the AIM DPM-1-2006 and ISO/IEC 15415 standards, and
• the ability to read QR codes with Chinese characters that are encoded according to GBT 18284-2000, the Chinese national standard.

Developers will benefit from the new HALCON release as well. For instance, a new example program explains how to handle parallel programming in machine vision applications. In addition, improvements to the HDevEngine runtime environment have sped up program runtimes.