MACHINE VISION USING IMAGE GRADIENTS FOR SPRAY-DEPOSIT ANALYSIS - SOFTWARE-DEVELOPMENT

Software was developed to automatically analyze images of spray deposi ts on planar surfaces. Spot boundaries, which are extracted using imag e gradients rather than gray-level thresholds, are used to calculate s pot and drop size distributions, spot counts, and coverage. The softwa re was tested with spots ranging in size from 100 to 1600 mu m generat ed on kromekote paper. Effects of spot contrast, orientation of oblong spots, camera aperture setting, and magnification on spat count and m easured size were evaluated. Counting and sizing errors of 1 to 2% are possible with appropriate magnification and contrast.